《Re: Seven Lives》 Preface and Chapter 1 Preface and chapter 1 Do you believe in reincarnations? What happens when you die, do you just get erased or do you transcend to a bigger dimension, as a superior being? The fiction covers latter aspect. When you die a natural death of old age, the system considers it a level complete. The system then gives you up to three options.
  1. Take judgement ¨C depending upon your score in good/evil deeds, you get placed in either heaven or hell. Either way, one is doomed to eternal peace or torture. [Common]
  2. Reincarnate ¨C if you had few desires left, you can choose to reincarnate. [Rare]
Above two options are also available to people who die young, in accidents, to diseases, etc. The third option is not always given and only a select few, based on their bravery get the chance.
  1. Transcend ¨Conly those who have transcended before know about it. Living being transcends to a tougher life system, the NG+1 [Epic]
As per system, a soul can transcend seven times i.e. till NG+7. One needs to unlock system titles and points to unlock Transcend. Emperor: 5000 points Queen: 5000 points Foot Soldier: 50 points Cavalry: 70 points one needs a total of 10000 points to unlock NG+1. Similarly, the price of points keep increasing. The system does not mentions what happens when NG +7 is completed. The story is about a persistent soul of Sikandar, a former ruler of his first two lives, his base and NG+1. The difficulties in NG+2 rose to such, he could only become a commander. Down to NG+5, he ended up as a beggar. Title gained: Beggar 100000 points [only valid if soul has Emperor/Queen Title, else 0 points] The biggest advantage in transcending is that they can carry forward their experience, character build and memory as opposed to reincarnation, where the being remains in their base life but only retain their memory. One couldn¡¯t take spells and skills, however, with memory they can be re acquired. [Congratulations, you have completed NG+5] [Congratulations, you 19854803th Soul to have completed NG+5] [Congratulations, you are 98521th Soul to opt for NG+6] Just when the soul of Sikandar thought that it had seen all types of lives till NG +5, to his surprise and curiosity, NG +6 was a complete different than the prior. A world with no magic, rendering much of his character build useless. With a grin on his face, Sikandar tried his best in the modern world and became a politician. He then even influenced his country into choosing him as a president. A place with no monsters to kill, the only way to experience and points in this world was titles. Title gained: Politician 50 points Title gained: Elected 1500 points Title gained: Voice of People 2000 points NG+6 was a success but like all lives, it was coming to its end. Sikandar thought, what should he do to get another transcend option especially if the world was at peace? So he created scenarios and waged war for titles. Title gained: War Lord 50000 points Title gained: Tyrant 50000 points Title gained: Criminal 500 points Title gained: Dictator 5000 points Title gained: Ethnic Cleanser 900000 points [The system sees you with sore eyes, should judgement be called upon you, eternal unrest awaits you] Title gained: Unrighteous 1000000 points Sikandar, now having a wide grin on his face, by now had lost all sense of humanity and now only cared for titles. With a lot of heroic titles of past, there were not many titles available to him until he changed his path. Now with tons of opportunity, Sikandar thought of collecting as many titles until¡­ Title gained: Banished ¨C points [deferred] Sikandar¡¯s eyes stretched wide in awe. He was not in the least bit worried about the name of title but instead concentrated on the deferred part with a frown. Perhaps he can even prepare for NG +7 right away in NG +6, so he thought. By this time, Sikandar had a rough idea that NG +7 is going to be about divinity. Beings in that dimensions are not modern and un-magical like NG+6 but he wouldn¡¯t know how difficult NG+7 was going to be. This time Sikandar knowing that NG+6 being as easy as his base life, he had a huge shot at preparing for NG+7. So he continued his cruelty over the world. He bullied countries, destroyed various religious buildings in hopes that divine related title will be gained. To his surprise, in this magicless world, divine never interrupted. Only titles were given and Sikandar couldn¡¯t care more. It was instead easier to keep pissing someone off and they won¡¯t even standup for it. ¡°I Sikandar, take pledge to get rid of all such all other countries and wage war against them.¡± Title gained: Enemy of the World 1000000 points [every human considers you an enemy] Since titles were permanent, Sikandar frowned at it as this life was the only life he had planned to live as an evil lord. Although titles could be overwritten, if you could undo all what you have done. If he ever met a human in NG+7, he would automatically be attacked or hated by him/her. This was bad. For Sikandar, even though curious about what was beyond NG +7, was willing to settle in NG +7 peacefully. All prepared to repent for his sins. Hell was still not an option for Sikandar.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°I could never know the amount of points required for transcend to unlock NG+7.¡± The mumbling Sikandar was speaking to himself as he laid on his bed. In Shadows, were crawling assassins equipped with silent guns, they moved making no noise. Aiming at the sleeping Sikandar¡¯s forehead, the assassins looked at each other¡¯s faces before losing consciousness. The snipers aiming at the two could only frown at what they were seeing. This was the dictator that they were tasked to eliminate? Title gained: Shot to the face 500 points Title gained: Aura User in an Aura-less system deferred points Title gained: Magic User in a Magic-less system deferred points. Hoping to avoid bullets, poor Sikandar was left with a head injury. With all his memory of past systems, he somehow managed to create an aura field that will slow bullets around him and recalled his basic healing spell that would start healing his injured head. With tensed look on his eyes and sharpened gaze, he looked around. Jumping between pillars while maintaining his aura field. Suddenly he noticed a bullet entered shattering a window glass. With aura field thickened, he frowned and concentrated at his eyes with extreme pressure. All nerves and veins were visible on his face by this time as he recalled a skill from his past life. So far in NG +6 he had not had to face any life threatening scenario until today. Title gained: Skill user from past life points deferred Title gained: Skill user: Slow-motion 10000000 points while he was pleased with all new titles, he could only hit his head on a wall. Had he known this was also an option, he¡¯d never turn so evil. But it was too late. Title gained: Skill user: Fast-forward 10000000 points He earned this after concentrating past knowledge on his foot muscles, now enabling him to dash at higher speed. He was now able to take care of all assassins present in his room. Killing one after another. With part of his humanity gone to violence, there was no room for leaving survivors. It was already too late to make amends any ways. By now he understood, who these assassins were. Title earned: Skill user: Appraisal deferred They were his own people. His own country was after his life at the moment. In his quest for titles, he had overused his resources. The anger was obvious now that Sikandar was open minded, could relate how his underlings felt. Keeping these thoughts aside, he started concentrating on his healing again. With assassins dead in his room, he advanced outside and was scanning every corner of the building. He would find them and kill them with his bare hands. On hand to hand combat, he had experience of 6 lives. All trained in military. There was no way he could be bested. His greatest concern was a sniper and a faraway sound of a helicopter. If he manages to kill everyone in the building or others evict before him, the building would be blown. If he goes outside building, snipers would be waiting for him. Not to mention many foot soldiers. With sweat dropping from his forehead, he was moving in absolute stealth. Title earned: Stealth 500 points. With never having to stealth in his current life or previous ones, he felt like an idiot. There were so many different ways to acquire titles. ¡°I guess I have made too many enemies¡± A calm and sighing Sikandar mumbles. ¡°Surrender now Sikandar, we have surrounded you from every sides.¡± A voice on loud speaker could be heard. Frowned at this voice as he recalled it came from his right hand, Sikandar could only curse at his dumb decisions. While it made least sense why send assassins if they were coming with a direct approach. It was probably an uncoordinated decision most likely. While maintaining stealth and sharp eyes everywhere, Sikandar reached the security room and killed a man who wore the same black clothes as his dead team, Skinadar could only be impressed by himself. For someone who never went stealth in any life, bested a guy whose job was stealth. He noticed that most of the cameras were already disabled and were only showing the darkness like his future. Apart from the cameras installed inside the building, few were also installed outside building. Some were still on or rather left on and Sikandar could only frown at the van that just approached the building. Living in a lavish building a dictator should be living, this unfortunate politician did not have a single friend on this earth. He recalled the title he achieved back then and blamed it to be the sole reason. [Title: Enemy of the world] NG+6 was a difficult world and he took it for granted considering it was easy. Few bullets hit him from snipers and he fell on floor. Bleeding and losing consciousness, Sikandar could only get angry on himself. ¡°Must sur¡­.vive¡± The shaking and feverish Sikandar was now crawling on floor, trying to remember all past spells he knew from his memory. Title gained: grand healer 1000000 points Title gained: skill user: Dragon¡¯s Blood 800000 points Title gained: skill user: Blessed Light 800000 points with every skill, he¡¯d keep getting additional titles and points. If this was his end, he made sure to get most of points, as many as possible. Finally, he reached basement in his building, he could see three fully armed men were standing opposite to a lift. Not expecting a lavish politician to take stairs even in such conditions. Or maybe because they thought he was still hit by bullets. Sikandar could only close his eyes feeling pleased. It was time to recall his Area of effect skill from past. For if he would attack one, the rest will kill him instantly. Title earned: spell user: Lightening Storm 800000 points Title earned Tier 3 spell user in spell-less system deferred All three turned charred as only black ash remained where the poor men stood. This time, Sikandar crawled and picked some guns. It was stupidity to under estimate NG+6 technology. With all his life spent, Sikandar truly learned everything. So naturally, he¡¯d know how to operate a gun. He kept spamming Dragon¡¯s blood to stop and recreate blood in his body, but since healing was really too slow, there was not much he could do. He could feel his mana pool his entire life, it¡¯s just that he never used it before. Now that he could, he realized that mana pool was being spent very fast, but it was not refilling as fast as it should to keep him alive. Hence, careful usage was necessary and so, Sikandar decided to only focus his magic on healing and would use guns to attack. In the basement, he was looking for sewers and he found one. However, as soon as he opened the manhole, an explosion occurred. Title gained: Skill user: Iron flesh 1000000 points Title gained: Defied Reaper deferred Title gained: Defied Death deferred Barley stopping scythe from a floating reaper, if the skeleton faced reaper had muscles and skin on it, one could see the frown and tension. Having never failed at first strike while collecting souls, reaper looked at the figures mentioned above his head. Even without eyebrows that would raise, the reaper¡¯s jaws dropped. *** Chapter 2 Chapter 2 The shocked reaper collects his thoughts back and tries to concentrate towards the anomaly standing in front of him. ¡°For a mortal to have this many points, even Lucifer would frown seeing this. Yet a mere mortal could achieve this?¡± The reaper mumbled. ¡°What NG+ are you?¡± The reaper asked in a shocked expression. ¡°NG+6¡± Sikandar replied while paying most of his attention on piecing together his body parts that were detached during explosion. ¡°haha haha, To think a mere human would achieve transcendence six times¡± The Reaper giggled. ¡°And still remain a human?¡± he added hesitatingly with a grim expression. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s all about points you earn throughout your life.¡± Sikandar shared this info assuming a reaper would obviously know about these stuffs. It wasn¡¯t his first death and he had dealt with reapers in the past. The only problem was, it was his first unnatural death. Sikandar had always allowed reapers to take his soul from his death bed. This time, a reaper had emerged out of thin air while he laid injured, bleeding on a sewer. For a King for 2 lives and a dictator in current, this was unacceptable both to his honor and because there was a chance he would not get transcendence as a choice if he get killed due to explosion. The biggest threat at the moment was the reaper who could shred his soul away from his body. So as of now he decided to ignore the humans that are still firing towards the building. The explosion was caused because a rocket launcher was launched towards the building¡¯s basement as soon as they found the three men in basement were dead. Even in their death, they turn out to be useful for his enemies in spotting Sikandar. Just as he had trained them. ¡°It should take around 15 minutes for smoke to clear out and with my iron flesh still active, I doubt their heat sensor will capture me.¡± Sikandar said so to console himself. With bring his body back to shape, he gently pushed his intestines back in and did the final healing to close all exterior wounds. The reaper on the other hand trying to process the shocking stream of information, took a while before he was ready to proceed with the task at hand. ¡°It¡¯s my first time, defying death, so go easy on me¡± Sikandar said to the reaper with a grin on his face. The reaper only returned the grin before charging. The scythe and Sikandar¡¯s bare arm collided, with Iron flesh still active. One would confuse the sound generated with a collision of two metals. The reaper threw another hidden dagger towards the forehead. Sikandar immediately bent and rolled to the left. The scythe now free was swinging from Sikandar¡¯s back. Immediately sensing, he sidestepped and rolled grabbing the sleeve of reaper. The reaper then kicked the dying human on his guts. The fresh wounds were starting to open again. With blood dripping and painting the floor red. For Sikandar that was however, his least of his worries. Not anymore that is. Taking a dive, he recalled he had a gun and started looking for it. The gun was right near the manhole cover. Sikandar kept on dodging the fast attacks while trying to clear path towards his gun. Even though reapers were spiritual creatures, Skinadar was able to parry attacks. He felt at the time of death, a human can come in contact with these beings. Only that would explain how a reaper could really claim a soul by severing the connection. The gun was the best bet for the currently unarmed Sikandar. Finally, with another dodge, he was close enough and with a roll he lifted the gun. Still maintaining his iron flesh which did made his movement slower than usual but his strength as per character build and endurance were already maxed in these six lives he lived. Still using his left arm as a shield, he continued to dodge the life-ending attacks on Sikandar. Picking up the gun was the easy part, but what remained was aiming and shooting. So what followed was obvious. In a frequent exchange of blows, Sikndar found an opening. BANG A small cavity was formed on the forehead of the reaper. Very light smoke was coming out of it. The reaper was frozen and Sikandar had no idea if the reaper was unaffected or will fall shortly. ¡°You¡¯re against death and you think that will work?¡± The reaper tilted his skull in amusement and the bullet fell from his neck rolling out. A frowned and shocked Sikandar would only raise his guard up as he tried to notice every details about the reaper, looking for weakness. Title gained: Skill user: Microscopic Vision 50000 points Title gained: Skill user: Weakness Spotter 50000 points Title gained: Knowledge acquired: Reaper anatomy deferred Title gained: Knowledge acquired: Reaper¡¯s Weakness deferred Title gained: founder of new knowledge deferred points Title already owned: founder of new knowledge (2) deferred points ¡°Just like that?¡± Sikandar questioned the will of system. Were he to give up, it would be less likely he would get titles this easily. Being desperate was something Sikandar never had experienced. Even when he became a beggar in his fifth life. Sikandar had never used these skills before and also had never faced a reaper either. The experience was very new and so the new knowledge acquired would only mean, he was the first one ever to stand and fight a reaper. While Sikandar allowed himself to be a bit gloomy, occupied in thoughts. The reaper used this chance by swinging his scythe and severing Sikandar¡¯s arm that was carrying the gun.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Bringing his attention back to the battle, Sikandar expressed a grim on his face hiding all the pain inflicted over him. He dodged and lift his arm and attached it back. With a painful yell, Sikandar healed the arm instantly. Still rolling and creating more space between reaper and himself. This time, with Reaper¡¯s anatomy, Sikandar had a different idea. After explosion, there were a lot of rocks and he¡¯d just have to aim. It was one thing that you were a common mortal who transcended to extents. Raising difficulties of life in return and bringing agony and tragedy. It was entirely another to go against the system¡¯s moderators. This difficulty was not defined in a system that supported till NG+7. The system did not predict a mortal would stand against mortality. A mere soul that was capable to resist the scythe of death. What type of title one shall achieve, were they to resist the will of system? Perhaps, there was a learning curve for the system this time. David was a moderator of such system. His job was to monitor souls and collect those souls when they were ended. As a reaper, who never had to fight to kill the situation was intense. Mortals would usually freeze seeing his face of death. The poor souls are too scared. All they see is fear of being lost in memories of their loved ones. The fear only grows if someone lacks a loved one. To be lost and not even be remembered was the deepest fear among mortals. To have an anomaly, standing against his aura of death, David only grimaced. He had never struggled collecting souls before. This was a challenge and he would accept it. Stuck in a stalemate, the mortal started chanting. Knowing full well the system does not allow magic in this world; the reaper could only look more worried. ¡°How in the hell can you use magic?¡± the amazed reaper asked. ¡°Don¡¯t know, I guess my past knowledge enabled me¡± the mortal claimed. There was absolutely no possibility of someone just having knowledge was an excuse he could buy. If one knew how to drive a car, does that mean he can drive even if there was no car? The skeleton face dodged the Javelin of light the descended upon him from sky. It¡¯s not as if Sikandar could never use magic, it¡¯s just that he didn¡¯t need to. Also, with negligible mana recovery, it was stupidity to rely on such costly skill where you could just manipulate people with words. Still the performance was far better than he would have imagined. It was as if, a void had opened allowing him extra mana. Considering that if reaper brings death and a healer brings life, would healing magic damage death or otherwise. The javelin made of light magic was the answer. However, in a spec of time reaper double jumped mid-air. Rolling to his left, the reaper noticed spikes of light coming out of the ground where he was to land. After noticing why he rolled to his left and not right, the reaper could only be worried as the right also covered magic circles that would summon lightning. The reaper understood that he was being led to a trap, instantly, he teleported behind Sikandar. STAB An evil smile was all over Sikandar¡¯s face. With combat experience of five lives versus a reaper who never struggled, was an easy fight. The wisdom of six lives was also another attribute responsible of modeling his strategies. The Reaper did not have a face muscle, so the pain was not visible. The quiet reaper stood stunned for a few seconds, allowing Sikandar to spam more light javelins through his body. The skull¡¯s eyes brightened. He looked straight into Sikandar¡¯s eyes and said. ¡°You may have won this, but the system will take revenge.¡± After saying so, the reaper got mixed up in the smoke of explosion that had occurred before. With a grin, Sikandar collected his thoughts and focused on his departure. The swat team by now was trying to get in the building, as noticed by Sikandar who now jumped inside the sewer. Partially healed, the dying dictator was running for his life. ¡°Must die naturally¡± ¡°Must not get killed¡± Only these words were keeping a tired Sikandar from losing consciousness. Walking around, he found a way that would lead to an opening. Maintaining his stealth, Sikandar was approaching towards the open area. Hoping there was no one waiting to ambush. This was his first time to kill a reaper; Sikandar could only guess how many title messages had appeared during his struggle against his death. Title already earned: Defying death (2) [deferred] Title already earned: Defying death (3) [deferred] Title gained: Reaper¡¯s reaper [deferred] Title gained: Soul absorption 1000000 points Title gained: Absorber of Divine creature [deferred] Title gained: Enemy of Divine [deferred] Title gained: Slayer of Death [deferred] Title gained: Indicted by Death [deferred, deferred] [System Error]: Anomaly detected [System Error]: You¡¯re achievements have broken the system [System Error]: To maintain the system function, you must be removed Sikandar could only be shocked as to what could be done now. Will the system choose to erase him? Title gained: System Breaker, deferred [System Alert: initiating forced removal] with everything he had done so far, Sikandar could only frown at what was happening to him. Everything he had done to achieve NG+7 was about to go in vein. Disappointed, he chose to accept his fate as he kneeled. [System Alert: removal process paused] Title gained: Sued by Divinity, deferred [System Alert: A case with system have been logged, you will now be teleported to the hearing] Facing the ground, Sikandar noticed the after effects with his clash with death had left him old. He was almost looking like he had lost 30 years. Now with wrinkles across his body, Sikandar looked as if he was 82 year old. He could already smell the rot from his dying body within. Immediately understanding, death of old age was upon him. This was going to be his sixth death from old age and he could only be satisfied with the kind of death he¡¯d always prefer. Peacefully lying on the ground where a sewer water was still coming out from. He closed his eyes as if he lay on a King¡¯s bed. Waiting patiently for another reaper to show up, claiming a natural death. He waited until the delay started to annoy him. But to his surprise, no one came. He could only conclude a court session of souls had initiated and he wasn¡¯t allowed to die till it was over. *** Elsewhere, in a white void was a court. A very fat figure sat with a Jury¡¯s wig on him. ¡°We shall proceed with the hearing about the anomaly¡± he declared after a few coughs. ¡°Subject is in process of system rejection and his body is about to die¡± a female figure spoke. While she spoke, her lips never moved a muscle. One would conclude she was speaking through telekinesis. ¡°Crime of defying death, defying reaper and even killing a reaper, we have never heard of such abnormality before¡± Another person who was standing on a circular rock spoke. He appeared to be participating remotely as there was only a hologram on the rock. ¡°Perhaps we have a word with the irregular ourselves, we may find a fitting environment for him?¡± The female figure¡¯s voice echoed in an endless void. With everyone quietly nodding, the fat figure clicked his finger and he appeared. The old and fragile Sikandar appeared before the unknown beings. With eyes widened and surprised look, Sikandar tried to memorize everything he was witnessing. In all his previous five deaths, Sikandar¡¯s consciousness would turn gloomy and he would regain all knowledge of his past lives when he¡¯d regain consciousness in his transcended self. At the age of five years, Sikandar would know who he was. Understanding the system almost identically each time, he only thought it would be same again. Unlucky for him, the system had changed. ¡°You are not dead, yet.¡± The lady spoke without moving her lips. She was coming near Sikandar but Sikandar could feel she wasn¡¯t walking. It was as if the void was reducing the distance between them as per the lady¡¯s will. Taking a stance on his now shaking feet, Sikandar stood tall as he prepared for the worse. ¡°Awe, look at the mortal taking a defensive stance as if he would stand a chance against us¡± The male hologram figure mocked the efforts of the old king. ¡°It will take one finger snap to erase you from existence, speak in your defense mortal. Why did you defy system¡± the lady spoke directly to Sikandar in his mind. *** Chapter 3 Chapter 3 With Sikandar explaining his idea about transcending to NG+7 and planning to see what lied beyond had intrigued the moderators as well. The fact that there was a specific title achieved by Sikandar that had deferred twice. Title: Indicted by Death [deferred, deferred] While getting indicted by those you kill was not uncommon, one have to be desperate enough with revenge to mark you with one. Getting indicted by moderator of death himself was another feat. Something unpredicted by these moderators who only managed the system, were incapable of recalling any level beyond NG+7. ¡°Mortal, NG+7 is the highest possible realm and will be the toughest you will ever live. It may as well take away your will to live¡± The lady explained. The male figure in hologram tightened his grip. Perhaps he had a taste of NG+7? ¡°Do you see the person on the rock that appears to be holographic?¡± She asked Sikandar nodded quietly. ¡°He was the moderator of NG+7 and was killed by a mere ant. It will take at least 10 years to make him a new body¡± she revealed. ¡°Think again mortal, would you risk it all on your curiosity?¡± she asked again. With a small grin on his face, Sikandar only saw this as the ultimate challenge that awaits him. The peak of transcendence and also the highest his race would ever reach. He would consider the journey beyond after beating NG+7. Deciding on the quest, Sikandar nodded again. The lady at his response frowned a little but then eased up. ¡°Then you shall have our blessing mortal. The zone is unmoderated and there is no justice system. You will be on your own your entire life.¡± [Boon Received] Blessing of ¡®The Lady¡¯: Charisma +10, Intelligence +10, Wisdom +10 To think he¡¯d be rewarded instead of getting banished to deepest circle of hell, Sikandar was very pleased. However, any plans for him to live a peaceful life in NG+7 was forcefully dropped after revelations on difficulty the world was going to be. As per the unknown beings of void dimension, they managed souls. The system was independent of actions taken by these moderators, their sole purpose was to help souls with taking their judgement. They in fact called Sikandar to their court for two reasons. Why and how he killed a reaper? The judgement was not even a question. To them, it was already a massive feat for a mere human mortal to have lived through six transcendence. [Boon Received] Blessing of ¡®The Mage¡¯: Intelligence +10, Wisdom +10, Maximum Mana +100, Mana Recovery +10 ¡°Mortal, there is a chance that system will punish you. It is very likely all your titles and skills and character build will be lost in the following life.¡± She declared ¡°We have given you these additional boons as a moderator, in case the same happens.¡± The holographic figure added. The fat figure now stood, with a finger snap, the desk vanished into thin air. So did the distance between him and the figure became short? [Boon Received] Blessing of ¡®The Lord¡¯: Intelligence +10, Wisdom +10, Strength +10, Endurance +10If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The boons are permanent, attached to your soul affinity. Even if you die quickly in NG+7 and still choose to reincarnate, you will at least keep these boons. What a decent lifeline, Sikandar wanted to jump out of joy, but chose not to do so. ¡°Let¡¯s come down to business¡± Sikandar spoke with a serious expression on his face. ¡°Why are you helping me? I even killed your moderator and even absorbed his soul.¡± He asked. The fat figure only returned a grin. After a brief silence, he explained his goals. *** ¡°I will now allow you death. Let¡¯s hope you unlock transcendence. Also, don¡¯t forget your part of the deal¡± the male figure in hologram spoke. Sikandar responded with a smile on his face and fire in his eyes, it was finally the time for this eighty two year old body to rest and a millennium old soul to transcend to a new body. As weird as it was to a normal mortal seeking death was quiet awkward and one would think such a person is depressed and suicidal. But regular logic was a thing of past for Sikandar. For only he knew the worth of death which would lead to a new peak his race would ever reach. Or so he believed. [Congratulations, you have successfully completed NG+6] Yet another cycle of life has come to an end, your journey as a mortal have come to an end. Sikandar¡¯s brows furrowed but he still kept reading the rest. With your actions in NG+6, you have been indicted by a moderator. For this you will be penalized. Congratulations, you have unlocked three options. 1. Take Judgement: All actions from first life that is NG+1, NG+2, NG+3, NG+4, NG+5, NG+6 will be judged with title points achieved. Whichever among sins and honorable deeds get more points will decide your ultimate resting location. [Inevitable] The inevitable was something that wasn¡¯t shown before. Perhaps the system was hinting Sikandar that all his efforts would be futile. For he cannot escape the inevitable.
  1. Reincarnate: The system have sensed a very desperate desire. The system grants you the permission to choose reincarnation to live a new life. You get to retain your past lives memories but they need to be unlocked. You may take the quest called [Key to soul memory] from the Sage of Dreams. Finally he could see a familiar name that always intrigued him. Sikandar barely ever read this option before, now that this was the last time witnessing the system, he thought he¡¯d also look for Sage of Dreams to see what else can he give.
Also, sage of dream quest was not available in NG+6. Despite noticing the catchy name and a so called Key to soul memory, he was never attracted towards it as he knew he¡¯d retain all memory anyway. 3. Congratulations, mortal. The system have found you worthy of providing you with a third option. Click next to purchase the option. Note: if you click and points are non-sufficient, third option will never appear before you again. NEXT. Purchase from the following 1. Transcendence: transcend your soul to a tougher, meaner and most unfair world. NG+7 is the saddest world of all creation. If you have lived through NG+7, it is as if only hell is the most fitting place for you. [1,000,000,000 points] 2. Carry an item with you: They say the dead leave their earning behind. Mortal, you have earned a chance to take with you one item of your current world. [100 points for non-magical item and price varies for magical items] 3. Create/Modify an item: you can create a new item and/or modify an item you possess as per your will. [Points based on the type of item and it¡¯s power] 4. Shop a. Mana Potions: Recover 5000 Mana instantly [10 points] b. Life Potions: Recover 5000 HP instantly [10 points] c. Stamina Potions: Recover 5000 Stamina instantly [10points] d. Ring of Resistance: Resist any ailment [250 points] (Breaks after use) e. Ring of undo death: Respawns user after death [5000000 points] (breaks after use and limited to one per user) Sikandar furrowed intensely now. He didn¡¯t remember so many options. Was it all because of NG+7 or was all of this available every time? Did his memory about the shop get erased? There were many items and even mounts and pets that Sikandar could just frown at how costly they were and considering most of his major points were deferred how could he use such points. ze. Key of Soul Memory [2,000,000,000 points] Sikandar¡¯s face fell as he looked at the item that was available for the quest in case of reincarnation was ten times costlier than transcendence itself. ¡°These figures have a lot of zeros now, it¡¯s even hard to keep a track¡± With a sigh, Sikandar stretched his arms and cracking his fingers, he sat down and opened his Soul balance. *** Chapter 4 Chapter 4 As soon as he opened the Soul balance, Sikandar¡¯s brows furrowed and if his soul had a heart, it¡¯d skip a beat or two. He could either purchase [Key to Soul memory] or purchase his ticket to transcendence. Considering how he could not remember many options he gets at the time of death and before his transcendence, the only conclusion was that not all memory is transcended and that some memory is accessible to him only when he is not in a body. The [key to soul memory] was crucial to him because of the plans he had for NG+7 plus the deal he had made with those [Moderators] were important. Any small detail missing would lead to failure. [2 billion and 46thousand points] available With a sigh, Sikandar decided that he will have to take transcendence as it was his main goal. He will have to look for ways to acquire the knowledge again in his lifetime. So he picked [Transcendence to NG+7], [System Alert: 1 billion points deducted] [Balance remaining: 1 billion and 46thousand points] 1000 x [Ring of Resistance], 1 x [Ring of undo death], [System Alert: 5,250,000 points deducted] [Balance remaining:994,796,000points] Since he still had enough points, he purchased few potions [1000 x Mana Potions, 1000 x HP Potions, 1000 x Stamina Potions, 1000 x teleportation scrolls and almost all tier 1 skill books] [Balance remaining: 994,066,000 points] The skill books were not necessarily combat specific, he felt since they were so cheap, why waste the opportunity. Although at this point, he was only gambling. There was a possibility that he already knew many of these skills. But with so many points remaining, he didn¡¯t bother. Now it was time for trying the best part. [3. Create/Modify an item] Sikandar had lived 6 lives so far and almost all of them had a wide variety of cultural, historical, technological differences. Like NG+6 was very modern and had no magic. It was so advanced in its own way but it was nothing as compared to his fourth world where his empire was so advanced, they even colonized other planets. Although Sikandar was not a king in that world, he did feel jealous of emperor. His knowledge of all lives were so vast and immense, he decided that this time in NG+7. He¡¯d have enough items to help him on his quests. First of all, he knew the system was going to punish him for killing its moderator. So there was going to be a catch in buying all these items. How can he get born with all these items he purchased? [Item made: Soul Storage]: Soul Storage (soul item), Greed knows no limit and the necessities depend upon how deep the pocket is. A Greedy King is a level above all greed. Store all non-living things in this storage. The storage capacity is unlimited. (Cannot store another soul item) [Balance remaining: 244,066,000 points] Sikandar giggled as he read how system declared how greedy he was. Like an evil villain being told about how bad he was, Sikandar rolled on floor holding his stomach, laughing more than he should. His happiness didn¡¯t last too long after noticing this bag cost him 7.5 billion points. Sikandar didn¡¯t know if he should be happy with the bag or cry for the lost points. Now after thinking for a moment, he thought he can¡¯t really carry entire soul memory without [key of Soul memory] so he thought he should make a [notebook] [Item not-made: Notebook]: Notebook (soul item), one can write down notes and can keep them even after death/birth. Poor souls who cannot afford [Key to soul memory] often make this object, not knowing the cost is 10,000,000,000 points. Much more than [Key to soul memory] [System Alert: Insufficient Soul Balance] The system was obviously pissed at Sikandar, but to think it will act like a bratty girl, mocking him at every opportunity was little awkward. Now that this idea got dropped, Sikandar sat down concentrating on what he should do to fix the problem at hand. He looked at options that were available to him. He kept on reading the third option in this [soul shop] [3. Create/Modify an item] After thinking for a moment, an idea clicked. ¡°I can modify an existing item.¡± He declared with eyes wide. Of all things he had done in all his lives, he had never praised himself until now. [System Alert: Item claimed from past lives: cellphone]: 100 points ¡°So cheap¡± he said, wondering if he should try more items. Not only were his possessions in sixth life available to him, but all. Quickly, he recalled all necessary items in all his six lives, from weapons arsenal, to science books, manuals, tutorials, DVDs, a laptop, solar charger, inverter, air conditioner, swords, staffs, crown of his first life that had stats to wisdom, intelligence and strength. Almost all possessions were with him now in his soul bag. ¡°I wonder what that priest who used to tell me that I cannot take my possessions after death would feel like¡± He giggled satisfyingly.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°You are born empty handed and you die empty handed¡± he added mockingly speaking to himself. Afterwards, considering he was the dictator of his country, he planned on taking military items but received a message. [System Alert: the object is not of your possessions] Apparently, the system did not consider an asset of the country, personal possession. Moving on, he placed all gold coins he had in the bag too. There was no point in taking currency notes as neither were they of any value in a world where there was no exchange. Bringing his attention back to his [cellphone] he started modifying it as per his use. [System alert: item modified successfully] [Soul Cellphone (soul item): store information, take pictures and videos, contact anyone, and view all maps. (Item can be used on souls as well] [Balance remaining: 124,066,000 points] ¡°Nice cheat item¡± he claimed pleasingly. Now was the time to use the cellphone to his advantage. He opened the camera of the cellphone and recorded his message. Pleased with the outcome, he happily placed the cellphone in his bag. [System alert: item rejected] Hitting his head on a pillar nearby, he grimaced as he forgot that he couldn¡¯t place another soul item in his bag. Now that it was a soul item, he decided to go with the flow. Defeated by the rules, sighing he chose to start the process to transcendence. [System Alert: Transcendence interrupted. Carrying an item is not allowed] Annoyed Sikandar was imagining a little bratty girl laughing at him mockingly. The system was being too unfair. His soul literally cried. So Sikandar sat down and started reading all the remaining options that were available to him. This time he found a small icon on the smallest corner of the screen visible only to him. Earlier he thought it was just a design. It was a hexagonal shape drawn in pure golden lines. A Bluetooth like sign was drawn above it with a little darker gold color. Apparently he had assumed that it was the mark of the system. Upon placing his finger on it, a message hovered. [Mark of the banished: system will ensure roadblocks in your path unless you take the trial] Sikandar then immediately clicked the button [You have chosen to take the trial of the banished] You will be teleported in 5¡­4¡­3¡­2¡­1 His eyes opened to see that he was floating in some fluid. As far as he could look beyond the fluid was a wall that was somewhere between orang and skin colored. Reaching out his hands, he noticed that he had no fingers. Grimaced after observing what had happened to his body, he noticed that it wasn¡¯t just his hands. Assuming that he was given birth as differently abled at the beginning, his surprise only kept increasing. After some observation, he concluded that these walls were actually a shell. And he was in an egg. It was no longer a question of being born with deformity but instead his landed on a question that was¡­ ¡°What the fuck am I?¡± he asked while crying. *** This was a world with lots of greenery. There were huge mountains covered in snow. Some even floated in air. The scene was so beautiful that if a painter painted it, a soul title was a must. With clouds hovering above the sky, a gigantic bird flew threw. After crossing the valley, there was a forest on a plain land. Heading towards the fattest tree, he landed on a branch. A Huge nest was placed and in there was a single egg. Judging by its color, the egg was ready to hatch. The bird titled its head as it approached. Before its sharp beak could reach the egg shell, it started to fall apart. With all his might in his tiny body, Sikandar swam through the fluid, hitting the shell of the egg. He had underestimated the tiny beak he had which his brain was constantly ignoring like it ignored his nose when he was a human. Finally, after little struggle, he could see the light for the first time. He noticed the blue sky was brighter than all his previous world experiences. Happy to see a new world and was very satisfied with the outcome. As soon as the blurry vision sharpened and now he started to see the surrounding. In his mind, he was also curious to see his parents. Suddenly, he saw a giant bird that was gazing at him with a titled head. Looking directly into its eyes, Sikandar¡¯s tiny heart skipped few beats. The instincts kicked in and every cell in his body screamed to take cover. Not knowing what was happening, he rushed towards a small hole in the nest where his egg was placed. With a swing of feet, the egg shell fell off the giant tree. Now the cornered poor featherless bird had nowhere to run. With a desperate will to survive, he yelled with his tiny beak putting every ounce of strength. But this was the system punishing Sikandar. He could see his parents who had fled to another branch. Their size was much smaller as compared to this predator. Being born right away, he did not understand the emotions. But he had seen animals hunt before. He knew regardless of his mother¡¯s attempt. His death was inevitable. The giant carnivorous eagle type bird had already marked him as his meal. In a panic he saw every possible escape routes and in this process, his eyes met with his mother. The mother was too calm and had her head bent but her eyes had not given up. With as little knowledge he had about how his species really moved, it was difficult to judge what she would be doing next. As soon as the beak was approaching Sikandar¡¯s body, the mother bird crashed on the giant bird. Hitting its eyes with her beak, she damaged it. Now the bleeding giant bird was furious. With all the efforts from his mother, Sikandar now chose to escape further. He appreciated her efforts but he knew she would die. It was better to respect her sacrifice and ensure survival. Running on the branch after crossing over the wall of nest, Sikandar saw a small hole on the main trunk to which the branch was attached to. After running with his tiny feet, almost also bleeding as the soft feet were not hardened enough for such an action. Plus the rough and spiky surface of the tree branch was also responsible for the bruises. He rolled, randomly changed paths to confuse the predator not even looking back and not even caring about the fate of his parent. He dived into the hole. As soon as he dived, his mother was thrown towards that hole. She instantly stood up and now covered the hole. By now she was covered in wounds and was bleeding intensely. It was then when the heart of the former dictator melts. Tears filled his eyes and a desperate will to have his mother survive, he cast a healing spell that he knew from past life. Not even thinking he would succeed, he had made the attempt and it worked. Maybe it was always his desperate will that bent the system rules for him. Now that his spells were working, he found that he could beat this predator. Getting such resolve, he then hardened his body with [iron flesh] he suddenly appeared in front of his mother who was about to be stabbed by the predator¡¯s beak. [Lightening storm] [Incinerating Bolt] [Javelin of Light] After taking direct hits, the predator was all wounded. Its burnt body reminded him of a roasted chicken. The fact that the bird was still alive after taking this much damage, tension erupted on the little bird¡¯s face. But soon he discovered the predator bird had dropped the idea of hunt and cared more on avoiding getting hunted. As soon as the big bird jumped off the branch, Sikandar was prepared with another skill. The giant bird had been damaged enough that its flight abilities were greatly handicapped. [Soul capture] a skill Sikandar had stolen from the absorbed reaper. A scythe came to existence and was thrown towards the fleeing bird. Like a boomerang it reached the predator bird, slit its neck off, absorbed the soul and now returned towards the little bird. In a speck of time, Sikandar caught the scythe with his beak and made it go away. He immediately addressed all injuries his mother had on her poor body and saw her show the motherly affection towards the little bird. With a complete satisfaction and confirmed safety, he proceeded to hug his mother. But before it could happen he got a message and his face fell. Congratulations, you have completed the level 1 of the trial. Click [continue] to proceed. *** Chapter 5 Chapter 5 Just when his new found love for his mother was realized, the system ended the connection. The entire planet, his mother who was still hugging her, all disappeared. He was now back in the place he was earlier. It was similar to a void location where moderators had summoned him. But it was still a lot different. This was a gray area representing a place between life and death, light and darkness or heaven and hell. But these thoughts were just in back of Sikandar¡¯s head. Right now, the fallen dictator was emotional. Tears were dripping down his eyes. The [trial of banished souls] was not just a test of his wits or decisions. It was also a punishment. If only level 1 left a toll on his mind, mentally breaking him apart. One would only frown at how difficult the oncoming levels were going to be. [Trial of the banished level 2: Teleportation will commence in 5¡­4¡­3¡­2¡­1] Sikandar now opened his eyes, but he couldn¡¯t see anything. It was a total darkness and total silence. He felt like he was suffocating. He knew he was alive; he could touch and could feel his body. But when he tried to speak, he couldn¡¯t. As per his understanding, he felt like he was lying somewhere. Judging by the surface on which he lay, he concluded that it was a bed. He felt like he should get up to explore more about his surroundings. After he sat, he now tried to stand up. However, his feet never touched the ground. Not being able to understand just how high the bed really was. He picked the pillow on bed and tried to use it to identify the depth. To his surprise only half way through the end of the pillow touched the ground. Sikandar now furrowed his eyebrows intensely. What kind of trial is this? Not only did he not have three main senses. Where he could neither speak nor see nor hear. He was even crippled. What a suffocating and depressing life this was. The toll on his mind this time was so much that even a minute felt like an eternity. He even started getting ideas of committing suicide. But because he got such ideas, he understood he must do the opposite to complete the trial successfully. Suddenly, someone pushed him back towards his bed. As he lay, a hand pressed his chest. He caught the hand and now felt like it was a woman¡¯s hand. With other hand she pressed on Sikandar¡¯s face with a pillow. With a grim expression, Sikandar understood what was going on. Immediately he tried to push the woman off but his hand landed on her face. The region he touched was probably cheeks and he could feel his fingers get wet. This made him conclude, the woman was crying as she was trying to kill him. Of all things, Sikandar was not naive. He understood the emotions behind her actions immediately. But his job here was survival. With combat experience of six lives, it was a piece of cake for Sikandar to knock off the woman, but he wanted to do it the right way.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Turning his face to the side, he secured a path for breathing. He took a deep breath and held the hands that were pushing the pillow on his face. Slowly sliding his hand, he reached hers and held it comfortably. With this, the force behind her hands started reducing. With now minimal strength in her hands, he felt that she tried to retract them. Although he wasn¡¯t holding them tightly, he knew the woman felt he was suffering in such a life. She felt like she should help him get rid of the suffocating experience. To some extent, he could understand. He sat again with all his remaining strength and held the woman¡¯s hand tightly. The woman now crying silently broke down further. It was as if the boy was assuring, whatever suffocating life he was living, it was enough. To continue to exist was more important than such a depression. The will to keep existing. Sikandar could only smile internally as he understood, that regardless of the situation one is in, somewhere deep within one would still want to continue to live. Or so he thought. His trial was temporary suffering. He knew the way out. He could speak for those that were doomed to this fate for their whole lives. The woman who appear to be convinced that the boy whom she was going to kill, wanted to live, sighed in relief. Breaking down further, she cried loudly while hugging the boy tightly. [Congratulations, you have completed level 2 of the trial. Click [Continue] to proceed. With a wry smile, Sikandar could only recall how he had killed one of his deformed children in his second life. He had felt he done the child a favor. Now he simply felt like shit. The trial was getting too personal with every level. [Trial of the banished level 3: Teleportation will commence in 5¡­4¡­3¡­2¡­1] Of all lives Sikandar had lived, he found himself in a similar but a lot stranger surrounding. He stood among foot soldiers, wearing full body plate armor. Holding a greatsword in his hand, he notices that he is swinging it overhead. As he looked around, everyone was doing the same. Sikandar wanted to look around, break out of the parade to which he had no emotional attachment. He found he did not have free will in this one. Instead, he found his thoughts secluded in the eyes of the being. It was as if he was just inside someone else¡¯s head. Concluding the scenario, he tried to access the memories of the foot soldier. To his surprise, it only took his will to unlock everything the foot soldier, whose name is Mathew. Mathew was born to a very poor family, he never saw his father. His poor mother had raised him along with his three sisters. His mother was a good weaver and would weave silk and cotton clothes. Due to poverty, two of his sisters were sold to slavery by his uncle. This had crushed Mathew¡¯s heart. He confronted his uncle but he was the powerful human trafficker. He was beaten by his men. Due to this shock, his mother turned mad when she came to know about it. While looking for their missing sisters, Mathew had more to worry about. One morning, Mathew woke up only to find his mother missing. He looked everywhere to no avail. He and his sister then even approached city guards, only to have their mother pronounced dead without a body to be found. He knew the lazy guards were never going to be helpful. Disappointed with the actions done by such guards, the poor siblings then returned to their ordinary lives. If all of this was not enough torture for the poor boy, one night the city which was near the border of the Holy Kingdom was attacked by neighboring Kingdom. After taking over the city, the foreign soldiers started killing every male in the village and enslaved women. Mathew who was still a boy was then hidden by his sister who had forced him to wear her clothes. Acting as a woman, the siblings decided to flee. At late night, the siblings made their move. Walking on toes, they slipped past all foreign guards. Just when they had escaped their city, they were caught. Captured by unknown people, they were placed in a wagon. Sikandar tried to appraise the fat man that was sitting in the wagon and was looking at the siblings with red eyes. Smiling like a perverted human who could see nothing beyond lust. Unfortunately his [appraisal] did not work. There were three possibilities to this. First was that he couldn¡¯t appraise inside someone¡¯s memory. Second possibility was that Mathew lacked appraisal hence he couldn¡¯t see either and third possibility was that if the man had [appraisal resistance]. Sikandar could only narrow his eyes as he continued looking at the memory. It was as if watching a movie and knowing where the plot was going to, he could only chew his nails. *** Chapter 6: Third Trial Chapter 6 The man asked the details about the city which was captured by the guards. Mathew who was still young, trusted people easily. His sister was older than Mathews and she was very warry of the situation they were in. The man turned out to be a noble of Holy Kingdom and he took to himself to take care of the siblings. The impression of the man had improved tremendously. As a noble and priest of the Kingdom, he had sent Mathews under the care for another nobleman. Sara was however, married to the fat priest. As much disturbing this was to Sikandar who had a taste to modern world, it seemed to be a norm in the world of Mathews. Years passed and Mathews grew embracing the religion of the holy man. He was brought up with utmost care. The values of religion held more importance than even his life. As a foot soldier to the Holy Kingdom, he would go to different territories and under the commanding officers, he would shed blood like a butcher. Time passed and his unshakable faith grew even deeper. It was not just his religion that drove him crazy but also the social status. He was respected by commoners of his Kingdom. The holy man who was now a husband to his older sister. If he were to show a spec of disagreement, his sister would face consequences. The holy man turned out to be an even more aggressive right wing follower. ¡°Burn them all alive, Heretics must die. Burn even the children for the lord cannot save them.¡± The commander of Mathews commanded. The foot soldiers eliminated poor people one after another. Those who were captured would then be tied and burned. There was only scream that reached the sky with smoke. At last, it was Mathew¡¯s turn to put fire on all captured heretics. Not only was it a punishment for the poor people who were captured, it was also a test to foot soldiers. A training to make their hearts strong. The stronger the hearts, the powerful the army would become. Mathews, with complete control and calmness picked a torched. Proceeded with utmost confidence. There were two things in his mind right now. He will be promoted now that he have completed several of such tests. With promotion, he will now be able to shift near his sister¡¯s house. She was his only family left after all. With a grin on his face, he so excited to kill the heretics that he didn¡¯t even consider if these so called heretics were same as him. Humans. ¡°You all are sentenced to death by fire. For you are heretics, users of magic. Those who look for power other than our god is a Heretic. Your children who born from you will have the same connection to other power source. So they are heretics as well.¡± Mathews announced. Justifying his actions with those words, he proceeded with the torch in his hand. ¡°But we are not mages, there is some confusion¡± A man from the prisoners yelled with a panic. ¡°Kyaaaa¡± the man could only scream in pain. ¡°Silence Heretic, how dare you to speak in front of us. Even if you are not a mage, you are prisoner of war. You are beyond saving and you shall perish for speaking up to us. Peasants should know there place¡± Another foot soldier yelled back at the man, slicing his throat. Mathews proceeded, lighting people one after another. Not caring and also not looking into the eyes of those he was killing. Deep down there may be some kindness in him however, he was trying his best to suppress it. Feeling if he should revolt like other few who did in past. A human could so long only do enough cruelty. With Sikandar still stuck in the mind of Mathews, unable to do anything other than observing. Even the former cruel dictator was pissed with the barbaric brutality. Shaking with rage all he could do was scream. It wasn¡¯t that he was ever kind but the first hand torture and slaughter was very painful even to him. ¡°What the fuck has this world come to?¡± Furious Sikandar could only yell.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. He may have ordered to attack countries, but he always attacked nations with armies. A fair fight. He truly did believe in fair chances. Not this bullshit. ¡°Killing people like some live stock is not a true power¡± Sikandar kept on barking inside Matthews¡¯s head. The foot soldier however, had long forgotten to listen to his consciousness. Let alone some non-existent being with only ¡®read-only¡¯ access to his memory. Mathews proceeded further to kill more heretics. This time he noticed there were three women. Two of them were holding the third very tightly. The two women were young and good looking. They were holding onto an old woman who appeared to be wrinkled. Her hair were already falling off and whatever remained on her skull was gray hair. Mathews, out of curiosity chose to look at their faces once more before he would kill them off. ¡°Ma¡­.Mathews?¡± The old woman asked with a confused look on her face. Mathews immediately recalled who was standing right in front of him. Shaken with the thoughts, he took few steps back. He dropped the torch and placed his hands on his ears. Wanting to scream but he feels chocked. It was as if he had lost his vocal chords. Instant shock took over his body. The frozen foot soldier then suddenly realized a hand landed on his shoulders. ¡°What happened comrade, finish the job¡± the man whose hand lay on his shoulder commanded. ¡°H¡­.How could she be a heretic, she is¡­..¡± Mathews mumbled ¡°She is what comrade, how do you know her?¡± He asked raising his voice. With this Mathews¡¯s tension grew further. He was attracting a lot of attention from everyone. Not just other prisoners, even foot soldiers, cavalrymen were listening to their conversation. Even the holy man with whom his elder sister was married to was present. The pressure rose as the commander asked again. Now the people started gossiping. ¡°To think a heretic infiltrated our ranks¡± Someone tried to whisper but couldn¡¯t hold it low. Sweat was dripping down Mathews¡¯s forehead like a shower. Deep within him, Sikandar was laughing. ¡°You fucking deserved this, you fucking scoundrel¡± He yelled while smelling like a maniac. ¡°Thank god you are alive Mathews, I thought you and your elder sister had died when foreign kingdom attacked¡± His mother said in a satisfied tone. ¡°Look, I even found your sisters. They are with me.¡± She added. A frowned Mathews could only cry further. What an unfortunate reunion this was. ¡°I¡­ I¡± Mathews currently dumbfounded could only mumble. The shock was too much to bear. If he tries to rescue his mother and sisters, he will die with them and his elder sister too will be killed as a descendant of heretic. If he kills his mother and sister here, he can continue to live a lavish life and his elder sister too will continue to live in peace. But how could a son kill his own family? Just how? One moment, Mathews would step forward towards the fallen torch, the next moment he would pause. ¡°Remember, if you fail to execute them, you will be charged with treason. If you kill them, promotion awaits you and you will become a noble. Take the decision wisely¡± The commander behind him whispered in his ears. The commander was now smiling. He had already eavesdropped at their conversation. He knew full well that Mathews was a son of heretic. There was very likely no promotion waiting. He was basically a source to entertainment. Or maybe he would be forgiven if he really kills them? He counter questioned for the possibility. Sikandar who could hear Mathew¡¯s thoughts could only face palm with disappointment. ¡°Why am I stuck in this fucker¡± he yelled looking towards the roof of Mathew¡¯s skull. ¡°Will you shut up, I am thinking¡± Mathews said inwardly. ¡°Eh? You could listen to me? Sikandar asked in an amused tone. ¡°Of course who wouldn¡¯t listen to such a fucking loud mouth¡± Mathews thought back ¡°Since when can you listen to me? Why are you reacting now?¡± Sikandar asked with a frown on his face. ¡°Well since I saw my mother. I heard that you were so happily saying I deserved this. I will kill you some day.¡± Mathew said ¡°Ah you fucking deserved it nonetheless you fucking brat¡± Sikandar responded with his eyes closed and smile all over his face. ¡°What do you know about my life to judge me?¡± He asked ¡°I know it all. Your life was like a movie¡± Sikandar replied. ¡°What¡¯s a movie?¡± he asked. ¡°Never mind that, so what¡¯s next¡± Sikandar finally coming back to his senses asked. With a grin, Mathews said ¡°I have a proposal¡± A trial brought Sikandar a deal. Was it a blessing in disguise or a test? Sikandar could only frown his brows. Snapping his fingers, Mathews stood in a different posture now. Swinging his arms and yawning a little. ¡°Ah it¡¯s been a while since I have felt my body¡± Mathew¡¯s lip ends touched ear to ear as Sikandar¡¯s consciousness took over Mathew¡¯s body. Now snapping his neck and doing sit ups for a few minutes, he looked at the size of army that were looking at him with a confused look. Had Mathews lost it finally? Will he abandon his life over a heretic? Few questioned. ¡°So it seems you have made the wrong choice after all you. You fucking son of heretic.¡± The commander yelled in a mocking tone not noticing the change. The commander swung his broadsword and as it was approaching the weak point of Mathew¡¯s armor. The neck, which was supposed to be sliced in a flash of second. The man who was supposed to be beheaded in a moment¡¯s notice. He was standing, smiling and holding the blade with bare hand. Rather it was just his index finger and a thumb. The commander¡¯s eyes widened. This person standing in front of him was probably the true heretic. Even the god would admit that Sikandar was in fact a defaulter. A sinner. These superstitious followers were just pawns and it was obvious. A mage user was one who drew power from other than divinity. They drew powers from mana. This man, was different. No mana was used. He simply stopped the sword with bare hands. There was no enchantment provided to foot soldiers, no blessings were provided as there was no light around the body. This man stopped a blessed commander¡¯s sword. With a hand. Commander panicked, leaving his sword he swung back towards his cavalry men. ¡°He is the true heretic, attack together¡± He yelled with a frowned look on his face. *** Chapter 7 Chapter 7 [Title gained: Kill monger] Points: 5000 [Achievement: To gain title during trial of the banished] Points: deferred [Achievement: To gain title without being alive] Points: deferred [Achievement: To gain title before birth] Points: deferred It would not make sense at first. The same Sikandar was so powerless in his sixth life that he had to stealth away and literally crawl on floor to protect himself. He was fighting normal humans who did not possess any magic or blessings. He had barely managed to survive, just so he could die a natural death. Right now it was as if this was not Sikandar who was fighting. He was a demon lord that brought destruction upon this land. One would think how did he get so powerful? After the commander gave everyone orders to eliminate Mathews, Sikandar who now controlled Mathew¡¯s body jumped. He jumped and in a flash he appeared behind the commander. [Sword of light] A blade made of light surrounded the arm of Sikandar as he slashed it. The beheaded head of the commander had only shocked expression as his last. With eyes wide open yet darkness taking over from the sides of his vision. The soul of commander then entered a crystal orb that was embedded on Sikandar¡¯s hand inside Mathew¡¯s mind. With a grin on his face, Sikandar immediately started looking towards everyone who was capable of giving orders. With Mathew¡¯s memory at disposal, he didn¡¯t face much issue and was aware of how the army strategically fought. Dodging arrows and swords, Sikandar reached the second in command and then third and so on. All that was left were foot soldiers and few cavalry men. Many choosing to evade while others still brave enough to continue the grind. Swinging their weapons in air. For Mathews was now magically so agile, they could not aim or land a hit. Sikandar now lost in the dance would only recall the old days of his battle. Rejoicing every moment and killing anyone unfortunate enough to come near him. ¡°Foot soldiers surround him, archers step back and form eagle formation. Vanguards step forward and cavalry stand behind the vanguards.¡± A veteran cavalry soldier stepped up. With all panic, many soldiers totally ignored him but few still listened. While considering he had eliminated all potential leaders of the army, Sikandar had eased up. But this turned out to be a little costly as when Sikandar found himself surrounded, he only raised his eyebrows. ¡°You are surrounded Satan, meet your end today¡± The veteran soldier yelled as he announced Sikandar¡¯s death. Listening to this, Sikandar was first shocked at how remarkably this man had brought the moral of his army back. Grimacing a little, Sikandar chanted some words. Hidning his worried look, Sikandar looked right in the eyes of the veteran soldier and said. ¡°Might I know your name good sir?¡±Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The veteran soldier considered that this foot soldier now understood the position he was in. He just wanted to know the name of person who would kill him. With a pleased look, he responded ¡°I am called Lucas, son of Marcus the third.¡± He responded. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you Lucus, would you like to join hands? I might have some use for you after this.¡± Sikandar responded. Crap, Sikandar yelled inwardly. He had forgotten this was a trial and it was very likely he couldn¡¯t use this guy. ¡°Join you? Are you mad heretic? I think it¡¯s your death that left a heavy toll on your tiny brain¡± declared Lucas standing tall with pride and smile on his face. Sighing Sikandar just used his hand. With his index finger he signed everyone to look above. A small spark and then a ball of fire started forming in the sky. With increasing size, the soldiers started to panic yet again. As soon as Lucas saw this, even he panicked and then yelled ¡°Kill the heretic and the ball of fire should stop¡± But it was too late. With smile so wide, Mathew¡¯s teeth were visible. With a snap of his finger, he cast another spell. [Spear of Andrieh] Countless spear shaped roots came out of the ground. The roots penetrated the bottom areas of many foot soldiers and cavalries. The flashy fireball on the sky was meant to attract attention and the spear from ground was to finish the job. Around twenty three foot soldiers and six cavalrymen apart from the veteran Lucas remained who had managed to dodge at the right time. ¡°Interesting¡± Sikandar said in a low voice as he smiled again. The tied heretics and even Mathew¡¯s mother and sisters were just dumbfounded while witnessing the massacre. ¡°Bastard¡± The veteran soldier screamed ¡°You have no honor¡± He added. ¡°As fitting for a true Heretic isn¡¯t it?¡± Sikandar responded in a mocking tone. Lucas was a healthy bald man with wide mustache. He wore full plate heavy armor which was made of Steel. His weapon of choice was a giant but one handed sword and a wooden shield. He appeared to have a totem that was tied to his waist. Upon [appraisal] Sikandar saw [Totem of Warrior] Status: Gift from daughter Str: +1, Wis: +1 Resistance to panic +1 Wearer gets additional leadership as a boon in case necessary. Sikandar only smiled and saw Lucas worthy of his praise. It had been too long since he found someone as worthy. ¡°You call me a heretic and yet you wear a totem of mage? Talk about hypocrisy¡± Sikandar taunted. ¡°You dare insult my daughter¡¯s gift heretic? This is a totem of warrior, our families gift it to us and our god enchants it with his divinity¡± Lucas reasoned. Still the totem had no divinity status. On second thought, he did not even find one of them with really divine blessings. They were just plain boons. It was too awkward for Siknadar to really persuade the people in front of him. With a poker face, he resumed his assault. To think the heretics were these soldiers instead, how laughable. Sikandar smiled inwardly. This time Sikandar opted to go even more creative with his tactis. But as soon as he was about to create flying swords made of light magic, something suddenly changed. The air around became heavier and the clouds covered the sky. Lightning and thunder emerged. ¡°Our god have listened. Thank god. Prepare for your eternal rest Heretic¡± The veteran Lucas declared with a cheery voice. Sikandar only narrowed his eyes as he witness a man whose eyes were shining from lighting landed between him and Lucas. With wind acting weirdly and sky filled with thunderous sound and lightning. Sikandar took few steps back. Without any exchange of words, both Sikandar and the unknown figure disappeared. Only clashes of lightning and stone could be heard. Lucas couldn¡¯t even believe his eyes. How in the hell this heretic was going toe to toe with the figure he worshipped? A mere foot soldier whom he had complete information on since his childhood. As a veteran soldier, he was briefed with every new recruit about their lives, their mentality, etc. There was no such information which was being witnessed by him. If he was this powerful since the beginning, was he just playing around? Lucas felt shaken by this turn of events and fell to his knees. All broken. In a sudden explosion, the lightning fell over several foot soldiers and cavalrymen burning them to dust. The lightning was result of their god losing patience around Sikandar. He went all out not caring about surrounding it seemed. With fear all over their faces, remaining alive soldiers fled. Leaving Lucas alone on the battlefield. Who himself took cover behind a giant rock that had emerged from the ground. *** Chapter 8: Retreat Chapter 8 The vibe of the battle had changed immensely. Sikandar could no longer just fool around. The being in front of him was no joke. A frowned Sikandar who was equally shocked was left with little time to adapt such a drastic change in battle. Jumping around and dodging the lightening and then parrying the dagger this being usually attacked made Sikandar recall something. This being was fighting in a familiar pattern. While thinking a small cut appeared on the back of Mathew¡¯s body. A painful scream came out of Mathew¡¯s while he was still observing from within his mind. ¡°Tch¡­ He¡¯s fast and would not let me think much¡± Sikandar calculated This time Sikandar strategized a flashy fire ball exploding and catching attention from the being. Magic arrow launched from its blind spot and with a foot hitting hard on the ground launched few spears made of roots up towards the being. A three way attack was dodged as if they were child¡¯s play. Sikandar now grimaced and brought forward a little grin. He inwardly spoke ¡°interesting¡± AS if he had seen a new milestone. As if he had found a being he had yet to surpass. Or maybe it was just the beings good luck. Still Sikandar now brought his complete attention. He chose a new stance as if he was meditating. Standing on one foot and another on his knees. Left hand on his waist and right hand forming a sign. A sign that looked like numerical digit one. Sikandar brought forward his screen and took a look at all spells and boons that were available right now. Name: Mathews Foster (Sikandar Azam) Class: foot soldier Level: 3 Attributes: STR: 13 (+200), INT: 02(+200), WIS: 09(+200), DEX: 10(+200), VIT: 12 (+200) Skills of host: Sword Mastery (lvl 4), Archery (lvl 1), Woodcutting (lvl 8), Shield Mastery (lvl 3) Spells Known by host: None Boon on host: Possessed by banished soul [indefinite] Rolling his eyes as Sikandar frowned how the system was punishing him. Limiting his base stats to only 200 while his real stats were over 900. He now looked at available skills from his arsenal. Skills of the banished soul: Active - Spear of Andrieh (lvl 51), Magic Arrows (lvl 102), Light Blade (lvl 93), Raise Undead (lvl 29), Teleport (max), Summon Automated weapons (lvl 34), Summon Golem (lvl 9), Summon demon (lvl 48), Soul Capture (lvl 1), fast forward (lvl 58), appraisal (max), Iron Flesh (lvl 96), Microscopic vision (lvl 25), Weakness spotter (lvl 36), Healing Palm (lvl 196), Meditation (max) Passive: Empower (max), Stealth (lvl 1), Regeneration (lvl 98), and Recovery (lvl 50) Spells known by Soul: Lightning Storm (lvl 98), Incinerating Bolt (lvl 104), Javelin of Light (lvl 239), Fireball (lvl 201) Boon on Soul: Blessing of the Mage, Blessing of the Lady, Blessing of the Lord [indefinite] Sikandar frowned as this was too less. He had not touched these in his NG+6 life but still he remembered he had tons of many more spells. In defeat he could only conclude the system limited his abilities to suit the trial.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. He could only hope that he would get them back once he is finally born in NG+7. ¡°Are you done?¡± The being who just landed in front of Sikandar spoke in a confused state. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you attack me when you had chance?¡± Sikandar asked him in an awkward tone. The being plainly smiled as they resumed their battle. Lucas could only frown at this. How the god he worshipped was actually enjoying the battle. But the man he called heretic had far surpassed all his expectations. Every move he would calculate, would be ruined as the foreseeing became pointless. Holding his head tight as he could no longer follow the combat. Lucas sat as he rested his back on the rock. Wondering who would be victorious. He was witnessing a battle he had never seen before. He witnessed a battle beyond his league. ¡°You¡¯re pretty good for a foot soldier¡± The figure said as they exchanged blows. ¡°Sikandar chose to remain silent¡± To him this was just a job. The target was to survive and pass the trial. He wouldn¡¯t pay no attention to whatever mind games this being wanted to play with him. ¡°Which level of a trial is this anyway?¡± The being asked with a smile on his face. The sheer confidence in the eyes of this being as he said made Sikandar grimace. Even though Sikandar wanted to hide the turmoil of emotions, he was simply read by the mysterious figure he was battling. The changes in expression further widened the smile on the person who was calling himself a deity. The emotions and the shock disappeared shortly. Of all things, Sikandar had experiences of six lives and as an ex monarch, he knew how to come out of such turns of events. ¡°Ah, so you don¡¯t even know what the trial is for? Haha you truly are clueless aren¡¯t you?¡± The figure asked. Until now, Sikandar had a theory. The system wanted him dead and fail in trial, while he attempted to remove the banished title. Now that he thought again, why would system even give him a chance? What was the upper goal? He was just another soul who did wrong things, got banished and died. System could have revoked access to transcendence altogether. ¡°Yes, I know that look. It appears you are getting there.¡± The figure mocked again. With a grimace and furrowed eye brows, Sikandar tackled the being. Exchanging blows after blows. All while calculating and thinking the real reasons. The being also went silent and started to wonder how high this mortal being has his endurance leveled. At this point, the strange entity had planned to tire his opponent out. With enough confidence in going toe to toe for elongated periods of time, the being never fought anyone who lasted this long. There was chaos hidden behind the cold and calm face of this worshipped being. Suddenly, he broke the ice that was formed between the two. Smashing his staff on his knee, he created a giant shockwave that separated the two. Being thrown far away, Sikandar stood as soon as he could only to notice, the being was floating in the air. He had positioned himself far beyond his [Light Javelin]¡¯s reach. Understanding the intention even Sikandar stopped. ¡°I give up; yes you heard it right mortal. I concede. You are too powerful to not fight seriously and I am planning to reserve some power. We can settle this some other day¡± The being said in an extremely calm tone yet his body posture where clearly ready to engage again. ¡°Okay?¡± the confused Sikandar responded in an asking tone. Hearing this, the being responded ¡°To go toe to toe with a Qeorst, you deserve to know my name human. I am called Oklarth Murik¡± He disappeared into mist as he completed his sentence. Down on his knees, Sikandar started to show signs of toll Mathew¡¯s body had taken. Both Sikandar and Mathews were on their limit. Even to Sikandar, he was a worthy opponent. He in a way respected the being for his wisdom and the choice of stopping their futile war and giving priority to what was important. He respected the being by remembering his name. ¡°Oklarth Murik, I shall remember the name¡± he mumbled as he entered a note in his [Soul Cellphone]. Chapter 9: The death of a dream Chapter 9 Odin 13th, 12048 Under the three full moons, the night sky also had aura caused from thick clouds underneath. One would think of it as a natural beauty to have many moons, but it was actually a disaster. A rogue asteroid had hit a nearby planet¡¯s moon which ended up leaving orbit to its regular planet. On coming closer to ¡®Nemura¡¯ it simply started orbiting the planet. All would be okay but the orbit was not very steady and the researchers and stargazers of the planet would always predict end of the world every now and then. For the new moon was orbiting anti clockwise while the older two moons orbited clockwise direction. Perhaps this was what an end would fit a planet with so much bloodshed? Many thought that way and many deferred from that. ¡°We may have had our differences but this is not an outcome worthy of our existence¡± a man shouted in a conference. ¡°Tell that to the native inhabitants of this world we crushed, settled and are still killing them¡± Another yelled back. Turns out they were both settlers and their arguments made no differences. The lives of native race were unchanged. They were enslaved, captured and among those who fought back were hunted. They had no political standings and had no common languages, even their cultural differences were on extreme differences. The distrust, the incompatibility was obvious and there was no way the settlers would leave. Their home planet had already been destroyed. Colonel Jack was a settler¡¯s army officer and he was tasked with clearing out the new land from the native race so they could settle additional people that were still somewhere in space, seeking new home. The area of Northern Lands was a beautiful place with mountains and rivers. The natural flora and fauna made it look even more beautiful. Between the mountains, in a valley was the village of Rimstones. It was quite well developed as the population of the village reached around 50000 people. One of the largest villages the planet had that belonged to native race. The natives of the planet were in fact also not just simple beings. The village had different sects and each sect killed each other as there was internal conflict over who was right regarding what happened centuries ago. They had divided themselves into five different sects each holding their own values. The settlers who had landed in the planet had made good use of their internal conflicts to weaken them. However, upon realizing their overall strength, they abandoned the policy of divide and rule. It was not necessary and judged that they could take over without much plotting. In a way, one would say fair enough. The native¡¯s fault was that they could no longer defend themselves and hence they were captured. The entire universe worked that way. ¡°The third moon orbit is getting unstable again and barely missed collision with another moon¡± news was a thing on this planet and both settlers and natives would often forget their conflicts when such things appeared over announcements. Few natives thought why bother coming here if it was on a brink of destruction? But finding a planet that could sustain their lives was enough. Specially where they could fuel their ships and load resources. Their destination planet was called Vinrya. The main settlement planet and where they really were outnumbered. It was a place where the native races were strong. In the vastness of universe, finding a new world had a low probability. So they decided to occupy the planet that was easier to occupy. Use all resources and be on their way to Vinrya. They had magic portals too, but mana requirement was immense and risky, so looking towards technology was easier. Mage guilds of their home planet had already left for Vinrya and abandoned their own race way back. This became another reason why settlers hated the native races. They embraced magic and had used magic in their daily lives. ¡°This is outrageous, why do we have to live like slaves in our own homeland? We must protest and unify among selves. We are divided and hence we are conquered. ¡± An old man spoke out in the public rally. ¡°Yes you are right Oliver and I think it¡¯s about time we place our differences to the side for now and handle the outlanders¡± an elder from different tribe spoke. The remaining elders silently nodded. The public rally took place in market place so more and more locals could listen to them and participate. The portrayal of unity was also a tactic the rebellious natives had come up with. Not knowing that the settlers no longer cared about their unity, they still believed if they could prove the natives collectively dislike settlers, they would leave peacefully. Perhaps peaceful protest was all they were capable of now. Any form of aggression towards settlers was not taken lightly by the regime. The native race was humanoid beings the only thing that made them look different than a human was their pitch black eyes and antennas on their forehead. Also the gills that were now almost vestigial organ as the planet lacked much water.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. But if they did swim in one, they could still breathe easily. Roy and his mother were in such marketplace and were on their way home. Roy, who was usually a quiet boy at around the age of 14 years, loved his family a lot. He would not care about all the politics that was on fire now days. Neither did he care about who ruled the planet or his race. He did however worry from time to time when people he knew would suddenly disappear or be prisoned. But he always heard the one side of the story. Knowing that he did not have any means to know much, he would always look away. However, deep inside him, he also did fear if the knock came to his door. While they were walking, suddenly the troops of soldiers from regime came on their vehicles. Their informers had done their work and informed them about the rally. Unhappy with anti-regime movement, the soldiers were ordered to capture the participants and demotivate the locals from ever participating in such rally. Now to demotivate, they had to make examples out of people. So they simply fired and shot the person who was on stage down and killed him. Knocked off many others among citizen and started arresting them. Those who tried to flee would get shot. Roy¡¯s mother was one such citizen who panicked. Roy almost shocked at seeing his mother¡¯s reaction immediately understood the situation they were in and held her hands tightly. In her fear she tightly held Roy and hugged him as she started screaming. ¡°Mother, stop they are not here for us¡± he reasoned. ¡°You boy, get the fuck away from her we are taking her¡± a soldier said. ¡°No, why are you taking her? She has done nothing wrong¡± Roy said as he sent a distress signal to his family with telepathy. The mother tried to block the signal but it was already too late. The boy may not know the nature of the soldiers, but she knew too well apparently. ¡°Let my boy live, take me instead¡± Roy got scared and started getting goose bumps. ¡°That¡¯s what we plan on doing. You boy¡­aaaah¡± as the soldier tried to forcefully remove Roy from his mother, his hands got crushed to Roy¡¯s grip. ¡°Why you little¡­ die¡± The soldier said in a fit of rage. BANG ¡°mm¡­Mother?¡± Roy¡¯s eyes were wide. Tears dripping like a shower. His mother lost her life the moment she took the bullet for him. ¡°MOTHER?¡± Roy¡¯s sister screamed as she witnessed. She stood with their father standing behind her. Roy looked at both of them, not believing what just happened. With the death of their mother, the locals had turned violent and started attacking all soldiers. Their basic mana was not enough to take down soldiers who were obviously geared to deal with petty mages. ¡°Shoot them all¡± the soldier yelled. ¡°NOOO¡± Roy yelled. As he was yelling, a bullet hit him on his head and he darkness spread in his vision. System has found you in extreme stress. System would like to initiate a trial for someone. Would you like to host? Y/N The system message started flickering in Roy¡¯s eyes. As the darkness faded, he looked around. Only to see everyone he knew. His mother, sister and father were al killed. He himself was soaked in his Mother¡¯s blood. Why was he still alive? Well the answer was something Roy knew all along. ¡°Argh, why wouldn¡¯t you die brat?¡± The soldier yelled again as he continuously kept on firing at him. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I die you ask?¡± With blank eyes of Roy, which were gazing at the bodies of his family? He responded. He was so shocked and stressed. Yet he was much calmer. System has found you in extreme stress. System would like to initiate a trial for someone. Would you like to host? Y/N The system message kept on flickering. But before it could prompt again, Roy pressed. NO. ¡°I don¡¯t need any banished soul to help me.¡± He claimed. ¡°And help me with what? Can it bring my family back?¡± he added Not understanding why the boy started talking, the regime¡¯s soldier could only deduce that the boy had lost it. Still unable to understand why the bullets won¡¯t harm him, he asked for other troops. They brought in cannon and he also had called for air support just in case. ¡°You see, I¡­. I don¡¯t die because, this is the last possible life I could have¡± With a maniac¡¯s smile, Roy lifted his face. ¡°You, I had no business with your deal. I had decided to live a chilled out life. You had to ruin it didn¡¯t you?¡± Roy said with anger. ¡°Well cry me a bucket you undead freak¡± The soldier said. ¡°Undead? Hmm I like it¡± Roy added. His rage had reached impossible heights by now. Somehow, he was also angry with the system. He knew life would be tough for NG+7. But he hadn¡¯t signed for unreasonably unfair fate. He could live with the fact that he was born to a community that was enslaved by foreigners. He could live with the fact that he was subjected to unreasonable prejudice. He could live with the fact that even if he was hit, he would control himself and never use his insane stats against another being. But this? His story had ended before it could ever start. This was last life he could have as per system. He had done all sorts of training to prepare for this life. Having maxed almost all stats, he was more than prepared to protect his new family. In a way, he wanted to curse himself. Why could I not save mother and my family? This damned soul memory lock. Perhaps, it unlocked revealing most about his strength after the bullet hit him. Thoughts were a thing of the past now. Roy gazed back at the soldier with a new resolve. ¡°You¡­ you have killed them¡± He shouted with tears still dropping. ¡°Now witness the strength of true death¡± He yelled with extreme expressions. ¡°Air support, fire¡± The fighter planes started firing at him, but now it was too late. ¡°Mana-sheild¡± Roy chanted a spell around the soldier who killed his family. With an extreme surprise the soldier tried to understand the logic. But before he could ask, what he saw dropped his jaw. Roy clapped with extreme force and it created a shockwave so powerful and it created ripples across the world and even affected the moon. Due to the ripple, the moons collided to each other but that was now irrelevant. The core of the planet went unstable and now earthquakes occurred everywhere. ¡°Bastard, to think you were this strong. But why kill your own people?¡± The soldier yelled. ¡°My family was my own people, no one else.¡± Roy responded. ¡°Then why protect me?¡± the soldier asked. ¡°I know that your race lives beyond this planet. You will die last among your kind. I will ensure it¡± Roy, who was no longer just a teenage boy, announced a sinister new purpose to his life. The ripples then even extended to the nearest star and caused a solar flare. The entire planet and moons were instantly vaporized. The politics and the settlement and natives, all burned to ash. What lived from the planet were just Roy and the soldier. ¡°On his knees, the soldier silently cried. Oh! Alyria¡± Tears dripped down the corner of his eyes. But he immediately wiped them clean. He was a soldier. A soldier would never break in front of an enemy as he resolved. ¡°I will not rest until every reptile-kin is dead¡± Roy said as he made his mind. *** In the void world, the mage sits alone on the rock. Looking at the floor, he inwardly screams ¡°that fucking ant¡± *** Chapter 10 Chapter 10 Planet: Vinrya Saturday, 13th Martha 2977 PA Vinrya is a planet that could potentially host all life forms ever born in universe. A luminous planet so huge, it could rival a center of galaxy. An anomaly for known laws of Physics. When outside the planet, one would consider it a star and never ever approach it, judging the temperature of outer shell of the planet. The planet was so insane that instead of attracting, it repelled every object away from itself. Situated in the dark zone of the universe. No solar system or galaxy around. Some even called it an orphan planet or simply as orphan. In a way, the planet was hidden for a long time from other beings or one could not enter the planet from scientific means. It was a planet where you couldn¡¯t enter without sorcerers that had teleportation skills with enormous amount of mana, legendary level teleporting espers and portal users. Because of this, the planet civilization took a long time developing but it developed with strong culture. Despite being a planet with rich magic aura, 70% humans couldn¡¯t use magic. There were more races but had peacefully claimed different territories considering the vastness of planet or what was known knowledge ever since they started recording history. All zones acted like a different planet. Of course the atmosphere was same but the buildings and civilization were extremely diverse. It was year 2977 Post apocalypse which happens every 1000 years, however one have not happened since 2977 years. The people have almost given up on the scheduled apocalypse and those who had managed to leave the planet are making preparations to return. Obviously, things got out from those people who had left and now other races are also moving towards this huge planet. Trying their luck and starting a fresh life. The migration was not just mere numbers but entire races and intelligent beings abandoning their dying home planets. Some even wanted to mass migrated to establish trade in a long term however knowing that interstellar journey would be impossible, they were to understand portals and their use. *** Somewhere else across another universe, in a small planet called PICKLES. A band of men all in mercenary clothes, with swords in their sheath are running desperately. Leading them is a human man with a smile on his face as he is sprinting and sometimes comically stumbling on his way due to fallen branches. Jumping and balancing his body and using the momentum to dodge incoming arrows and daggers. Taking off roads to get rid of horsemen, forcing foot soldiers and vigilantes to work together to capture these popular thieves guild members. ¡°Damn it these cunning bastards are at it again.¡± A fat noble slammed the table as he yelled at a station head who stood before him. His head was bowed down as he had failed to protect the amulet that was the nobleman¡¯s treasured item. ¡°Do you know that it was a fucking enchanted item?¡± He barked again. ¡°I want their heads, and I want it now or else you will have to face the consequences.¡± He whispered to the man. ¡°Aye sir, my men and hired thugs are chasing those thieves and should be returning any moment.¡± He responded. AS he finished speaking, a solider stepped inside the office, with his cap in his hand. His bald head was visible and very sweaty. ¡°What is it? Did you catch them? Why are you alone?¡± The station head asked angrily. ¡°Umm sir, we were chasing those damned thieves down and they were very cunning at escaping. However, Captain William came up with an idea of surrounding them. We did so and finally we had cornered them.¡± He said while wiping the sweat with fear. ¡°That is good, what happened next?¡± The station head asked. ¡°While killing a few among them, just when there were only ten of them left, a new dungeon appeared between us and were sucked in¡± He said with a frightened tone. ¡°Hahaha a new dungeon appeared? Right here near our town? What a pleasant surprise. What level was the dungeon again?¡± The nobleman lost all anger and asked in an amused tone. ¡°Well I think it was level 20 dungeon¡± The soldier said. Station head, I want few of your soldiers on the gate of dungeon at all times. In case they come out, you are to execute them all. If they don¡¯t come out, well we can just monopolize the dungeon and the gates need capable guards anyways.¡± The nobleman demanded.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Right away Sir, splendidly thought strategy.¡± The head man bowed politely and gave the orders. System Alert: You have entered Level 20 Dungeon of Wishing Well Judging your party size¡­ Your party is much smaller for the dungeon. If you clear this, you shall be rewarded with small party bonus. Judging average level of the party¡­ Average level of the party is 10.9. If you clear this, you shall be rewarded with lower level bonus. ¡°That¡¯s too many rewards. Almost broken. I guess our odds of coming out of this alive is around zero. Haha, man we are done for.¡± The man who led the group said with a sigh. ¡°So depending upon our levels and party size, the rewards are placed. Interesting. What if we really clear the dungeon? We may be granted portal so we could move to that world we heard?¡± An aged member of the group pointed that out. ¡°Well not to be a pessimist as a leader of the group, but a good leader shouldn¡¯t be unrealistic too. So I will just say, our odds are zero here but we are stuck. If we go back, guards will greet us and behead us without a second thought. We were adventurers in the past, let¡¯s get the rust off ourselves and fight for our lives.¡± The man leading the group declared. Cheers erupted from all remaining nine members. With a new fire in their eyes, they proceeded. The leader then checked his stats screen. Personal Name: Dalmik Vimalgya Class: Assassin Level 23 Sub Class: Thief Level 1 Inactive Class: -- Inactive Subclass: -- Profession: Thieves Guild Elite Life: NG+1(base) Mana: 23/23 Health: 46/46 Stamina: 92/92 (+5) Base Attributes Str: 11 Dex: 19 End: 12 Int: 5 Vit: 8 Unlocked Attributes Leadership: 8 Charisma: 12 Agility: 19 Stealth: 23 Effectiveness Critical Damage: 21 Physical Attacks: 11 Magic Attacks: 0 Critical Defense: 21 Physical Defense: 15 Magic Defense: 8 Skills Damage Skills: Assassination lvl 22, Teleport Strike lvl 11, Dual Wield lvl 18, Incapacitating Strike lvl 9, Death Stroke (Uncommon, Special) lvl 4 Healer Skills: First Aid lvl 1 Tank Skills: Shield lvl 2, Parry lvl 16, Taunt lvl 56 Guild Skills: Sneak lvl 8, Light Fingers lvl 4, Trap Spotter lvl 12 Passive Skills: Blur (uncommon), Pressure Points, Critical Damage Booster Life Skills: Blacksmithing lvl 1, Tailor lvl 1, Alchemist lvl 3, Enchanter lvl 1, Provisioning lvl 9 Titles Thief, Petty Thief, Battle Bruised, Adventurer, Dungeon Damage Dealer, Assassin, Murderer As soon as he saw his titles, Dalmik closed the status screen and with a sigh, he started to plan his strategy. ¡°Ronny and Donald, you will scout while the rest of us will gear up and let me know in 2 hours whats ahead of us. Be careful of traps needless to say.¡± Dalmik commanded and the two acknowledged and went ahead. ¡°Now how many armors do we have here?¡± Dalmik asked ¡°None, we were on mission remember? All of us are either thieves or ex assassins like you¡± The old man Raul explained. ¡°We wear light armors at most to maintain our agility so no, we don¡¯t have a tank.¡± He claimed. ¡°Well it¡¯s already been 2 hours?¡± Dalmik saw the returning Donald and Ronny ¡°Well naah but we finished our scout. We are officially fucked brothers. Right outside there is a fucking troll¡± They said. The air became silent. ¡°Well no worries. There is no going back. We march and if we die, it¡¯s probably still an honor¡± Dalmik said. ¡°Even though if we don¡¯t honor, honor¡± Raul added. ¡°Yes, especially because we don¡¯t honor the honor¡± With a comic face, Dalmik turned back and repeated The group of all 9 men stared at him with a depressed look with all their eyes hidden in darkness and the air turned pretty awkward. ¡°Heeeeeh! Well let¡¯s start this run then.¡± Sighing again, Dalmik gave the orders. After building up some courage, the group of thieves sneaked their way through the hall way and entered the place they had scouted. Only to find few goblins mindlessly fighting among themselves. ¡°They are called goblins dumbass¡± one member whispered as he slapped Ronny¡¯s head. ¡°I know what a goblin looks like dumbass, I saw a real troll and now it¡¯s not there.¡± Ronny explained with a shrug. ¡°Okay, silent boys. There are 12 goblins. I will take down three of those that are talking to each other, you guys take each of the remaining ones with your bows. Ensure that each is a critical hit¡± Dalmik explained the plan. ¡°Ummm, leader?¡± a man from the group asked in a low voice. ¡°Yes?¡± Dalmik responded. ¡°Are you fucking high or something? Didn¡¯t we fucking tell you we are a band of thieves and thieves don¡¯t carry fucking bows or armor or shields? We just carry daggers and wear lightest of clothes.¡± He said in a frustrated tone. Dalmik immediately got depressed with sweat dripping down his head. He sat on ground and started to mindlessly start to touch both index fingers of his hands as he mumbled a new strategy. The rest of them were face palming literally thinking who was leading their supposed demise. Perhaps a very fitting end of thieves few thought. ¡°Well does anyone have dagger?¡± Dalmik asked Everyone nodded. ¡°Well how about we throw them at goblins and I will cover for anyone who misses it.¡± Dalmik said. The plan A was formed. Now all of them sat in a circle with few rocks in the circle. All of them made a very grim expression. Even Dalmik sat quietly. Thinking. It was time to think about a plan B. Everyone had sweat dripping down their foreheads now. ¡°Okay enough comedy, we either live or we die. Our plan B is that if Plan A fails, we use instincts and we are on our own.¡± Dalmik finally declared. Everyone agreed and then they proceeded to execute the plan. All nine people threw the dagger towards their preys. Dalmik used teleport strike, killing one on spot, followed by throwing a smoke bomb item. It made him disappear in the smoke. The goblins reacted and mindlessly started to swing their weapons in the smoke. From behind, Dalmik appeared and executed Assasination. Beheading goblin he proceeded towards third goblin. He swung his daggers using dual wield skill but his attacks were met with a shield. ¡°Tsch shield huh, I guess I will loot you first.¡± Dalmik claimed. *** Chapter 11 Chapter 11 As soon as the smoke cleared, it was clear that 8 members killed their target and one member, who had the lowest level of them all, was stunned. So luckily others covered for him and he get to keep his head intact. Out of relief, Dalmik sighed as he backstabbed the tank goblin from behind. Critical hit took effect and magnified the damage done. Not just that, now the other members of party too jumped in and ate away his massive pool of health almost instantly. ¡°Okay, so I have the highest level among you all. Naturally, I have the most health among all of you. So I am claiming the shield and will play the role of tank.¡± Dalmik declared. ¡°Well then I will assume a role for healer. Even though healing is not my natural talent but I have a few healing spells and mana. Please look for any first aid kits from loot just to be safe.¡± The member who got stunned back then spoke. ¡°Alright now that leaves 8 of you to play the dungeon damage dealer¡¯s role. Concentrate on the damaging but make sure not to cause more damage than me. Doing so will make the monster agro you¡± Dalmik guided. As soon as Dalmik lifted the shield, he got a system notification. System Alert: Congratulations. You have earned a new title ¡°Dungeon Tank¡± 1000 points Never even wondering what those points even meant. This was just another title he had received and it barely gave him any amusement. Dalmik proceeded with the plan. ¡°As explained earlier, stand in formation. I want healer to be protected at all cost. Healer will only concentrate on me and rest of you will have two jobs. Priority one is to protect healer. Priority two is to damage boss or mob.¡± Dalmik told the rest. Everyone agreed and the group proceeded towards next room. As soon as they stepped into one, they could see their wounds getting healed automatically. Their mana, health and stamina recovered at least 10 times faster. There was a hot spring and mild fog. ¡°This looks like it¡¯s a safe area¡± one of the members said cheerfully. Dalmik felt a relief and started taking his clothes off. It was time to take some bath. Away from the rest, Dalmik proceeded to swim in the spring and was relaxing. He could already feel the warm water touching his body, healing even old wounds he got way back. Satisfied, he took a deep breath and swam downwards. There was a strange green light coming from beneath and he just wanted to check that out. As he reached the bottom, he saw there was a cave. The green light was getting intense as he approached the cave. Curiosity took over him and it was already 5 minutes since Dalmik had breathed air. Noticing he needed oxygen, Dalmik calculated he won¡¯t make it up the surface in time. So he proceeded towards cave hoping he would find surface sooner. As good as his dexterity and agility was, he swam like a fish and finally found his way out of water. It wasn¡¯t dark as the water still emitted green light. But as he looked around, he saw there were plenty of gems embedded on the walls. As a thief, he should have jumped with joy, but this thief was just a new one. Level 1 thief was just not instinctively cutout for such joy. In fact he was broke and had recently joined thieves guild. Due to his level being so high, he was made a group leader for raids. As he was walking and observing more, he found an unconscious girl surrounded by a strange shield. IT took glow like emerald. As he sat, to observe more Dalmik¡¯s heart pumped. His throat gulped as his heart felt crushed. This was a long time since he had found a woman this beautiful. ¡°Uh what do I do? I don¡¯t even have appraisal skill to find out what¡¯s wrong with her.¡± He mumbled. ¡°Ah idea!¡± he added. ¡°Eric, do you think you can heal her or at least check the ailments?¡± Dalmik asked the sole healer of his group. ¡°Umm I don¡¯t have appraisal skill but I can see if we can heal her.¡± Eric said helplessly. Sighing, Dalmik went ahead to check for surrounding. Wondering what could have caused such condition to her; there was only one thing in his mind. He wanted to cure her. He opened his system page and checked out the dungeon information. If this girl was a part of dungeon quest, his heart would break. For dungeon creatures are made of dungeon and don¡¯t exist beyond that. That¡¯s how dungeons play with people¡¯s mind. He checked thoroughly but didn¡¯t find anything related to the girl. Dalmik at this point didn¡¯t know whether to be happy or not as it was a good thing that she was not an instanced being. Bad thing was that they were still back to square one.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. No one knew what had happened to her. ¡°Can¡¯t we just leave?¡± one of the member said scratching his head. ¡°Get the hell outta here mate. You a coward or what? Even as thieves we don¡¯t abandon pretty women¡± the other said teasingly towards Dalmik. Dalmik passed a small smile as he sat next to the unconscious girl. He placed his hand on her forehead and silently whispered. ¡°Wake up girl, it¡¯s gonna be alright¡± Well obviously, nothing happened. Sighing, he decided to check for items she possessed to understand the reason behind this glowing aura or shield or whatever it was. He inspected her ring. Since he didn¡¯t have appraisal skill, he decided to take off her ring and wear it and then identify what the ring was. As soon as he took her ring off, he got knocked off and in midair; he was attacked repeatedly by lightning spear. In a mere five hits, his health came down to half. The girl woke up, turned out the ring was responsible for her suspended state. ¡°You petty thief, die¡± she yelled as she proceeded to attack him. Cold sweat dripped down his back as he didn¡¯t know how he was supposed to explain to her that his intentions weren¡¯t to steal. He gave up thinking a lot and finally said it. ¡°Relax, I found you were unconscious and was only investigating on what happened to you.¡± Dalmik said as he brought his hands up denoting that he wanted to surrender. ¡°Liar, even your class is of thief and despite clarifying you make a stance of fighting?¡± She said angrily. ¡°Wait wha¡­.¡± Before he could finish his sentence, a massive lightning fell where he stood. Dodging as instinct kicked in, he survived but seeing the damage on the ground, cold shiver passed and he instantly wished if the girl would go back to her sleep. ¡°Never gonna butt my nose in other people business. Especially, when I am in a dungeon.¡± He screamed as he ran around dodging the repeated attacks. Where were others? All were running away from the battle as far as they could. A mage was a dangerous entity. It didn¡¯t matter what world you¡¯re in. It didn¡¯t matter what level the mage is. If the conditions were favorable for a mage, she/he will win. A furious mage was far dangerous as she was around high level mage too. Based on spells, she could easily cast five low tier spells repeatedly without waiting to recharge her mana. This only meant that she had a large mana pool. Large mana pool meant higher level. Dalmik frowned at the situation he was in, feeling defeated in his quest to clear the misunderstanding. Dalmik resolved that he must force his way out of the mess. It was obvious this mage won¡¯t sit still until she kills everyone here. For a mage, the most sworn enemy is another mage. But there is another class that could give a mage run for his money. A close range class that could reduce the distance between him and mage was a disaster. The girl knew this too well. Hence, waiting to meditate and recover mana was not an option. She must maintain utmost concentration and keep the track of everyone in the area. Everyone was a threat and every one was potentially capable of coming close to her without alerting. She had enough enchanted gears that would ensure mana recovery is high and she even drank mana recovery potions that would recover mana over time. Spells she was using wasn¡¯t very costly and were flashy enough to scare them at least. If you wake up to thieves lurking around, what sort of reaction would one give? Dalmik used smoke and disappeared he threw smokes everywhere and limited her sight. Frustrated, the girl started using AOE spells. Even though they were costly, surviving had higher priority. ¡°Ouch!¡± She said as she was hit by a pebble that came flying her way from the dense smoke. But before she could unleash higher tier spell, she saw a notification and froze. System Alert: you are cursed and therefore your mana, health and stamina are reduced to half. System Alert: Mana have depleted completely. Recalling what had caused her to rest in such a state, her face fell. But before she could say anything, she was hit from back and she fell unconscious again. Dalmik wanted to talk peacefully but she didn¡¯t give a chance. Now when she wanted to talk, there was no way a former assassin would take risk. Dalmik still felt guilty as he tied her up. ¡°Such a shame, wish we could have a thing with each other.¡± Dalmik said ¡°Shutup, if you hadn¡¯t been greedily stealing her ring, she wouldn¡¯t attack us in first place¡± a member said. ¡°Coward, you don¡¯t get to say a thing. All of you are cowards. And by the way, regardless of my actions, she would have attacked us.¡± Dalmik said. ¡°How and why?¡± someone asked. ¡°She¡¯s got appraisal skills¡± Dalmik said quietly. ¡°Damn, such a rare skill. She must be a high level mage. Maybe she is a noble?¡± thieves deduced ¡°I don¡¯t know but chances are that she is one.¡± Dalmik concluded. After few hours, she woke up only to find her all tied up. At first she frown her brows but then calmed herself down. ¡°Untie me thief¡± She yelled at Dalmik ¡°Well fine, but promise not to attack me¡± Dalmik said. ¡°You got yourself a deal¡± She said ¡°My name is Dalmik, here I have untied you¡± he said. ¡°You may call me Erisa¡± She said while stealing her eyes. ¡°We are stuck in this dungeon and while exploring, we found you unconscious and wrapped in some field¡± Dalmik explained everything to her. ¡°Oh, interesting. Well I was thrown in the dungeon as a punishment. In my society throwing a mage in dungeon is like death punishment. So I can¡¯t go back outside as I will be thrown back in. Clearing is my only ticket to portal. I however, managed to survive long enough as you can see.¡± She said. ¡°I got cursed by a witch boss so I rushed my way back to safe area to recover myself. But it seems I have no way to lift the curse till I am in this dungeon.¡± She added. ¡°I see so is witch is final boss of the dungeon?¡± Dalmik asked with a frown ¡°Well no of course not. There was a troll and then second boss was a witch. That¡¯s as far as I could go soloing¡± She said. She had given Dalmik valuable information and he was pleased. But still a boss that was mage user was really bad news. Basically a boss mage was a mage with huge health pool, mana pool and stamina pool. This was a disaster for his team mates who were under leveled. He needed this girl to join the party so they could clear the dungeon. ¡°So this dungeon does provide portal?¡± He asked. ¡°Well yeah this one does as it¡¯s literally written in dungeon information if you can appraise it well¡± she said. ¡°We don¡¯t have appraisal skill.¡± ¡°Well you don¡¯t say¡± she said with cheer coming back to her expressions. Confused Dalmik could only scratch his head. ¡°I propose¡­¡± before Dalmik could say she cut in. ¡°Huh! Already? I¡¯m blushing hah¡± ¡°Not that, be serious. We should team up and clear the dungeon¡± Dalmik said ¡°Hmm, okay but no backstabbing me after we clear the dungeon. We go our separate ways and mind our own business. Deal?¡± she asked. ¡°I promise I won¡¯t backstab you but won¡¯t agree to going separate ways. That, we can decide then.¡± Dalmik said. Looking at his eyes without blinking, Erisa finally broke silence. ¡°Okay¡± As Erisa teamed up with others, now the team had two mage users to protect. One healer mage, who was a commoner and could only barely use magic, other was a noble high tier mage who could use destruction magic. ¡°Okay, I am gonna open the door to next room now¡± Dalmik said as he opened the door and his eyes spread wide with fear and awe as the only expression on his face. ¡°That¡¯s not a troll guys. It¡¯s a fucking minotaur¡± *** Chapter 12 Chapter 12 ¡°Oh my god! We are so doomed.¡± One from his group said with widened eyes. The minotaur was huge in size almost triple the size of the tallest person in the group. It carried an iron mace that was also bigger than a high class greatsword. Dalmik then turned towards the group with serious look on his face. Everyone looked with serious expression. Erisa who was thehishest leveled among them was also frowning at the scene and was calculating a virtual battle in her mind. Dalmik noticed and then eased his expression. ¡°What we are about to deal with is a fucking minotaur and we will need proper coordination to get through this boss¡±. ¡°Just order us boss¡± few thieves said with a smile on their faces. It was only natural for them. If there was no hope at survival and no hope to escape, what place was there for fear? It was after a long time they were re-experiencing life of an adventurer and that brought those smiles back. ¡°Minotaur is a giant creature and usually we can attack from blindspots. We are too many for this job and therefore, we need to split its attention. I will tank and you all will move as fast as you can and hit on its back. The healers will stay hidden and will heal us from time to time. But don¡¯t get noticed. Agreed?¡± ¡°Ah but you must be mad right? How can you take direct hits from a Minotaur when you are an assassin class and don¡¯t even have suitable gears?¡± Erisa asked with a frown. ¡°I stole few gears from goblins and I guess I won¡¯t play a regular tank. I will dodge and taunt.¡± Dalmik clarified ¡°Understood¡± ¡°Okay fellas, we either talk after we finish this Minotaur or in afterlife. It¡¯s been an honor working with you lads¡± Dalmik finished saying this and looked forward with a grin on his face. Eyes sharp and focused, he yelled and ran towards the Minotaur. As soon as he entered Minotaur¡¯s range of sight, it reacted with a roar and swung the giant mace towards him. Dashing and rolling, Dalmik escaped the incoming attack. ¡°NOW¡± he yelled as he kept making distance, keeping his shield handy. System Alert: Congratulations, you have unlocked a dungeon title: Dungeon Marauder 1000 points Likewise, the rest of the party took their roles obediently and started striking at blind spots. After losing stamina, Dalmik frowned and started looking for more options. He would dodge, run towards pillars. Hide behind them. After catching up breathe, he would again taunt and the Minotaur would agro accordingly. But as soon as he repeated the steps again, this time minotaur attacked the pillar and it fell apart easily. Not getting enough chance to react, he instinctively lifted his shield in order to avoid a direct hit. PUNT! A metallic sound covered the entire dungeon room and Dalmik was sent flying away. Frowned, Erisa quickly concentrated her healing on Dalmik who was semi-unconscious and his ears could only hear whistle sounds. Without taking enough time, Minotaur, then located where he had landed and ran towards him. As soon as Minotaur was going to land his final attack, time stopped. Everyone¡¯s jaw dropped, eyes widened, they could only frown at what was about to happen. Dalmik, whose visions were still gloomy, could only hope a system notification would pop up and help would arrive, but that was not how system decided, his was a dungeon challenge, not a tragic injustice. Closing his eyes, Dalmik accepted his fate as he knew death was inevitable and he could not move. Why die like a coward when I did really put on a fight. Erisa frowned, noticing that her superior healing chant will not make it in time. SPLASH! A sound was heard, the walls were covered in blood. Everyone paused for a moment, before returning to their combat. A member among thieves called Tom. He knew Dalmik for a long time jumped in between Dalmik and the Minotaur. The mace landed on his skull and it opened in two halves instantly killing him. Dalmik¡¯s facial expression turned ugly as he yelled. Erisa¡¯s superior healing chant was completed and now Dalmik was as good as knew jumped and smashed his shield on minotaur¡¯s face. He kept on shouting in a fit of rage. ¡°RAUL NOT YOU¡­ AAAAAH!¡± ¡°I will kill you bastard¡± he yelled at top of his lungs. The battle cry gave off an aura that covered everyone in the room. Everyone followed and started shouting and attacking even more fiercely.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. System Alert: Skill unlocked <>: when used, will give major adrenaline rush in all party. Critical hit chances doubled, physical damage doubled, magic damage halved. Apparently, when in anger, INT reduces and STR increases, so magic affinity temporarily reduces. It is a common saying that a mage must keep his cool at all times. Erisa frowned at the new status on her as her healing had reduced tremendously. She was practically useless by now as she had used a superior level spell and lost almost 90% of her mana. So instead, she started meditating while hidden to build up the mana until the status gets off of her. As soon as Erisa recovered 100% of her mana, she opened her eyes. By now Dalmik kept dodging but uptill now, three more members had been killed. Now remaining four people including Dalmik remained who were going toe to toe with the Minotaur and Erisa and Eric who were in the back trying to heal as best as they could. With enough mana, Erisa also begun chanting low cost damage spells as she was mainly a mage. That actually helped as Dalmik and remaining three began to attack more efficiently. ¡°Thanks Erisa, appreciate the help. I guess it¡¯s too late but I think I like you. Haha¡± Dalmik said as he managed to stun Minotaur and all four of them were mindlessly attacking the head part of the Minotaur. Erisa mildly blushed but didn¡¯t respond. Suddenly, Minotaur roared and everyone jumped back. As soon as the monster had lost enough blood, it started wildly attacking and swinging his giant mace randomly. The fury in its eyes was clear. The blood lust was felt by everyone in the dungeon boss room. ¡°Dalmik, I need an opening¡± Erisa said and Dalmik nodded. ¡°You heard the lady right?¡± A circle of dodging and attacking began. This time, furious Minotaur threw his Mace towards Eric. In a spec of time, another member pulled Eric and the Mace was missed. Minotaur no unarmed started lifting huge boulders that were lying on floor, tossing it towards anyone in the room. In a way, his attack patterns were more predictable but if not dodged meant instant death. Suddenly, Erisa completed her chant ¡°Now everyone, move towards the walls and look the other way¡± Erisa said and a huge thick cloud got summoned above the Minotaur. The Minotaur looked above, its expressions were like a goat that was about to be butchered. It opened its mouth and roared much louder than before. The cloud shined and lightening fell upon the massive metallic horns. Instantly, the remaining health of the Minotaur dropped and it fell on the floor. System Alert: First Dungeon floor cleared. You are granted a wish. A Well appeared where the body of Minotaur lied before. Everyone was so exhausted they couldn¡¯t even move. Erisa who had spent a huge pool of her mana fainted and Dalmik just crawled and sat near the wall. ¡°Ha-ha, we did it¡± ¡°Yeah¡± ¡°Yeah, but we lost too many of us¡± ¡°How many of us are alive now?¡± ¡°Seven¡± ¡°Damn¡± ¡°Yeah¡± Such was the conversation coming out from the remaining thief¡¯s party. After acquiring enough stamina, all of them reached out to the well that had appeared. Erisa was now conscious but still not moving. They all circled the well and were reading the notification carefully. ¡°So it¡¯s a wishing well.¡± ¡°Yeah¡± ¡°What kinds of wishes can it fulfil?¡± ¡°No clue, the notification just said we can each be granted a wish¡± ¡°Okay, let¡¯s try then. Paul, you go first.¡± ¡°Ah but Dalmik should be the first to make wish don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Naah I¡¯m cool, you go first and then we can try¡± So it was decided, Paul, one of the thieves would go first, then Simon, Ravi, Eric, Dalmik, Erisa, Varun would try their luck. ¡°Paul, start¡± ¡°Ah, okay. Oh! Wishing well, grant me gold¡± A sudden light occurred and a pouch of gold got summoned in his hand. His eyes opened bright and happiness was all over his face. ¡°I got gold, real fucking gold and a pouch of it¡± ¡°Damn you lucky bastard¡± ¡°My days as a thief is ended¡± Everyone laughed. Then it was Simon¡¯s turn. Simon thought of a mischief and said ¨C ¡°I wish that Ravi loses his dick¡± ¡°Fuck you, what the fuck.¡± Everyone laughed. ¡°Hey it¡¯s not like you even used it you virgin ass¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that you asshole. Iam supposedto get laid only after my marriage¡± Naturally, it was Ravi¡¯s turn and he was left with no other choice than to wish his penis back. Everyone laughed, except Ravi. It was Eric¡¯s turn and he wished that he could become wealthy merchant so he never has to steal ever. The wish was long term and hence there was no immediate effect. The mood was rather neutral now and it was Erisa¡¯s turn. ¡°I, err¡­ I wish to find a man in my life¡± She said with blush all over her face. Dalmik smiled and said "you didn¡¯t have to wish for something you already had lady". Erisa, blushed and then smiled again. ¡°Not you duffus.¡± ¡°Ah come on, don¡¯t dungeon zone me¡± ¡°Okay, it¡¯s my turn to take the wish then¡± ¡°Don¡¯t waste on me¡± she said with a serious face. Dalmik forwned for second thinking ''Oye hypocrite'' but didn''t move his lips. Dalmik knew in his heart that Erisa likes him. It was a love at first sight for him, but he did notice her blushing. ¡®She¡¯ll be mine without the wish.¡¯ He thought to himself. Dalmik stretched his arms and though deeply. ¡°I guess I know what I should ask for¡±. He thought about his complete life and with a sigh he said. ¡°Of all my life, I have always wondered why it is a bloodline that is always chosen as the ruler. Why can¡¯t a thief or scum bag street rat like me have a son who could be a king? I guess I would like to wish for a son who would become a king.¡± Again this was a long term wish that could not be fulfilled immediately. That being concluded, the mood was kind of serious. Varun thought now that it was his turn, he should think something out of the box. ¡°I guess the reason we are here is to reach Vinrya. I wish to be teleported to human colony of Vinrya immediately.¡± SPOOF Varun disappeared as soon as he finished his sentence. ¡°Bastard, he outwit us all¡± Everyone laughed. ¡°Wish he¡¯d wish that for all of us?¡± ¡°Naah it¡¯s his wish, we wasted it on dicks and a pouch of gold¡± Ravi said in a pissed off tone. ¡°Yeah, but I guess he was the most intelligent one among us¡± ¡°haha haha¡± ¡°But I¡¯ll punch him in the face if I see him next time¡± Dalmik made it clear as he continued to smile. ¡°It¡¯s not that, like all of you, even he wasted the wish. The final treasure is already a portal to Vinrya¡± Erisa said. ¡°Ah but he won¡¯t risk his life in this dungeon any more¡± Dalmik said. ¡°Oh you¡¯re right. Cunning man¡± she sighed. Everyone continued to enjoy the light mood. Erisa slightly smiled as she recalled the wish that was asked by Dalmik. The journey to Vinrya was still not over as they had more floors to go. ***