《The Eden Project》 Prologue A blue summer sky with cotton candy clouds, the sun shining brilliantly in the sky, ray of lights shining into the classroom, birds chirping away on big, shady trees. Accompanied by the pungent stench of sweaty classmates, and the stuffy, stifling room I was stuck in. It was exactly this type of weather that I hated the most, the sultry weather, in addition to the unending heat from the sun just made me stifle in this stuffy room with 39 other people. Since Summer was about to start, most of the students were happily chatting away about what they would do during the Summer. I, on the other hand wanted to quickly go back home and sleep while gaming away in the comfort of my own room, and away from this sweltering heat with my air-conditioner at full blast. Since there was not much I could do, I rest my head on my forearm while lying down of the desk, trying to close my eyes and fall asleep, hoping that time would pass by faster. I tried blocking out the constant chatter in the classroom and the annoying birds chirping merrily away outside the window with my headphones, blasting my music just enough that I could only hear the music. Unknowingly, I slowly let my mind drift away as I lay my head, trying not to think about the negative things, like the blistering heat that''s shining on me right now and eventually fell asleep. During my time asleep, I experienced quite an unusual dream. I dreamt of a world full of dinosaurs, prehistoric creatures that I had read about in books. What made it particularly strange was that there were 2 suns, and flying islands.There were even strange dinosaurs I had never even heard about, somewhat like a Chimera. In the distance, I could see dragon-like creatures flying in the sky, it looked small from afar but I was sure they were at least 10 meters long. While marvelling at this spectacular sight, and this beautiful world with lush greenery, majestic beasts and clear blue skies, I noticed something else that didn''t garner my attention at first. I somehow felt like it was getting brighter and brighter, I thought it might have been the two suns, but when I looked into the sky, I saw a red speck slowly growing larger. There was a trail of smoke behind that red speck as it travelled towards my direction, the closer it got the brighter it became. Soon it was as bright as the sun, I wasn¡¯t that stupid to not know that it was a meteor. I could see the flames that enveloped the meteor as it came crashing through the sky, sounds of rumbling filled the area. The dragon-like creatures flew away in all directions in order to survive, the other strange dinosaurs sped away at speeds I never thought was capable of achieving without a sports car, the plants around me started to slowly burn from the sheer heat produced by the meteor. When that meteor flew closer towards my general direction, there was bright flash of light, and I abruptly woke up.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. I woke up drenched in sweat, making my wet clothes translucent and stick to my skin. I didn¡¯t know what had just happened, but that dream felt somewhat real, yet like an illusion. Since I was still in the classroom and everything was fine, I assumed it was nothing to worry about and put the matter aside. I rubbed my eyes and let out a short yawn, letting my eyes adjust to the lighting. I could see that everyone was still happily chatting away, but the music I was playing blocked out the noise. Just looking at their happy faces annoyed me, so I tried to put my attention somewhere else. Looking out the window, I saw something that caught my attention, it was a red speck that seemed to be growing larger as the time passed by. A familiar red speck I had seen in my earlier dream, I could vividly remember how it looked like, I could never forget that horrifying image of a meteor crashing down violently into the ground. There was even a trail of smoke following closely behind it as it shot through the air, and it was flying straight towards the school, or more accurately, towards my direction. I had a bad premonition that something bad will happen, the destruction would be catastrophic and many would die. From the blindingly bright flash of light, the meteor had caught the attention of most of the in my class, were flocking around the windows to catch a glimpse at the rare sight, unbeknownst of the impending doom. At this range, one I could see the same red flames that enveloped the meteor in my dream, the same meteor that destroyed that beautiful world. I wanted to warn the others to evacuate the building before the meteor struck, but judging by the speed of the meteor, it would have already killed us before we evacuated. So, I gave up on trying to save the school or even myself, and left myself to fate on whether I live or die. I wouldn¡¯t say that I was a defeatist or pessimistic, it was just logical that I wouldn¡¯t be able to escape a meteor flying straight towards me at an extremely high speed, nor would anyone else in this school. It was only obvious that there was no way to escape, instead of grabbing onto false hope, I¡¯d rather live the last few seconds of my life doing something else. I thought back towards my family, and what little friends I have made. Actually, I haven¡¯t made any close friends apart from those I had to discuss with to do group projects or presentations. I don''t think I was shy or anything, just that I felt no need to make friends so I never did talk to my classmates much. Not to be mistaken with misanthropy, nor have I ever been hurt emotionally, it was just that I wanted to be alone. Thinking back, I did not really have a fulfilling life, never accomplished anything big considering I¡¯m only 16. I would miss my family, but as long as they were living fine and was safe, I felt no attachments to this life. Maybe, I could be reborn into another life and live a more fulfilling life or end up in one of those novel clich¨¦s where I¡¯m reincarnated into a parallel universe. As my thoughts trailed off, I could hear screams coming from some students even through my music as they realise the meteor was heading straight for the school, soon to destroy the whole building. Almost all of the students were panicking and tried to escape before the meteor hit, some even jumped off the window from the 3rd and 2nd floor to escape. All of those actions were for naught as the meteor struck the room I was currently in, eventually, the intense rumbling caused by the meteor blocked out any other sound. I could feel searing heat across my skin, like I was being cooked alive in an oven, and blinded by the bright light the meteor emitted even as it was miles apart from the school. Resigning myself to fate, I closed my eyes and waited for the meteor to end my miserable life, not regretting anything from my current life. After a few seconds, I could feel my body being enveloped in searing heat, bright light shining through my eyelids, and the screams from the students died off. I guess that was the end of my pitiful and uneventful life as Kellan Flint¡­ Or so I thought Chapter 1 Being enveloped in that searing heat, and the undeniable presence of that comet, I was sure that I would be dead. Surprisingly, I could feel the heat slowly dissipate and the room turn colder than usual. I had expected I would feel nothing after death, but I was proven wrong. Even though I couldn¡¯t see anything in this darkness, I could feel the cold breeze caressing my body, there were sounds of water dripping in a trance-inducing rhythm. As far as I can tell, I was probably in some sort of cave from the rough and cold feeling of the surface I¡¯m standing on.
Congratulations! You are the first player to discover Great Dungeon ¡®Galahand¡¯s Tomb
New Title ¡®Discoverer¡¯ earned!
You will have 2x EXP and 2x Drop rates for a week for slaying monsters in the dungeon
Wait¡­ what? A Dungeon? I was an avid gamer and have played many games myself, but I could only be called mediocre in MMORPG games amongst the veterans who have played a long time. But any gamer would know about dungeons, dungeons were filled with monsters and loot that comes along with the monsters. Dungeons were normally challenged in groups since they were dangerous and monsters would swarm the player if one tried to solo a dungeon. At the corner of my eye, I could see a small screen displaying the numbers 6:23:59:35, it seems like the timer for the one-week EXP and Loot drop buff. By the time the screen showed up, my eyes were already adjusted to the lighting in the cave and I could see a small doorway 5 meters away from me. The cave was fashioned more like an old decrepit tomb, the walls were a shade of timber green,the floor was made of granite bricks. The bricks were mostly cracked and damaged, moss growing out from within the cracks. The room was empty, there were no decorations, no statues, no words that could help me learn of my whereabouts. I was pretty sure this wasn''t Earth, or the same world I was in before from the message I saw earlier. I managed to find a pointed stone the size of my fist and some other stones of similar size. It would be more accurate to call them rubble from the cracked pieces of granite scattered around from the floor, but I''d prefer to call them stones. I planned to use these stones as a throwing weapon or a pointed stone as a makeshift weapon until I find a proper weapon. Slowly making my way towards the doorway, I could hear slow footsteps followed by a rattle of bones. When I peered into the doorway, I could see a figure shambling across a narrow corridor big enough to fit 2 people. It was a skeleton, you could see the rotten, yellowed bones as it lifelessly hunched its body forward, moving around like a typical zombie in the movies. When I saw the skeleton, it turned its head towards my direction, there was a small blue flame in each of its empty eye sockets. It might have been my imagination, but it suddenly flared a little bit and turned its body in my direction and started shuffling towards me while brandishing a bone in its hand. I didn''t know how to react to this, I fumbled a few stones around in my hand, not knowing how to approach this enemy, how do you expect a high school student to fight an undead skeleton the moment he arrives in a new world?Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. In my life, I have never fought another person in a serious fight much less a monster, although I have learnt taekwondo and sparred in a few tournaments but that was years ago, I¡¯ve long lost my edge. I calmed myself down and gripped one of the stones in my dominant hand tightly, and steadied my aim at the skeleton¡¯s head. It helped that the skeleton was unbelievably slow since it could only limp on one foot, it seems that one of its foot had been broken long before I arrived. I threw the stone forward with all my might, eventually hitting the skeleton in its jaw, I had tried to aim for its cranium but my aim wasn¡¯t perfect. The stone hit its jaw but fell off like it was nothing, doing an embarrassing 3 damage to the skeleton¡¯s health. It actually wasn¡¯t that bad since I had plenty of stones to throw at the skeleton, so I readied another stone in my right hand and threw it towards the skeleton again. This time it missed, but it was still a good 5 meters away from my position, giving me plenty of time to kill it before it reached me. After throwing about 6 stones at the skeleton, its health dropped to 3 health before it came too close for comfort, my hands were also pretty tired from the throwing and my wrist was starting to hurt. Since it only had 3 health left, I gripped a pointed stone in my hand and got into a position ready to strike at the skeleton once it got in range for me to strike. Once it shambled into my range, I lunged towards the skeleton, ready to smash the skull of the skeleton with an overhead smash. In reaction to my lunge, the skeleton swung its bone weapon towards my body, from its speed, it would definitely hit me before I could hit it with my stone I braced the hit from the bone with my shoulder, and crushed the skull of the skeleton with my stone, breaking the skull apart. The skeleton¡¯s body fell lifelessly to the ground as the fire in its eye sockets die out. A white orb flew out of the skeleton¡¯s corpse and flew into my body before I could react, giving me a sort of indescribable pleasure and warmth.
Gained 4XP
You have gained a level, Level 2
Name: Kellan Flint Level: 2 Race: Human
Health: 20/25 Mana 10/10 Stamina: 80/100
Class: None Titles: Discoverer Attribute Points: 5
Strength: 10 Dexterity: 10 Intelligence: 10
Constitution: 10 Willpower: 30 Luck: 20(x2)
When I gained a level, a status screen showed up in my vision and listed my information and I could add points to any attribute except for Willpower and Luck. It seems those are fixed depending on the player or special events that will increase those stats. In the meantime, I added 3 points to Constitution since I felt pretty tired even after that short exchange with the skeleton. For the other 2 points, I decided it would be best go put it under Dexterity that seemed to be able to increase my reaction time and how agile I am. After the fight with the skeleton, my shoulder only started to hurt after I calmed down, it must have been the adrenaline that kept me from wincing from the pain when I was hit. Even though it hurt, it was only a bruise that would probably heal over time, luckily none of my bones were fractured even after that hard hit. Looking at the pile of bones that was the aftermath of that fight, I could see something sparkling from within the pile of bones. Brushing aside the fragments of the skull, I found 6 copper coins that had intricate engravings on both sides of the coin that seemed purely for aesthetics. Not knowing where to keep the coins, an inventory screen abruptly opened in my vision, giving me a short startle before regaining my composure. I held my hand out to insert the coins into the screen and my hand seem to disappear into nothing, before pulling my hand back slowly to see 6C indicated at the bottom of the inventory which I assumed was the 6 copper coins, there was also 0S and 0G indicated which I assumed was silver and gold. I tried putting my hand into the inventory and shortly after, pulled out the 6 coins I had just placed into the inventory. After confirming that I could use the inventory freely, I gladly kept my coins in the inventory, I tried placing stones into one of the empty slots of the inventory but it seems like it wasn¡¯t going to work. It was just a speculation that only items classified by the system could be placed into the inventory, but until I found an item drop from a monster, I wouldn¡¯t be able to confirm my speculations. Keeping this in mind, I proceeded to walk down the corridor carefully, making sure to be alert for any other threats. Chapter 2 Continuing down the corridor, I made sure that I checked every nook and cranny in case there were any threats. You never know when something might show up and kill you. For all I know, a spider could be extremely strong and kill me in seconds. It was deathly silent and unnerving, the only sound I could hear were the echoes from my own footsteps that seemed to amplify and sound throughout the corridor. It didn¡¯t take long before I reached the end of the corridor, and what greeted me was another skeleton, shambling across the small cramped room. This time, the skeleton had a rusted iron helmet defending his most obvious and most vulnerable weakness. The room the skeleton was in was absolutely empty, the walls were made of stone bricks that were mostly intact with some cracked bricks, the walls were also partially covered by moss slowly eating up the bottom part of the wall. At this moment, the skeleton turned its head towards me slowly, I could almost hear a creaking noise coming from his skull. The fire in its eyes were similar to the previous skeleton, except the blue fire was a little brighter, unnoticeable if you weren¡¯t paying close attention. We stared at each other for a moment before the skeleton started walking towards me in a human-like fashion but it could still be easily outpaced by me. Above its head, a line of text could clearly be seen, below it was a green bar that indicated the health of the skeleton. Even though it had a helmet, the rest of the skeleton¡¯s body was still vulnerable to the stones that would break its bones. I gripped the stone, steadying my aim at the skeleton and hurled it towards the skeleton¡¯s leg but it barely scraped its knee, landing onto the hard floor with a thud. Not being despaired by my initial miss, I tried to hurl another stone at the skeleton¡¯s legs in an attempt to cripple its movements. This time, the stone hit the skeleton¡¯s knee dead on and broke the bone in half from the impact. The skeleton fell onto the floor, but did not stop for a moment before clawing its way towards my direction using its hands. This made the skeleton even slower than before, giving me time to think of a way to dispose of this pesky skeleton. After a while of thinking, I concluded the best way to kill this skeleton was to get in close combat since it was already crippled. I moved nearer to the skeleton, avoiding his hands and quickly making my way behind its body. I leapt onto the back of the skeleton before it could make a full turn, forcefully removing the helmet and proceeded to bash the skull in with a stone. The health quickly depleted from every hit and within seconds, the skeleton was dead and fell lifelessly onto the floor.
Gained 6 XP
You have gained a level, Level 3
Name: Kellan Flint Level: 3 Race: Human
Health: 36/36 Mana 10/10 Stamina: 115/115
Class: None Titles: Discoverer Attribute Points: 5
Strength: 10 Dexterity: 12 Intelligence: 10
Constitution: 13 Willpower: 30 Luck: 20(x2)
I quickly allocated 3 points to strength and the last 2 towards constitution, for both power and survivability in this dungeon. Picking up 4 copper coins from the corpse of the skeleton and keeping it in the inventory, I quickly checked for other loot before quickly finding the next doorway that led to a different room. The doorway led to another corridor, much larger compared to the narrow corridor earlier. It was 3 meters wide and stretched seemingly endlessly, I couldn¡¯t see how long it was since this dungeon was covered in dark mist that obstructed my view. The corridor had many statues carved into the walls, they were all generally the same, depicting many human-like figures which I assumed some to be worshipped beings and the like. The walls were still identical to the other two rooms, but it looked a bit more maintained, with less moss growing at the base of the walls.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The floor was different from the rock-like floor of the previous rooms, the floor here were laid in with stone bricks, but showed signs of age nonetheless. There was a strong stench of rot permeating from one direction of the corridor, making the air feel stagnant and suffocating. Obviously, I walked the other direction, away from the rotten stench, for all I know it could be a very strong monster, it would probably be safer to stay away for now. Walking down the corridor, it didn¡¯t take long before I saw another skeleton shambling about in the corridor. This skeleton held a short sword in its hand instead of a bone like the other two skeletons I had fought earlier. Just like how I had fought the other skeletons, I first crippled it by hurling stones at its leg before engaging it in a close combat fight.
Gained 6 XP
You have gained a level, Level 4
This time I placed 3 points into dexterity and the other 2 in strength, I felt that I needed more power and speed to combat any new opponents other than slow skeletons.
Name: Kellan Flint Level: 4 Race: Human
Health: 36/36 Mana 14/14 Stamina: 115/115
Class: None Titles: Discoverer Attribute Points: 0
Strength: 15 Dexterity: 15 Intelligence: 10
Constitution: 13 Willpower: 30 Luck: 20(x2)
When I examined the pile of bones, I picked up the old short sword that the skeleton wielded before it died. It wasn¡¯t in perfect condition but it was still useful in my situation since all I had were stones I could throw. There were stats shown on the weapon unlike with the stones I picked up from the cave. When I kept 6 copper coins I looted from the skeleton¡¯s corpse, I tried keeping my sword into the inventory, which turned into a virtual icon when it entered the slot. Wielding the short sword in my hand, it felt heavier than I expected. I¡¯ve never wielded a weapon in my whole life, after all I¡¯m just a high school student. Swinging the sword around in my hand, making a series of basic slashes and swings I normally see in games and movies, it felt heavier and more taxing on my wrists than I expected.
Skill learned: Swordplay (Basic)
Swordplay: A passive skill that improves the ability to use weapons categorized as swords (Two-handed swords included)
Skill Proficiency: G Skill Rarity: G+
Just like that, I suddenly learnt a skill that helps improve my ability to use this short sword, which is definitely helpful in this situation. I felt like I suddenly knew how to properly grip a sword, thus adjusting my grip on the shortsword. Giving me no time to rest, two skeletons appear from within the dark mist, both wielding bones in their hands. Even though they were both level 1 skeletons, I could still be killed by them if I wasn¡¯t careful. For a start, I wanted to focus on one skeleton at a time, so I tried crippling one of the skeletons with my remaining stones. Using up all my stones, I managed to break one of the limbs and incapacitate the skeleton. I approach the uninjured skeleton, brandishing my sword and getting ready to kill it. Once it got into range, I lunged at it and made a slash to its head. The skeleton swung its bone horizontally and managed to hit me in my left arm. From that strike, I managed to shave of 1 HP from the skeleton, but I lost 1 HP myself. My left arm hurt a little, but it was nothing more than a bruise that can be overlooked. I once again lunge towards the skeleton, this time I blocked its bone weapon with my left arm, taking 1 damage from it, but I grabbed the right arm of the skeleton and landed a hard kick towards its chest, ripping off its arm. I figured that blunt damage would be more effective than using the sword from the first exchange, so I refrained from using my sword to attack the skeleton. Once again, I charge towards the skeleton, this time dodging its bone weapon and delivering a sweep kick, making it fall towards the ground. I immediately used the heel of my foot to smash its skull into pieces. Sure enough, the skull broke into pieces. [Gained 4XP] Using the same tactic on the crippled skeleton, it was already on the floor, making it easier to dodge its clawing hands, I easily killed it. [Gained 4XP] [You have gained a level, level 5] If I¡¯m already having trouble with a few level 1 monsters, I can¡¯t imagine how strong other monsters are, especially boss-class monsters. Walking down the corridor, I am greeted by 3 more skeletons, fortunately, they were all level 1 and had nothing more than a bone in their hands. Like before, I used the same tactics and easily trumped them with my kicks. I¡¯m starting to remember my Taekwondo lessons that I took years ago, maybe that training wasn¡¯t that useless after all.
Skill learned: Martial Arts [Legs] (Basic)
Martial Arts [Legs]: A passive skill that improves martial art techniques involving legs, such as kicks, the flexibility and strength of your legs.
Skill Proficiency: G Skill Rarity: G+
I think I roughly figured out how this skill system works, it''s a bit different from games where you just add skill points into whatever skill tree you have. It seems like you have to earn your skills in this world. Chapter 3 After gaining another skill, I continued down the corridor and fought off more skeletons, with the skeleton¡¯s numbers growing higher and higher. Some of them had rusted plates of armor or helmets, some wielding short swords similar to the one I was using currently. The highest number of skeletons I fought at the same time was 4. It was a close fight, but I managed to kill them all without being too close to danger, using my own sword to parry their weapons and using blunts attacks to finish them off. What I noticed were that the skeleton¡¯s attacks were always the same, as if they were mechanical. They would always swing their weapons once you get close enough, then try to either claw at you or bite at you. Noticing this pattern, I easily devised a plan to combat these weak skeletons, raising my level to level 8. I added most of my points to constitution, while evenly balancing strength and dexterity. My status currently looked like this:
Name: Kellan Flint Level: 8 Race: Human
Health: 65/65 Mana 18/18 Stamina: 165/165
Class: None Titles: Discoverer Attribute Points: 0
Strength: 20 Dexterity: 20 Intelligence: 10
Constitution: 23 Willpower: 30 Luck: 20(x2)
In addition to that, it seems like the skill proficiency of both my skills have risen to rank F. Skill List:
Swordplay (Basic) Skill Proficiency: F Skill Rarity: G+
Martial Arts (Legs) Skill Proficiency: F Skill Rarity: G+
From my experiences so far, I can gather than Skill Proficiencies increase the more I use the related weapons of the skills. If I fight more using kicks, the proficiency would increase. But defending with the sword like how I parry attacks with my short sword also seems to increase proficiency in the skill. Even after fighting so many skeletons, the corridor still seemed to stretch endlessly, the dark mist blocking my view from seeing the end of the corridor. It was at this moment that I sensed a hint of danger. I immediately alert myself, staring into the mist. I saw something flying towards my direction, it was an arrow. With my increased dexterity, I easily dodge the arrow as it whizzed past my face.
Skill learned: Dangersense
Dangersense: A passive ability that alerts you of incoming danger, increased proficiency increases effective range and faster detection
Skill Proficiency: G Skill Rarity: F
Keeping caution and staring into the mist, a figure slowly appeared from the mist. I could clearly see its features. It was a skeleton, but instead of a sword or bone that the skeletons I¡¯ve fought wielded, this one held a bow in its hands and a quiver strapped onto its back. To make things worse, another figure appeared from within the mist, this time it wore a full set of armor, the armor was clearly old and rusted. In its hands was an arming sword and an iron buckler in its other hand. The archer pulled out another arrow from the quiver strapped to its back and nocked it in place before slowly drawing it, pointing it towards me. The soldier kept its sword and shield readied and it slowly advanced towards me. I charged towards the skeleton soldier, paying close attention to the archer¡¯s bow as it followed me, steadying its aim before it shot the arrow. I figured it would be best to attack them before the archer managed to land a hit on me. Just as I expected, I sensed danger and quickly twisted my body to the side, narrowly dodging the arrow and continued to charge towards the soldier. When I got close to the soldier, it raised its buckler and gave a horizontal slash towards me. I easily parried the attack and delivered a front kick towards the skeleton, but it was easily blocked by the buckler. The soldier used it shield to ram into my body, knocking me back before advancing towards me. Steadying myself after I was hit by the shield, I could see another arrow already nocked and the bow drawn towards me. I backed away from the soldier, allowing the archer to have a clear shot before easily dodging the arrow. I charged towards the soldier once again, parrying its slash but I delivered a sweep kick to its legs, knocking it off balance and falling to the floor with a resounding clang as the metal armor hit the floor. Not caring about the soldier that is busy trying to get up, I ran towards the archer as fast as I can before it could nock another arrow, smashing its skull in with my fists, instantly killing it in the process. [Gained 10XP] [You have gained a level, Level 9]
Skill learned: Martial Arts [Arms] (Basic)
Martial Arts (Arms): A passive skill that improves martial art techniques involving arms, such as punches, flexibility and strength of the arms.
Skill Proficiency: G Skill Rarity: G+
Skills Martial Arts [Legs] and Martial Arts [Arms] have been combined to form Martial Arts
Ignoring the messages that appeared, I ran towards the soldier who was still struggling to stand up from its fall, delivering a heavy kick to its body, knocking it back down. Kicking metal armor wasn¡¯t a smart choice as it made my shin hurt right after, dealing 1 damage to myself. I continued my assault, stepping on its back to keep it from getting up, I took off its helmet and stabbed it in the head with my short sword, breaking it into pieces. [Gained 16XP] [You have gained a level, Level 10] [You have gained 1 Skill point] Skills Available | Remaining Skill Points: 1
Sense Presence: Senses presence within a 10m radius of the user 1 Skill Point
Blink: Teleport to an area within 3m of the user, must be within view 1 Skill Point
Lesser Heal: Heals 20HP of user or an ally, costs 10MP per use 1 Skill Point
Seeing these skills, I immediately chose Sense Presence since it would probably be very helpful at any point while I¡¯m in this dungeon. I would probably need this skill in case there¡¯s an ambush or hidden enemies. I also added 5 points into strength and 5 points into dexterity. After adding stats, I felt like my body was nimbler, yet felt stronger than I ever was before. This is probably the effect of increasing my Strength and Dexterity stats. I also have to thank my dexterity that allowed me to react fast enough to dodge the arrows if not I would have been dead. I picked up the sword and shield that the Skeleton Soldier dropped, ignoring the armor. The armor would hinder me more than it would help. I also kept the copper and the short sword into my inventory, maybe I would have a use for this short sword in the future.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. First off, let me just say that this sword is unusually light, maybe it¡¯s due to my strength stats, it felt like a feather in my hands. Thinking back, I never realized that the short sword became lighter. This arming sword had almost double the length of the short sword, making it easier for me to fight. I equipped both the sword and shield. I then headed to loot the archer¡¯s corpse, picking up its bow and quiver, it would probably be useful if I trained in using a bow, I would probably learn a skill from using this. I kept the bow and quiver in the same inventory slot, it seems like the inventory slots do not restrict based on what type of weapon it is, but they do have a maximum space to store your items in. I kept the bow for future use since I don¡¯t have a suitable target right now. The two skeletons were the only different monsters I¡¯ve fought till now, I wonder if there were more variants of skeletons that might show up here. Since there were melee variants and ranged variants, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if there were magic variants of the skeletons. I would probably have to watch out for those. Instead of slowly walking down the corridor, I grew a little impatient and started to jog down the corridor, killing a few skeletons on the way, bringing my level up to level 12. Additionally, my Martial Arts skill gained proficiency to rank E. Eventually, I made it to the end of the corridor, what greeted me was a large arched doorway, as high as 4m. The doorway lead to an extremely spacious room, with pillars extending so high I couldn¡¯t see how tall it was, blocked by an ominous dark mist. The pillars were numerous and spaced out evenly, almost seemingly endless. In the distance, I could hear the clanging of metals and the rattling of bones, clearly showing that numerous skeletons inhabited this spacious room. From what I can hear, there could be dozens of skeletons in this room alone, not to mention new variants I have never seen. I was also expecting an especially strong skeleton to appear given the type of room this was. Every step I took resounded through the air, albeit not alerting any of the skeletons in the distance. Most of the skeletons were blocked by a dense dark mist that I couldn¡¯t see through, but would disperse once I got closer. I could roughly make out 5 skeletons spaced out, all armed with a sword, but none soldiers. I easily pick off all 5 of the skeletons without alerting them together, giving me ample time to kill them off one by one. They didn¡¯t drop anything noteworthy, just copper coins which I kept. I continued to explore this spacious room, eventually coming across a robed skeleton, instead of a weapon in its hands, it held a book, which was probably a grimoire of sorts. I classified it as a magic variant of the skeletons. I deliberately aggroed it to see what kinds of spells it would use, giving me more insight to how I would deal with it but mostly due to my curiosity to magic in this new world. Magic is a core element in a fantasy world, which I expect make up most of the technology in this world. Expecting some sort of fireball from the skeleton mage, it started moving its jaws, chanting some indiscernible words before a ball of darkness formed in front of it and shot towards my direction. The ball flew towards me at an astonishing speed, whizzing through the air at almost twice the speed of an arrow. I barely dodge it in time before it hit me, only to see it disappear into the darkness behind me. Phew, lucky that didn¡¯t hit me if not I would¡¯ve become a goner! I swiftly made my way towards the lone skeleton mage, gripping my sword and getting ready to strike at the skeleton mage. The mage once again started to chant a spell as another ball of darkness floated in the air in front of it. I get ready to dodge the spell the moment it fires, trying to move in a zig-zag fashion to make it harder for the skeleton mage to hit me with its spell. Once the spell was fired, it shot towards me at high speed, cutting through the air. I immediately twist my body to dodge the spell, barely grazing my face. I felt the wind brushing my face as the ball of darkness whizzed past me, if I hadn''t dodged that my head would have been obliterated. The mage was only 3m infront of me, I dashed towards it as fast as I can before it was able to unleash another spell, piercing its skull with my sword and finishing it off by crushing its skull with my foot. [Gained 18 XP] [You have gained a level, level 13] The spellbook I picked up from the mage''s corpse was useless to me right now. I don''t know whether I had the required affinity with the darkness element, nor did I have 15 intelligence. So far i''ve just placed my points into Strength, Dexterity and Constitution. It''s just that there hasn''t been any spells so intelligence was useless to me. I open up the spell book to see its contents, but what greet me was just blank pages. I flipped through every page and all it showed were just blank pages. Maybe it has something to do with the requirements. Since I have 5 spare points, I distribute all 5 into intelligence. Sure enough, strange symbols started to appear in the book. Symbols that I couldn''t read, it didn''t help that I had 15 intelligence and met the requirements, I still don''t know what the contents of the book said. A message prompt appeared in front of me as I held the book in my hands. I select ''Yes'' by thinking of it. The strange symbols in the book lit up brightly, they floated into the sky and flew into my head. I felt a strange sensation, like information flowing into my mind. When the runes disappeared, the book crumbled into ashes and a message appeared in front of me:
Skill learned: Darkness Blast
Darkness Blast: Fires a ball of darkness towards a desired direction, dealing 30-40 damage to the enemy. Mana cost: 20MP
Skill Proficiency: G Skill Rarity: E
The mana cost was a problem, but after adding 5 more points to my intelligence, I had a capacity of 57 mana points so I could use it twice in a fight, maybe three if the fight was dragged out. With this, I now had a new weapon in my arsenal. I could see it being valuable against the long-ranged skeletons I had no way of dealing with when there are other skeletons blocking my way. I found a weak level 2 skeleton roaming the large space, firing a Darkness Blast towards it, the blast shattered the skeleton instantly from the sheer force of the impact. Upon impact, there was no large explosion or anything flashy, the darkness enveloped the skeleton and dissipated as soon as it struck the skeleton. However, the feeling of the loss of mana was hard to get used to, I felt more exhausted than usual even though my stamina was still high. I could see that mana was slowly regenerating, about 0.1 per second. Not wasting any time, I continued to fight the skeletons to level up, I occasionally use the bow to train, but it was harder than I thought. Most of my shots would miss or end up doing nothing but leave a scratch on the bones of the skeletons. The arrow wasn''t very effective against these bony enemies. I did manage to learn the Bow proficiency skill. 6:20:36:12, the timer read on my 1 week boost. So far I have spent 4 hours in this dungeon, it felt like an eternity for me. I also realise that I haven''t felt hungry all this time, I speculate that Stamina also represents my hunger, so when I level up, my hunger is replenished as well. Right now, all I wanted to do was to get out of this dungeon and explore the new world outside of this dungeon, goblins, orcs and elves to see, magical dragons to fight and adventures to go on. I remember the majestic sight I had witnessed in that dream before the meteor struck, it was definitely a world worth exploring. However, to do this, I must become stronger, I can''t fathom how strong the boss of this dungeon must be and the skeletons must not be the only types of monsters in this dungeon. Setting my goal, I continued to kill the skeletons with more ardor than before. Slaying dozens upon dozens of skeletons, everytime my stamina ran low, I would level up, distributing attributes prioritizing constitution, balancing strength and dexterity, and adding the occasional intelligence to allow me to use darkness blast more.
For repeating an action countless times without stop, you have gained a new stat: Perseverance! +10 Perseverance, +10 Strength
For being able to continuously grind skeletons for 2 hours straight, I gain a new stat, Perseverance and increased strength. For now, I have no idea what it does but it appears that I can distribute my attribute points to it unlike Luck and Willpower. It also seems like doing activities will also allow me to increase my stats other than leveling up, very useful. Just when I thought killing this skeletons was boring and my level is getting too high to be still fighting these skeletons, a new opponent appears infront of me... an abnormally large one that is.
Current Status:
Name: Kellan Flint Level: 18 Race: Human
Health: 65/65 Mana 117/117 Stamina: 165/165
Class: None Titles: Discoverer Attribute Points: 0
Strength: 47 Dexterity: 48 Intelligence: 25
Constitution: 53 Willpower: 30 Luck: 20(x2)
Perseverance: 10
Skill List: Skill Proficiency: Skill Rarity:
Swordplay (Basic) D G+
Martial Arts (Basic) D G+
Dangersense F F
Sense Presence F B
Darkness Blast F E
Chapter 4 That was the name of this abnormally large skeleton, it was the strongest monster i''ve seen since coming to this dungeon. The only monsters i''ve seen were up to level 12 and were mostly Skeleton Soldiers, Wizards or Archers. They were pathetically easy to deal with since they have the same attack pattern, repeated countless times. However, this Hulking Bone looked extremely strong, it had bones twice as thick as the bones of the other skeletons, standing at around 2.5 meters tall. It was exuding an aura of death, one that was exceptionally thick compared to the other skeletons, its eyes had a blue fire, twice as large as the blue fires in the other skeletons, as if to match its size. What made this Hulking Bone different other than its size were the two fang-like teeth jutting out from its lower jaw, making it look somewhat like an Orc. Maybe this was an orc''s skeleton... I don''t even know whether I can touch this monster, its arms were longer than my reach, so fighting it with my sword was a death wish, the only way I could deal damage to it was by using Darkness Blast, which I could now use 5 times. But doing the math, I still couldn''t kill it, that was taking to account it had a higher defense, probably a higher magic resistance too. It would take a miracle to win this fight. The Hulking Bone already saw me the moment I saw him, it immediately started moving towards me, shambling like the other skeletons, but it was faster due to its large strides, moving 2 meters every step it took. In its hands was an axe, made out of bones. It looked normal when he was wielding it, but it was definitely over 1m in length, one hit from that axe and I would be decapitated. This made me all the more unwilling to go into close combat with this monster. When it was close enough for me to not miss my spell, I shot out Darkness blast at the Hulking Bone''s head. It missed its mark and hit it in its shoulder, making it stagger back a few steps before recovering. The ball had hit its shoulder and dissipated immediately after impact, leaving a small crack in its shoulder. Only 30 damage, it might be a lot if I was against normal skeletons, but to this monster, 30 health was nothing more than a scratch. I had to find another way to deal with this monster if not I would die. I''ve technically died once, and I will never want to experience that again, I cherish my life hunting in this dungeon. Suddenly, there was a glint in the Hulking Bone''s eyes, it lowered its axe and jutted his head forward, going into a position like it was about to charge... It indeed was going to charge at me. It pushed its hind legs forward and dashed towards me at a high speed, there was about 5 seconds before it would hit me. I had barely any time to think, shooting out a Darkness Blast at its face and running to the side to avoid its charge. Fortunately, the mist from the Darkness Blast hindered its sights for awhile before it dissipated, preventing him from seeing me just before I dodged. When the mist dissipated, it realised that I had already dodged, and tried to swerve its body towards my direction, but it was too late. It knocked into one of the large pillars in the room. A resounding crash was heard, the impact sent dust flying into the air, rocks were sent flying. I quickly made some distance between the Hulking Bone and myself, giving me time to react if something unexpected happens. Hopefully that killed the Hulking Bone. However, that was just my wishful thinking, when the dust settled, I could clearly see the Hulking Bone standing there. Although some cracks could be seen in its skull, it wasn''t nearly enough to kill it. Instead, the rocks from the pillar were crushed, and crumbling, but the thick pillar still stood strong. That impact alone did 50 damage, if it kept charging, I could kill this Hulking Bone easily. Since skeletons generally had little to no intelligence, it might keep mindlessly charging towards me, giving me a chance to kill it. Seeing its low health, another method I thought of would be more dangerous, that was to continue blasting it with my Darkness Blast until it died, it would deal a minimum of 120 damage, leaving it with 15 health. I could finish off the last 15 health with my weapon, but that was to say I could land my spells. The Hulking Bone continued to shuffle towards me, I continued making distance with it, while slowly creeping near another pillar, baiting it to charge towards me so it could kill itself. Maybe I wouldn''t get XP from this, but it was better than dying. After baiting it around for almost 5 minutes, it never did show a sign of starting another charge. It was probably because it had a cooldown or maybe it costed mana or stamina, I wouldn''t know. Eventually, I had to resort to Plan B, which was to shave away at the Hulking Bone''s health with my Darkness Blast until it was as low as I could get it. I remained a distance of 10 meters away from the Hulking Bone in case it charges me, forming a ball of darkness in my palm. I fired it towards the Hulking Bone''s head. Like before, it only made the Hulking Bone stagger back, but quickly recovered and continued its slow chase. I had 60 mana left, which would bring down the Hulking Bone to 15 health. Normally, that amount of health would allow me to easily destroy the Hulking Bone, there were side-effects of having low mana, which could cause mental strain and exhaustion, making me weaker. That was one of the reasons why I tried to bait a charge from the Hulking Bone for 5 minutes. Truly, this dungeon was not as easy as I thought it would be. Firing another Darkness Blast at the Hulking Bone, the spell hit the Hulking Bone again in the head, dealing only 30 damage. It was down to 75 health. Suddenly, I sensed immense danger and the hulk let out a deafening roar, it stamped its foot down, knocking up dust into the air and charged towards my direction. It charged again, but this time it was almost twice as fast as before, there was no way I could dodge it. Having no way to escape, I had almost no time to think and unhestitantly shot a Darkness Blast, subconsciously channeling extra mana into the spell, creating a ball of darkness as big as a football. It shot towards the head of the Hulking Bone in the middle of its charge, its speed was twice as fast as before. In the blink of an eye, it hit the Hulking Bone straight in its skull, shattering it under the sheer impact coupled with the force from the charge.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
For showing proficiency in Darkness Blast, you have learned Mana Manipulation (Basic)
Before I could check my status after I read the messages, my body was overwhelmed by a wave of fatigue and I fell unconscious with a thud on the floor. Plop. Plop. Plop. Plop. Plop. Plop. My eyes slowly open, my body no longer feel fatigued like before, in contrast, my body feels like it''s brimming with energy. I scan my surroundings, only to see that I was still in the same position as before, there were no other monsters other than the corpse of the Hulking Bone I had fought. There were still other skeletons wandering the room, but they were a considerable distance from me so I was still safe after being unconscious. I check the timer to see that I had been unconscious for only 1 hour. It was probably due to mana depletion that I had fainted, but leveling up should''ve replenished all my mana. No... It was from the shock of almost dying, technically i''m already dead, but it felt more real this time. Since coming to this new world, i''ve thought of everything so far as nothing more than a game. That''s why i''ve been reckless and fighting skeletons with no fear, i''ve barely been damaged because of their slow and predictable movements, but this time was a really close shave from death. Sighing, I put that matter into the back of my mind and examined the body of the Hulking Bone, there was nothing special about it except for the abnormally thick bones. I doubt I could use any of the bones as a weapon because of its size, but the fangs from its maw might have a use. Suddenly, a small gem the size of my thumb caught my eye. It was a shade of iridescent azure blue, there was a faint trace of mana emitting from the gem. I put it into my inventory, thinking it would be useful at some point. There was also a small stone chest near the head of the monster, it wasn''t too big, but big enough to fit in my palm. It looked exactly like how I imagined a chest would look like, but made out of stone. There was a keyhole, but I can feel that this chest could be opened at any time if I just will it to open. Reading the message that appeared above the chest, I opened the chest with a thought. The chest disappeared in a shining light, and a pair of leather boots appeared in my hands where the stone chest was. I examine the leather boots, they appear to be made from a leather not found on Earth, it had a hue of green and was very tough. They were a little too big for me though, as though it was made for a giant. It could also be that i''m small, which I was when in High School. I was the shortest boy in class, not that i''m proud of that, maybe to some it had a certain je ne sais quoi. Not forgetting the fangs of the monster I had fought, luckily they didn''t break when the Darkness Blast hit, the blast only hit the frontal bone of the skull, avoiding its jaw. The fangs were hard to harvest since the bones were so hard. I managed to forage it by breaking it using the force of my whole body. I then checked my status, to find 35 extra attribute points, I added 10 to Constitution and Intelligence, they were essential to my survival. Intelligence would help me to cast more Darkness Blast, which was my strongest weapon right now. Constitution would increase my Stamina and Health, which was useful. I distributed the last 15 points to both Strength and Dexterity, balancing them. Strength was helpful in general for more damage, and dexterity helps me with reacting faster, I would have died if it wasn''t for dexterity while fighting the Hulking Bone.
Name: Kellan Flint Level: 25 Race: Human
Health: 102/102 Mana 157/157 Stamina: 215/215
Class: None Titles: Discoverer Attribute Points: 0
Strength: 55 Dexterity: 55(+8) Intelligence: 35
Constitution: 63 Willpower: 30 Luck: 20(x2)
Perseverance: 10
Then there was the Skill Points: Skills Available | Skill Points: 1
Blink: Teleport to an area within 3m of the user, must be within view 1 Skill Point
Lesser Heal: Heals 20HP of user or an ally, costs 10MP per use 1 Skill Point
Haste: Increases Dexterity by 20 for 10 seconds 1 Skill Point
Hercules: Increases Strength by 20 for 10 seconds 1 Skill Point
I naturally took Lesser Heal, there were many reasons for the choice, and the obvious reason that it was the most useful among the others. in this dungeon, there were many dangers and a healing spell would be indispensable. So far, I haven''t seen any potions so this healing spell would save my life.
Skill Learned: Lesser Heal
Heals 20HP of user or an ally, Costs 10MP per use
I haven''t really noticed this before, but I could now sense faint traces of mana in the air, it could be due to my new skill, Mana Manipulation. I''m intrigued by what it could do, I am able to channel more or less mana into my spells, or I could sense mana in monsters. The undead have weak amounts of mana in them, so they were weak. I would soon find out what more I can do with this spell, but it''ll take some time. Right now, I have to find the burial place of this ''Galahand'' since it''s his tomb. He would probably be strong, so I will need to become stronger before I fight him. Maybe destroying the body itself will let me out of this dungeon, maybe there''s a whole new civilization outside this shitty tomb. Right now, i''ll continue slaying these skeletons and find new enemies. It''s a boring life, but it''s necessary.