《Just An Outlier》 Chapter 0 - Prologue A frail-looking boy walked through an arched entrance into a school obscured by the sunlight. Wandering around, just as the boy found shade to make sense of his directions, he bumped into a person who was a size bigger than him. This person immediately twisted his body to find the source of impact, to find the boy rubbing his shoulders in pain. In quick fashion, he grabbed the boy by the collar and started shouting in a gruff voice, spitting saliva all over the boy''s face. "Kid, don''t you know who I am? Anyone who bumps into me will be mashed into a pulp!" When the boy''s eyes adjusted to the change in brightness, he was quite surprised by who was staring daggers at him. The gruff voice didn''t belong to a thug, rather the face was quite scholarly, and handsome at that. The person who was picking him up by the collar had blonde hair that drooped to shoulder length, with square rimmed glasses that matched the contoured glossy white face. With the snap of the blonde male¡¯s fingers, people who took the typical appearance of bullies appeared from the shadows. As the bullies formed a circle to surround the two, iwet became quite apparent that the boy didn¡¯t attend the same school the others were in. ¡°Boss, it looks like this kid goes to Webington.¡± ¡°Webington huh. Always hated how filthy that school was. Garbage always stays garbage, through and through.¡± The person who was also the boss of the bullies balled up his fist, tilting back his arm for extra momentum. The boy waited for the obvious to happen, and subconsciously closed his eyes as the fist came flying at him. But the pain never came, rather he felt something touch his bottom. The boy opened his eyes and saw himself sitting on the ground, with the person who was just holding him up sprawled on the grass. Next to that person, was someone he recognized. ¡°You came just in the nick of time Lucin.¡± ¡°You know what they say Roa, heroes always come right on time.¡± ¡°Always spouting such clich¨¦d words, unbecoming of a delinquent.¡± ¡°Well this delinquent just saved your ass, so stop worrying about it.¡± Although Roa was an average, albeit frail boy, Lucin was the opposite. His demeanor oozed out an aura that told of nothing but fights. Lucin, even for a guy, barely showed any skin, and at first glance just looked like a really tall person. His friends knew that under all that clothing, was a finely toned body that only countless skirmishes could bring. Lucin liked to tell Roa that his fights were in the name of justice, but the adults didn¡¯t care about his so-called justice, and labeled him a delinquent. The bullies that were in cohorts with the handsome blonde male took one look and fled, leaving behind a trail of words. ¡°You asshole! You¡¯ll get expelled for this!¡± Roa shot a worried look at Lucin, which Lucin waved off. ¡°They aren¡¯t going to do anything. The guy who was picking on you is the son of the chairman of this school, but the chairman really doesn¡¯t like it when he picks on people.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.Roa was still worried. ¡°Even so, why would the chairman believe someone who doesn¡¯t even go to this school over his own son?¡± ¡°Good point¡­ anyways, you came for the library right? Everytime you come here, it¡¯s always the library. Am I just a library pass to you?¡± ¡°Actually, I come here to visit you, with an extra topping of library on the side.¡± The light banter continued as the two made their way to the library. Walking in, one of the librarians at the front greeted them. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Roa and Lucin again. I¡¯ve got some book recommendations Roa, here¡¯s the list.¡± ¡°Thanks Para, I¡¯ll look into them.¡± To many, the library at this school was closer to a dance hall filled with an endless amount of bookshelves. Aside from the area near the entrance, there was nothing but bookshelves, so many that there was barely any space between each shelves, with some of space impeded by books jutting out of their shelves. ¡°This isn¡¯t called the best private school for nothing. I¡¯m so glad your parents paid for your tuition so I could come here for free.¡± ¡°You¡¯re SO funny Roa. Now that you¡¯ve used me as your personal library card, I¡¯m going back to my club.¡± As Roa was wandering around to look for the books Para recommended, he noticed a peculiar book in the new bookshelf section. He took the book, and saw that the leather that bound it was extremely tattered, as if it would disintegrate at the slightest touch. ¡°Now how did you get into the new book section?¡± The only words bound on the leather were the title of the book. ¡°The Legend of Tarbur¡­¡± Roa carefully opened the book as to not break it, and began to read. A kingdom named Tarbur was started by an adventurer who wished for all races to be treated equally. Legends say that the adventurer came from another world. After the kingdom was established, peace only lasted for a couple of centuries until a new human ruler became extremely corrupt and started to ostracize the demon race. A civil war broke out, and as a result the kingdom broke up into five. The Tarbur kingdom only had humans, the Einheart kingdom consisted mostly of elves, the Curl kingdom consisted mostly of dwarves, the Jianial kingdom kingdom consisted mostly of beastmen, and the Daruvan kingdom consisted mostly of demons. Wars continued between all of the kingdoms, but because of human ingenuity the Tarbur kingdom once again began to expand. However, in a recent event, the Curl kingdom brought out a secret weapon and decimated the human army, which signaled the Jianial and Daruvan kingdoms to team up with the Curl kingdom to wipe Tarbur off the map. Roa flipped past the first page, only to be met by blank pages. ¡°Did someone stick their fanfiction diary in here or something?¡± Slowly, the blank pages began to flip on their own, until it was the last page. On that was a circle of words unknown to Roa. ¡°Huh?! Wh-what¡¯s going on?¡± A glow began to expand around the book, until it filled Roa¡¯s vision. Chapter 1 - Abnormally Normal When the light receded, Roa opened his eyes to find himself in a different place. Instead of the expansive library where he opened the book, walls and walls of brick in a gothic style made up the dimly lit surroundings, with the only light being the same circle he just saw on the floor. Roa surveyed the room and noticed that there were other people just as confused. One of them shouted in a confused tone. ¡°Where are we?¡± A part of the wall magically disappeared, opening up to reveal an entrance. What came in looked to be a priestess, a king, and about forty guards. The priestess bowed, and in an announcer like voice, informed everyone of their status. ¡°Welcome to our world, heroes.¡± ¡°HEROES YOU SAY?!¡± Roa turn to the source of the shout to see the bully from earlier looking extremely excited. ¡°That is correct. We have summoned you from your world to help us fight against the evil demons who are at war with us. For some odd reason, otherworlders are able to wield the power of our world far better than we can. As a result, all of you are exponentially stronger than the average human in our world.¡± Everyone was extremely excited. Who wouldn¡¯t be when placed in a fantasy setting and told they were a hero? Another guard came in, wheeling in what looked like an American football goalpost. At the same time, the priestess pulled out something similar to plastic playing cards, only they were completely transparent, three times as thick, and had a faint blue glow to them. ¡°What I¡¯m about to hand out is called a stat card. Usually, upon birth, a stat card is issued and bound to the person. However, with rare exceptions like now, a drop of blood is required to activate the card. With this, the card will automatically return to you if lost or stolen.¡± The stat cards were handed out to every person, and the priestess chanted a spell once it was confirmed everyone had a card. ¡ºBlood Let¡» Everyone in the room felt an ominous chill, which lasted for maybe half a second. Looking down, Rion¡¯s card was glowing scarlet red instead of blue. Everyone had a different colored card, creating a rainbow in the room. ¡°Now that the card is bound to your soul, we need to activate your card by placing it within this slot.¡± The priestess nodded her head at the goalpost, which had a small card slot on the side. The bully from before was quite enthusiastic, and raised his hand. ¡°Ohhh, I¡¯ll go first!¡± The crowd automatically dispersed to form a path, as if the students had done this before. The bully gave his card to the priestess. ¡°Oh, you have a pure white glow on your card. I wonder what fortunes may lie ahead for you.¡± The priestess inserted the card into the side of the goalpost while the bully stood beaming, and suddenly words projected between the goalpost.
Name:Laur MofferAge:16
Gender:MaleLevel:1
Class:Hero Apprentice
-
Health:1000/1000Mana1000/1000
Strength:1000Stamina:1000
Agility:1000Resistance:1000
Magic:1000Magic Resistance:1000
-
Elemental Affinity
  • Wind, Fire, Earth, Water, Thunder, Light
Skills
  • [Unique] Incantation of Uriel
    • Continuously drain 10 mana per second to summon and equip Uriel''s Sword.
  • [Unique] Aura of Propensity
    • Party size increased from 3 to 10.
    • Increase in 10% experience for everyone in party when leader.
  • Rite of A Hero
    • High possibility to become a hero.
    • Increased stat growth.
    • Able to understand all languages.
Titles
  • World Traveler
Many audible gasps could be heard coming from the inhabitants of this world. When he heard the gasps, Laur frowned. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, am I too weak?¡± The priestess stared at the projection a bit longer before turning around and clasping Laur¡¯s hands. ¡°Our savior! The hero to lead all of us, and amazing stats to go with it!¡± The priestess took out Laur¡¯s card, and shoved hers in.
Name:Mana OffloAge:23
Gender:FemaleLevel:37
Class:Oracle
-
Health:267/267Mana887/887
Strength:23Stamina:53
Agility:33Resistance:13
Magic:333Magic Resistance:384
-
Elemental Affinity
  • Water, Light
Spells
  • Aura of Divinity
  • Blood Let
  • Goddess'' Touch
  • Holy Prayer
  • Natural Cleanse
Skills
  • Blessing of the Gods
    • Sacrifice 500 mana temporarily to increase stats of all party members by 5%
  • Healer''s Propensity
    • Cannot battle.
    • 100% boost to all heal spells.
    • Unable to be afflicted by statuses.
  • Titles
    • Human Oracle, Otherworldly Summoner, Savior of Azra
Laur immediately realized his situation, and started to act haughty. ¡°What else would someone expect from me? The way I see it, shouldn¡¯t you treat me with a little more respect?¡± ¡°Whatever could you request from us?¡± Laur simply smirked. ¡°You would be fine.¡± From the perspective of most of the otherworlders, the priestess was one of the prettiest women they''ve ever seen in their life. Milky white skin that seemed smooth to the touch, hips that could make any idol cry in jealousy, a perfectly contoured, baby-like face, and a chest that wasn¡¯t huge but also quite supple, even some of the girls in the class were thinking of doing that with the priestess. The priestess slightly blushed and bowed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but as a priestess we are sworn to be pure.¡± Daiki looked quite ashamed as the priestess handed him his card. ¡°Does anyone want to go next?¡± People ran up to see their stats. Roa didn¡¯t really bother that much, and just sat back and watched. Lucin had miraculously made it to the front of the line, and went right after Laur. He stuck out his card which oozed a slight hue of green.
Name:Lucin HasenAge:16
Gender:MaleLevel:1
Class:Heavy Vanguard
-
Health:1200/1200Mana1000/1000
Strength:700Stamina:1000
Agility:100Resistance:1200
Magic:400Magic Resistance:600
-
Elemental Affinity This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
  • Fire, Earth
Skills
  • [Unique] Impenetrable
    • Armor cannot be pierced.
  • [Unique] Shield Guardian
    • When in party, resistance and magic resistance increased by 50%
    • Equipment has no weight.
  • Path of A Hero
    • Possibility to become a hero.
    • Increased stat growth.
    • Able to understand all languages.
Titles
  • World Traveler
Looking at Lucin¡¯s stats, Laur taunted him. ¡°Plebians will always stay plebians.¡± A slight dark aura emanated from Lucin, which quickly faded away once he received his card and saw the next person¡¯s stat card. It was by far subpar compared to Laur¡¯s and Lucin¡¯s stats, but still mostly outclassed the priestess¡¯ stats. Noticing a sad mood dripping out of the person¡¯s attitude, the priestess quickly added. ¡°Normal humans in this world start with an average of 100 Health and Mana and with 10 in the rest of the stats.¡± The person seemed slightly happier, and accepted his stat card. --- Finally, it was Roa¡¯s turn to go. While everyone else had some shade of color outlining their card, Roa¡¯s card lost its glow.
###Roa XeltAge:16
Gender:MaleLevel:###
Class:###
-
Health:100/100######
Strength:10###10
Agility:10Resistance:10
Magic:100###10
-
###
  • Wind, ###, Earth, Water, ###, Light, Dark, Void
Skills
  • [Unique] ###
    • ###
    • ###
    • Access to all elemental affinities.
  • [Unique] Power of Knowledge
    • When absorbing points of an object, gain attributes similar to the object.
    • Able to appraise all objects
  • ###
    • ###
    • Increased stat growth.
    • Able to understand all languages.
Titles
  • World Traveler
Roa took one glance at his stats and figured something was wrong. He was the only one without insane stats, and at the same time static appeared to be fizzling out a lot of his information. The priestess had the same look of confusion as Roa. ¡°There¡¯s never been a malfunction on the card before¡­ the stats seem too low¡­¡± She began mumbling to herself, deep in thought before she caught herself and turned to face Roa. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, this has never happened before. I¡¯ll prepare you a new card by the end of next month.¡± The priestess had some soldiers pull the projection out, and heaved a big sigh of relief. The king who also made a serious face the whole time finally eased up. This time, it was the king who spoke. ¡°With all the trivialities gone, you should all take a rest. I know it has all been hard for you, so please feel free to make yourself at home. There should be enough empty rooms in the west quarter for all of you to have their own room.¡± And with that, the summoning was over. --- Roa sat on a plain white bed in a room the farthest back of the quarters. The walls were white, with one closet and desk accompanying a massive window where one could see a garden. He decided on this room because the other rooms were too flashy for his taste. He stared at his stat card, trying to figure out the hidden skill behind all the static. There was a foreboding feeling within Roa that told him he would need it in the future. He scoured his mind to think of something that would relate to all elemental affinities, when he hit something that was implanted into his brain. Unconsciously, Roa whispered a set of words. ¡°Summon Book¡± A small wind blew the curtains that accompanied the windows before a closed book appeared in front of him. Roa picked it up and inspected it. It was quite a peculiar book. The cover and spine were so white that even the walls seemed to look gray. Opening up the book, the pages were pitch black; there was no shine of light on it no matter how Roa tried to angle the pages. If one were to invert the colors, the book would looks like a regular old book. Yet even more strange was the blankness on the pages. Every single page was blank. A knock on the door startled him, and Roa dropped the book. While cursing, he unsummoned the book and opened the door. Lucin was standing there with a worried look on his face. ¡°I heard something drop, is everything ok?¡± Roa couldn¡¯t help but laugh as Lucin kept talking. ¡°Look, everyone saw your stats and seem to be mocking you. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s all a malfunction. Even if not, as a friend, I¡¯ll protect you.¡± Then and now really does never change Roa thought. As his thoughts wandered, he didn¡¯t notice Lucin staring at him with a piercing gaze. Lying down on the bed and staring at the ceiling, Roa looked out the window and noticed that the sun was finally setting. Feeling restless at the new experience that this world brought, and the anxiety that came along with it, he left my room to visit the garden. Before he knew it, he was lost in the castle. Roa, even before, always seemed to get lost at every new moment. Roa wandered around, trying to find some familiar place, and ended up at the location from where he was summoned. The place looked much larger than when there were a crowd of people. The bright light that seemed to defy all logic was still glowing. Upon further inspection, the light seemed to take a very complex pattern. A giant circle was the perimeter, with multiple circles filling up the giant circle. Each circle has its own unique line combination that seemed to be a series of words from this world. Roa couldn¡¯t read the words, and concluded that understanding all languages didn¡¯t mean being able to read all languages. The light seemed to be drawn on with magic, but also looked like chalk. Roa touched the light, and involuntarily uttered a few words. ¡°Absorb.¡± The shining light faded, and a soft voice resounded in his thoughts.
You have absorbed 7/100 transportation magic points.
The intricate, glowing circle faded as the voice disappeared from his head. Knowing he did something that he should not have done, Roa ran out of the room as fast as possible, hoping that no one would discover what he had just done. As Roa¡¯s mind guided his body back to his room, and as soon as he plopped down on my bed, he fell asleep. The next day, an announcement was made stating that all the heroes were to trek into a dungeon. Chapter 2 - Gresknov The throne room was very brightly colored. A red carpet led up to steps from the doorway, which on top of a stage held three thrones. Giant gothic windows blazed light just outside of the carpet¡¯s reach, as if indicating a holy walkway. The ceiling was an opaque blue glass and a sphere hovered at the center, emitting a faint white light. Roa was the middle of the crowd that shuffled into the throne room. The king was already sitting in the middle throne, twiddling his thumbs. After the last person came in, he lazily gestured to a group of guards, who hurried off. He turned back and began to talk. ¡°As you have all heard, today you are going on a dungeon expedition. Some of you may be questioning why I¡¯m rushing you all to battle already. This is to quickly get you used to this world, and to improve your levels. I highly doubt any of you will take damage at all from the journey. All of you, along with the priestess, will trek inside the dungeon Gresknov. I have sent the guards to bring gear suitable for you all.¡± As he finished his line, the guards were already back. Everyone was given a leather garb and a gleaming steel dagger. The king appraised the equipment, and nodded. ¡°Most of you are extremely powerful and will likely not need to rely on our equipment. As such, you will only be given a leather garb that allows us to track your location, and a steel dagger for those without a weapon summon.¡± As Roa received the equipment, he inspected the leather garb to look for a tracking device, but failed to find one. Instead, he noticed an inconsistency in lining of the garb, where the breast pocket would be. Fiddling around, he heard something crumble. ¡°Oops¡± he murmured. ¡°I sincerely hope none of you wish to betray our kingdom. Even if you do, I will warn you now that you will be alone in the wilderness. The devils, dwarves, and beastmen are all evil, vile creatures that kill humans on sight.¡± After his speech, the king promptly got up and left. The king was not in a good mood, and forcefully ordered the guards to ¡°escort¡± the world travelers out. Mana, the priestess, was waiting for them outside, gesturing them to follow her. They were led back to the place where they first came into the world. ¡°Before we proceed, I need to ask you all something. Originally, we were to teleport to the dungeon via the teleportation portal accessed here. However, overnight the teleportation portal has suddenly disappeared. Obviously a perpetrator was behind this, and if you know who did this, please let us know. Until then, we will walk to the dungeon until the portal can be set up again.¡± Roa¡¯s heart was beating faster than usual. The castle¡¯s design took a very medieval approach. The houses that were erratically strewn across the land were biggest the closer they were to the castle. However, the houses that lined the wall broke that rule: they were just as majestic as the houses closest to the castle. Although the walls were made of stone, the wall which surrounded the entire place had the impression that it was made from one giant rock. Mana noticed everyone¡¯s glances, and began an earnest history speech as the group went down the mountain¡¯s steep incline. ¡°This land was actually once a mountain that had a dragon living inside it. Dragons have a very keen sense of energy, and the more powerful ones occupy the places with a higher energy density. It is said that the dragon that once resided here was one of the most powerful dragons that has ever existed. Our forefathers, Tarbin and Luhtbur, in a stroke of luck was able to deal a killing blow to the dragon that lived here. Because of the high magic density of this land, the land itself was extremely hard. Even with the best earth mages in the world, it took us over 100 years to terraform the land how it is now.¡± Roa found the story to be very clich¨¦, while everyone else seemed to be listening in awe. He believed that the story was heavily exaggerated as it was passed down from generation to generation. As if on cue, once Mana finished her short history lesson, they arrived at a cave opening. ¡°This is actually the cave where the dragon once resided. A few years after the dragon was slain, our ancestors discovered an entrance deeper inside the cave. That entrance, is the dungeon we are about to enter.¡± --- Upon entering the dungeon, Roa was greeted with a message that popped up in his head.
Gresknov Dungeon Floor 1
To Roa, the itching feeling in his head when the message popped up felt wrong. He couldn¡¯t fathom how the others could bear with the weirdness of it. The dungeon itself just looked like an extension of the cave, only more narrow. The group carefully treaded on, reaching a large opening. A nest of rats rested in the center of the opening, and beyond that one could see a bridge that led to a floating island. The rats noticed the group approaching, quickly preparing themselves for battle. The giant rats instilled a natural fear in all of the students. Seeing a creature they were all disgusted by, and then having its proportions massively blown up, did not exactly raise morale. Except for Laur, who charged in whilst chanting. ¡°Summon Uriel¡¯s Sword!¡± Sudden wisps of light shaped a sword directly into Laur¡¯s stuck out hand. It looked like a regular old steel sword, only glowing. Everyone couldn¡¯t help but stare at it. Something felt off about it. Laur easily pierced through the rat¡¯s head with one stab of his sword. Riled up, he screamed at the top of his lungs, ¡°TOO FUCKING EASY¡± as he charged towards more rats. It took Roa a few seconds to realize that everyone else was also charging at the rats. Roa snuck up on a rat from the back, and shakingly stabbed it with his steel dagger. Yet, even with the steel dagger that he was provided, Roa couldn¡¯t even scratch the skin of the rat. The dagger simply bounced off as the rat took notice of him and tried to bite his head off. In a nimble move that seemed beyond ten agility, Roa just barely dodged the bite. He quickly realized he was so weak that the he couldn¡¯t deal a single damage to the giant rats. He wanted to be useful in some way, to prove his worth, but everyone else was dealing only killing blows to the rats. Roa noticed a rat that was about the size of the ones on Earth sitting about in the center of the battle. It also eyed Roa, and began to approach him faster than he could see it. Many people would say that they would be more afraid of a super high-speed rat over a really big one. However, speed would mean nothing if there was no power behind it. Before Roa could even react, the rat had bitten his arm. Roa jumped back, wary, and after a moment realized the sensation he felt from the rat was similar to a tickle. After all the rats were slaughtered by the group of students, Roa was still engaged in battle with the normal-sized rat. Lucin shouted at Roa. ¡°Finish up the fight and follow us when you¡¯re done. We¡¯ll be going on ahead.¡± The majority of the students also felt bad for Roa. It could have been them who could¡¯ve received such subpar stats. Of course, not everyone felt that way. ¡°Isn¡¯t it quite obvious everyone? The stats were distributed based on our rankings within the school. Because this guy wasn¡¯t part of the school, he¡¯s the weakest!¡± Laur¡¯s observation made a lot of sense. Laur was indeed the at the top of the academic rankings in their school, the person with the second highest stats had the second best rank within the group, and so on and so forth. With that information in the back of their heads, the other students were less inclined to be nice to Roa. Right as everyone left, Roa noticed a pattern in the tiny rat¡¯s movements. When it was moving beyond what his eyes could see, the blur always moved in a straight line. Roa rushed straight at the rat. When the rat dodged, he stuck his hand out at the direction the rat was facing. The blur crashed straight into his hand, and Roa gripped tightly. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.The rat bit and scratched at the hand that was gripping it tightly, but realized it was a fruitless endeavor and gave up. Roa stared at the rat, preparing his dagger, but something in his head told him not to do it. He had some doubt on killing the rat. He had never killed another living creature before. And just like him, the rat was weak, who was only able to watch what was likely his family get slaughtered by humans. Roa sympathized with this tiny rat that couldn¡¯t even deal a single scratch on the weakest person in his group. It was then that Roa noticed how much everyone had changed already. Although they were only rats, the students were killing them without any hesitation whatsoever. He himself was just about to do the same. The mentality of the students didn¡¯t seem to match up. He eased the grip on the rat, and gently put it back down on the ground. The rat scurried away faster than ever into a hole, as Roa proceeded on. Inside the hole, the tiny rat stared at Roa until he couldn¡¯t be seen. Each new region of the dungeon was separated by a bridge that led from island to island. Each island was floating, and beneath was an abyss that was completely pitch black. Roa carefully crossed the bridge from his current island to the next, afraid of looking down. Roa got off on the next island, and saw dozens of giant arachnids dead, and on their back. The students had already annihilated this island, and was already on the next. Afraid that some of the arachnids were still alive, Roa perked up all of his instincts and stealthily walked around the edge, looking for the next bridge. Suddenly, his ears picked up some light scratching. Roa was afraid, but curiosity got the best of him and he went to investigate. Dead arachnids were lined up like walls, as if gesturing Roa to walk forth. Alarmed, but even more curious, Roa kept walking the path that led him to the center of the island. It was then that he noticed a arachnid, bigger than the others, still scuttling about. The arachnid sensed his presence and turned around, staring straight into his eyes. Roa realized he was paralyzed and couldn¡¯t move despite his efforts. Cold sweat formed as the arachnid inched nearer and nearer. At about a meter distance away, the arachnid suddenly stopped moving. At the same time, Roa was freed from the paralyzation and was about to run for his life, if he didn¡¯t notice that the arachnid was injured on its side, and only had two of its legs. As if leaving a parting message, the arachnid once again looked into Roa¡¯s eyes, and mentally voiced a word before it collapsed. ¡°You¡­¡± Roa was startled at the voice in his head, but quickly realized it came from the arachnid that just died in front of him. He tried to figure out what it meant by save. Whilst trying to think, his habit of walking led him to discover a pocket sized egg on a pedestal while circling the dead arachnid. The egg was radiantly glowing, with ripples forming at the slightest touch. The egg screamed importance. A beam of sunlight in the cave shone directly at the pedestal at a 30 degree angle. Roa scoffed. Either it was an elaborate trap, or a seriously amazing treasure. He decided to risk his luck on the skill he learned about yesterday. Placing his hand on the egg, Roa murmured. ¡°Absorb¡±
You have absorbed 1/10 trap points.
The aura around the egg receded. Roa grabbed the egg tightly, and put it in his left pants pocket. He also noticed a small glint at the center of the pedestal from where he grabbed the egg. It was an extremely small cyan colored plate, barely the size of the fingernail on his pinky. As he put the plate in the other pocket his pants held, everything went dark. --- Roa awoke and found himself in his room back at the castle. Lucin was sitting in a chair next to the bed, dozing off. Roa faintly smiled, sat up, and prodded Lucin. ¡°Hey, wake up.¡± ¡°Hnn¡­ just a few mo- ah Roa you¡¯re awake.¡± ¡°More awake than you seem to be.¡± ¡°Oh come on, don¡¯t give me that. You¡¯ve been asleep for over a day you know?¡± A day of rest was nothing to scoff at. If Roa were to use his newfound ability at every waking moment, there wouldn¡¯t be many waking moments at all. He left this super overpowered ability for emergency use. Although his stats were average, he didn¡¯t think any other abilities could top his trump card. To be able to completely mitigate something without any effort was something even Laur could only dream about. The only problem was the major side-effect after use. ¡°So what happened? We found you collapsed next to the biggest spider on that island. You know I was the one that dealt the killing blow on it right? The priestess even said that it was a really tough boss for the lowest level floor, but we wiped it out pretty easily.¡± ¡°What are you talking about? It was indeed hurt when I got there, but it was still alive and kicking! It was only until it was about to eat me that it bent over and died.¡± ¡°Hmm, maybe it was just playing dead when I landed that final blow. But whatever the reason for?¡± ¡°Who knows. Maybe it learned that move from watching others?¡± ¡°Impossible. When you were left behind, the priestess told us how the monsters are born. Apparently the dungeon has a really high concentration of pure energy, and the monsters are born when some of that energy becomes impure. That¡¯s the reason why as you go deeper and deeper, the monsters get stronger as the energy becomes more condensed.¡± ¡°That was probably the reason why the kingdom was built here.¡± ¡°Maybe. You still haven¡¯t told me why you were asleep on the floor.¡± Roa wanted to keep his ability a secret, so he told a half-truth. ¡°Well, near the boss spider was a pedestal with an egg on it. So I grabbed it and the next thing I know, I¡¯m sitting on my bed talking to you.¡± ¡°Pedestal? What pedestal?¡± ¡°You know, that Roman thing that held a vase?¡± ¡°I know what a pedestal is. What I meant is that I didn¡¯t see a pedestal when I was there.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Absolutely sure. Ask the others.¡± ¡°So explain to me how I have this egg then?¡± Roa took out the egg from his left pants pocket, and held it up for Lucin to see. ¡°Egg? Roa, this is a rock.¡± Roa looked at the egg, and noticed it indeed looked like a rock. The egg was hard, and had random jagged juts piercing out of the egg. It had a grey color with what looked like bands that were normally on a rock. ¡°It can¡¯t be, rocks aren¡¯t this li- w-wait!¡± In a flash, Lucin grabbed the egg from Roa¡¯s hand. He got up and threw it as hard as he could at the wall. The egg barely flew before it crashed into the ground without a scratch. ¡°See, a rock. An egg would¡¯ve cracked open.¡± ¡°But¡­ how can that be? I saw it with my own eyes.¡± ¡°It was probably an illusion. When we killed the spider, some of the poison probably got into the air. Then, you arrived.¡± Roa didn¡¯t want to believe Lucin. The whole experience felt extremely real to him. Yet, he knew that illusions could feel just as real as the actual world. Still, he couldn¡¯t bear to part with the rock. ¡°Well, now that you¡¯re all up and peppy, I¡¯m going to go back to my room. I¡¯ve been in this room since we found you, and unlike you I¡¯m lacking a lot of sleep.¡± Roa watched as Lucin left, then hurriedly grabbed the rock and put it back in the left pants pocket. As he slid both his hands into his pockets, mumbling and pacing around the room, he felt something in his right pocket. Taking it out, it was the cyan plate from before. After seeing it, he was convinced that what happened was not an illusion. Illusions simply did not have the ability to conjure an item. A few sharp raps on the door started Roa. Putting away the plate, he opened the door to see Mana, the priestess. ¡°Hello. Roa, was it? We have a new stat card ready for you.¡± Chapter 3 - Potion Making Mana silently led Roa to an unfamiliar section of the castle. They were walking through a long corridor, with the afternoon sun blazing through the windows from the left side. Roa thought it was awkward just walking, and tried to spark up a conversation. ¡°Hey Mana, did your ever think your parents named you to mess with people?¡± ¡°Whatever do you mean?¡± ¡°Well your name is Mana, and magic uses mana. So when people are talking about spells, they would say something like it consumes a hundred Mana right? With you around, people would be conscious of saying mana because it''s also your name.¡± ¡°Oh, yes, I¡¯ve been told that before. It¡¯s mostly a joke now really.¡± ¡°Is that so¡­¡± And like that, the conversation ended. More silence followed until the two arrived at a door at the very end of a corridor. Mana lightly rapped on the door before they heard a voice. ¡°Come in.¡± The door opened on its own as Mana, followed by Roa, walked in. Lining the room were shelves of random glassware, many of them pear shaped. Some of the bottles held mysteriously-colored liquids, while others held a scant amount of herbs. In the middle of the clutter was a girl. Bodywise, it looked like a girl. Had the girl not began earnestly speaking to Roa in a frenzy, Roa would¡¯ve thought it was just a child. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here! I¡¯ve been waiting for you. You see, it has been a long time since on of my stat cards have failed y''know. Our recipe on the generation of stat cards has been passed down for ages, long before this kingdom even existed. Of course, that means we¡¯ve perfected the art of creating such cards.¡± Roa wanted to speak up, but the girl just kept on chattering. ¡°Usually, when static appears on the stat cards, it means one requires a special type of stat card. So we¡¯re going to be pouring chemicals all over you.¡± ¡°Wait a minute! I was told that the stat card was already ready!¡± The girl looked at Mana. ¡°Mana, I explicitly told you to just bring him here, not weave lies.¡± ¡°My apologies madam, I thought you had his card done already.¡± ¡°... I guess that¡¯s fine then. Now child, why don¡¯t you behave and let me do my job.¡± The girl noticed Roa inching towards the door. Roa didn¡¯t want any of the mysterious liquids in the glass bottles touching him. Who knows what it would do to him? But, with a snap of the girl¡¯s fingers, the door slammed shut. Roa looked Mana in the eyes, and Mana shot back a look that seemed to tell: It won¡¯t hurt. Defeated, he sighed and dejectedly sat on the wooden stool that the girl laid out in front of her. The girl selected a glass bottle a quarter filled with a completely white liquid. ¡°By the way, my name is Eve. Now, give me your palm.¡± When Roa stuck out his palm, Eve extracted one drop from the glass bottle, and dripped it at the center of Roa¡¯s palm. Roa stared at the liquid. It sat on his palm, jiggling like jelly. With a dissatisfied look, Eve took more glass bottles and repeated the process. --- Eve let out an exasperated sigh. She had tried all of her potions, but not a single one reacted on Roa. She began to mutter. ¡°Impossible. There has never been a case where nothing reacted. I must have missed something¡­¡± Mana had dozed off an hour ago. Roa, on the other hand, was wide awake. He was disgusted by how sticky his palm had become, and wanted to wash it off immediately. An imaginary lightbulb lit up above Eve. ¡°Maybe¡­¡± Eve got up. From a white lab coat hanging near the door, she retrieved a test tube that held a puddle of a red, transparent liquid. She pulled the cork off the test tube and carefully dripped one drop on Roa¡¯s sticky palm. As soon as it touched his palm, the liquid began to spread and glow. Eve ecstatically yelled, ¡°Success!¡± Roa was puzzled. Shouldn¡¯t he be the one jumping for joy? ¡°Um¡­ excuse me¡­¡± Roa was ignored as Eve¡¯s behavior kept spiraling on. ¡°Ok, I got it! Now, you two have to leave. I have to do a lot of work to create a stat card with this concoction. Hurry, go! I don¡¯t have all day you know.¡± Mana and Roa were pushed out of the room, and behind them they heard the door close. By this time, the sunlight from the windows had already switched to moonlight. ¡°Hey, is she always like that?¡± ¡°Well, Eve was always a tornado. However, I¡¯ve never seen her this riled up before. Of all the times I¡¯ve been with her, she¡¯s never taken out that test tube before.¡± ¡°...Is she a mad scientist?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say mad scientist, more like she¡¯s excited about her course of work.¡± Roa tried to memorize the route back to his room as Mana escorted him, but like usual lost track. He laid on his bed and tried to sleep, but couldn¡¯t because of his day of sleep. Getting up, he decided to venture out in the night. Lost again, Roa coincidentally ended up at the summoning place again. Peeking in, he saw a few people forming a circle with their arms linked. ¡°Can I help you?¡± The sudden voice behind Roa made him jump and yelp. He turned around to see a tall, sturdy man dressed in a nobleman¡¯s outfit looking at him. ¡°I¡­ uh¡­ got lost¡­¡± ¡°...I see. If you wish, I can have some of my men show you off the premises.¡± ¡°Actually, that would be very kind of you.¡± The noble gestured at some of his men, pointing at Roa. ¡°Someone bring this boy out of the castle.¡± ¡°Ah come on young master, can¡¯t you see we¡¯re all busy writing a new teleportation circle? Besides, you always just sit here and watch us anyways. Why don¡¯t you do something for once?¡± ¡°You are all under my orders, and you will do what I want you to do.¡± ¡°Young master, we follow the master, not you.¡± ¡°...Follow me.¡± Roa could hear the anger welling up in the noble¡¯s voice. As they exited the castle, the noble had to figure out their destination. ¡°So, where do you live child. Judging by your clothing, I would assume the outer part of the slums.¡± ¡°I-¡± ¡°Wait a minute, how did you even get into the castle?¡± The noble pushed Roa onto a nearby tree, surrounding Roa with his arms. An intimidating aura encased the noble. ¡°What were you trying to do? Kill? Steal?¡± ¡°What do you mean? I was summoned by the king!¡± A flurry of emotions hit the noble; first surprise, then realization, and lastly panic. He retreated, and with an apologetic face bowed. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry about that misunderstanding!¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine. Everyone makes mistakes. Wasn¡¯t everyone told of our summoning?¡± ¡°Yes, yes we were! But I didn¡¯t think one of the heroes would be wandering the castle in the middle of the night.¡± ¡°Well, I had a nice, long rest and couldn¡¯t fall asleep.¡± ¡°Of course, of course, why didn¡¯t I think of that. As an apology, is there anything I could do for you?¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Roa knew this was an opportunity that could not be missed. Because he didn¡¯t kill any monsters at all, he was still level 1. He estimated that Lucin and the others were already at least level 3. He quickly concocted a plan. ¡°Do you have anything that would generate a bit of experience? Something extremely easy, of course. My friends have a bit more experience than me and I want to have a slight edge.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I think I have just the thing. My family¡¯s side business is making potions. When we pick the herbs from our backyard and make potions, we gain experience for both actions. I¡¯m willing to teach you how to make some potions, and you can keep anything you make.¡± ¡°That would be very helpful. Even if we¡¯re heroes we still take a bit of damage, and it¡¯s better safe than sorry.¡± ¡°Of course! Anything to help the heroes!¡± --- The two arrived at the manor in the kingdom. If the castle was not included, the manor was by far the biggest building in the kingdom. At the gate, two guards greeted the noble. ¡°Young master Sil, why have you returned so early?¡± ¡°This man here is one of the summoned heroes, and has so kindly decided to pay a visit.¡± The two guards looked at each other for a brief moment, then bowed at Roa. ¡°We apologize for our rudeness. Please, carry on and have a good time.¡± The two guards opened the gates for Sil and Roa. Sil and Roa walked down a spiral staircase that was directly in front of the entranceway. After passing many doors on the staircase that seemed to spiral endlessly, Roa had already lost track of how deep they were underground. Roa bumped into Sil as Sil suddenly stopped in front of a door. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± Reaching into his breast pocket, Sil took out a key which he stuck into the door. ¡°Fun fact. The key is personalized with our family¡¯s blood. It will only open if we¡¯re the ones opening the door.¡± The door unlocked, and the two walked in before Sil shut the door. The place could be described as its own ecosystem. An artificial sun provided sunlight on thousands of herbs that could be mistaken as weeds, uniformly strewn across a large field. Some herbs nested on the side of a mountain cliff at the horizon, while others were in their own special container. However, not a single animal, insect, nor tree could be seen. The only thing that did not seem to belong was a table and a cabinet lined with vials near the entrance. The door that led the two in betrayed how large the inner room really was. ¡°This is one of our ten herb growing environments. Since you¡¯ll be learning how to make potions, the hard potions will have a high chance of failure. I don¡¯t know why really, my parents tell me it has something to do with the tune of nature. Anyhow, for basic health and mana potions we only need the herbs near the entrance.¡± Sil pointed at an herb that was scarlet, and another herb that was navy blue. ¡°These two herbs are the only ones you¡¯ll need.¡± He grabbed two clumps from each patch, retrieved two vials from the cabinet, and walked to the table. ¡°To create a health potion, first add juice from the red herbs, then add juice from the blue herbs.¡± Sil took the scarlet clump and squeezed it like a rag, filling the vial a third of the way. He did the same with the navy blue clump, mixing both juices together in the vial. Inside the vial, as the juices swirled together, the scarlet color slowly overtook the navy blue, forming a blood red mixture. ¡°And to create a mana potion, just switch the order of the herbs.¡± This time, when Sil mixed the herbs in reverse order, the navy blue was almost overtaken again, until it suddenly expanded and filled the vial with a light blue. Roa watched the process, astounded. ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± ¡°What doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± ¡°How does switching the order of the herbs create different potions? When you add tea and water, or water then tea, the same outcome happens. Yet, this creates different potions?¡± ¡°That¡¯s how it has always worked. We have tried other methods, but this was the simplest and most effective.¡± ¡°I¡­ nevermind.¡± ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll be leaving you to make potions. There are a few things I have to do upstairs. You might not be able to create it perfectly the first time around, but try to replicate the color in these two potions I¡¯ve made as best as possible.¡± Sil left as Roa grabbed as many scarlet clumps as he could hold, and put it on the table. He then did the same with the navy blue clumps. He took a few vials from the cabinet and tried to imitate Sil. But when he squeezed the herbs, barely a trickle of juice came out. It took him six clumps to achieve the same amount of liquid as Sil. Yet when the liquids mixed, the color was muddier than the two potions that he tried to imitate. If Sil¡¯s potion was at 100% efficiency, then his would be at 13%. ¡°There must be a process behind this. The only difference I could tell was the amount of clumps he used. Maybe if I use less clumps, the potion would be better.¡± The second time he tried to create the potion, he noticed that some parts of the clumps were easier to squeeze than others. Instead of making potions, he took his time to squeeze as much juice from the scarlet herb clump. --- ¡°This is probably close enough.¡± Roa was able to minimize his clumps per potion to only four. When making a potion, it looked to be about at 33% efficiency compared to Sil¡¯s. He was able to make three of each potion before Sil came back. ¡°So how did you do?¡± ¡°I was able to make three potions that looked like this.¡± ¡°As expected of a hero. Most people would take a week before the even figure out how to make a pure potion. Mine, of course, is completely pure, and is able to heal 50 health.¡± ¡°We should probably go back now hero. The others probably miss you.¡± ¡°It probably is time to go. I¡¯d like to keep my time here a secret.¡± ¡°Of course. As promised, you may keep all the potions you have made. As a bonus, you can even keep the two I made. Here¡¯s a belt that you can put your potions in. It holds up to 10 potions at once.¡± Roa accepted the belt and placed the potions left to right, from the best to the worst. When he wore the belt, it automatically conformed to his size. Back at the castle, Roa thanked Sil for helping him. ¡°No problem, no problem at all! I hope you gained a lot of experience. Usually creating a few potions of that caliber would level someone from 1 to 3.¡± ¡°Is that so? I don¡¯t really feel any stronger at all and I was level 1.¡± As the two parted ways inside the castle, Sil muttered. ¡°Impossible¡­ when one levels up they usually feel at least a little bit stronger. It couldn¡¯t be could it?¡± Chapter 4 - Floor 2 With the adventure he just had making potions, Roa was more awake than ever. Luckily for him, it was dawn and the sun was about to rise in the sky. ¡°Summon Book.¡± Last time, he was interrupted when checking out the kinks of his mysterious skill. A transparent vortex that warped the surroundings appeared in front of Roa, absorbing the air around it to create a piece of white, hard leather. The leather split in half, with one end still connected, forming a bind. Black pages magically fluttered into existence between the leather, ending the vortex. Opening the book, Roa was surprised to see that this time, there was something written on the first page in white ink.
Potion Creation Level 1: 3% Efficiency: 33% Able to create basic health and mana potions.
He wondered if the book recorded his events in this world. But if it did, why didn¡¯t it record his progression inside Gresknov? Roa heard yet another set of knocks on his door. Unsummoning the book, he mumbled to himself. ¡°I seem pretty popular lately.¡± He opened to door to see a guard standing at his doorstep. ¡°His majesty wishes to see you.¡± Instead of heading to the throne room, Roa was led to the king¡¯s private study. Inside was the king wearing spectacles, sitting on a wooden chair in a corner of the room that was piled with documents. Next to him, a stack of papers sat on a table barely lit by bright mote. ¡°This conversation is private, Ethan.¡± ¡°Of course, your majesty.¡± After the guard closed the door behind him, the king got up from his chair and took off his spectacles, gently placing it on the table. ¡°I believe your name was Roa Xelt.¡± Roa was extremely surprised that this was the same king which had spoken to him two days ago. Instead of the menacing and regal aura when he was sitting on the throne, the king had a more humble and kind aura. ¡°Y-yes, your majesty.¡± ¡°Oh no need for all the formalities. I¡¯m Arthur, pleased to meet you.¡± ¡°Pleased to meet you too.¡± ¡°Now Roa, I heard from a reliable source that you don¡¯t gain experience.¡± That must the reason why the potion creation didn¡¯t make me feel any stronger. God really hates me doesn¡¯t he. If I can¡¯t gain xp, then I¡¯ll be stuck weak forever. What the hell am I supposed to do now? ¡°So that must be the reason why I¡¯m still level 1.¡± Arthur clasped his arms on Roa¡¯s shoulders with a sympathetic face. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, even if you can¡¯t get stronger and is equal in power to a commoner, as someone from another world you must have some special quality in you. We just have to find it.¡± He retreated back to his chair and sat, talking with his back facing Roa. As he spoke, his head was raised, looking at a cross of swords that absorbed all light. ¡°Since you were out for a day, yesterday it was announced that the heroes would go battle everyday in the dungeon. We were quite astonished at just exactly how powerful you heroes were, since we¡¯ve never had such strong heroes in our entire human existence. Therefore, we decided to just let you heroes go as far in as you please.¡± ---
Gresknov Dungeon Floor 1 Mobs: Giant Rat, Mutated Arachnid
Still can¡¯t get used to this. Inside the dungeon, the corpses of the giant rats were gone. Mana, as usual, acted as the tour guide. ¡°The remains of the monsters in these dungeons are used as enhancements towards the war for humanity. We usually try to retrieve the corpses right after a battle. The maximum time we get is one week, since that is when the dungeons respawn the monsters as the old remains disintegrate.¡± Island after island, the students had already cleared a majority of the floor. They had a short encounter with flying ferrets that the students made quick work of. The bridge for the next island was twice as big as usual. Instead of a rickety wooden bridge, it was completely made of stone with no gaps at all. Torches adorned the walls of the bridge that seemed to slightly levitate off the bridge. ¡°Next is the last island on this floor. There is a pretty high chance a boss monster has spawned this time around, so be careful.¡± While walking across the bridge, Roa was able to make his way to Lucin. ¡°Hey Lucin, what level are you now?¡± ¡°Hm? When I checked yesterday it said level 4. What about you?¡± ¡°Unfortunately still level 1.¡± ¡°Shame. Look, when we fight later, I¡¯ll let you deal the killing blow to something so you at least get to level 2.¡± Before they could finish the conversation, they had already arrived at the next island. When the first person stepped foot, everyone could hear a loud roar coming from the other end of the island. In the distance, they saw something approaching them at a very fast pace. From the mist that only settled on this particular island, out came a minotaur that was 20 feet tall. It looked like a standard minotaur from the book in their world, only it had three horns: two at their regular spot and one right above the brows. When Roa looked around, everyone was already in a battle stance. He couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing; everyone had a dark look in their eyes as they rushed straight at the minotaur. Everyone had changed so much in only two days. It looked like the students grouped up in mostly fives, with one exception of ten. Although disorganized, the students tried their best in working together. Some were at the back, either casting magic or shooting arrows from their summoned bow, while others danced around the minotaur. Roa only had 100 health, and would likely die in one hit. As he sat back and watched the battle, he noticed a slightly transparent, red bar with a black border on top of the minotaur¡¯s head. As the students fought the minotaur, the red bar slowly whittled away. When the red bar only filled 5% of the black border, the minotaur changed. It bulked up, turned red, and started attacking in a frenzy. The red bar was quickly growing larger. Before anyone could move, Laur had jumped, approaching the minotaur¡¯s head. Wielding his sword with both his hands, Laur gripped the handle tightly. ¡°SEVER!¡± The sword pierced straight through the minotaur, slashing through the throat completely. As Laur descended on the other side, the minotaur had toppled. Nearby, Roa heard Lucin mutter. ¡°Does he think he¡¯s an action hero?¡± In their previous battles, Laur had always executed the tough opponents with fancy moves. At this point, no one was surprised by the outcome. Everyone walked around the minotaur, and stood around a glowing circle similar to the one in the castle, but instead was made up of physical materials. If one looked closely, the materials resembled marble. The student¡¯s didn¡¯t know if this was the portal or a trap. Mana, however, immediately walked into the circle. ¡°See you guys in the next floor.¡± She shimmered for a bit, then disappeared. One by one, the students walked into the portal, teleporting to the next floor. Lucin nudged Roa forward. ¡°You first.¡± Stepping in, Roa immediately felt an elated feeling. As he saw himself shimmering, his brain was sending him warning signals, telling him this shouldn¡¯t be possible. He felt the sensation of floating, and appeared in a different place.
Gresknov Dungeon Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.Floor 2
Roa¡¯s head hurt after the teleportation. He couldn¡¯t figure out if it was the instance of a second message popping up in his head, or the teleport itself. After two minutes, the headache settled down. Lucin arrived soon after. Atop a cliff, the students were able to see most of the second floor. The second floor was vastly different from the first. There were no more islands, rather there was just one large cavern, completely with a horizon too far away to see past. In the distance, one could see a large variety of monsters. The three closest set of monsters were griffons, harpies, and orcs. ¡°The second floor is actually a very special floor,¡± Mana explained. ¡°There are many different monsters living here, each in their own habitat. If you haven¡¯t noticed yet, each habitat has a hexagon shape, and separating each habitat is a black powder. ¡°What the black powder does, well, it¡¯s better to experience it yourself.¡± Next to the portal, was a ladder that Mana began to climb down. Because some of the girls were wearing skirts, they insisted on going down the ladder first. Arriving at the bottom, the group travelled left, directly to the griffons. Once they stepped over the black powder, the barren cave they were in changed into a windy prairie with a scant amount of trees. Aside from Mana, everyone was surprised at the sudden change. One person pulled on the grass and was able to smell it, confirming that it wasn¡¯t an illusion. The numerous griffons flying in the air noticed the group, spreading their wings to charge at them beak-first. While everyone was able to easily evade the attacks, Lucin had to grab Roa by the arm to help him dodge. Landing on the ground, the griffons took a moment to ruffle their feathers before heading back to the skies. Roa was able to clearly see their bodies. While their head was shaped like an eagle, the rest of their body was shaped like a giant chicken. The feathers that hid the skin was a yellow gold, with white on the wings and red at the head. When the group dodged, everyone had already assumed their battle stance. While some of the griffons were able to fly off, others were already dead at the hands of the students. As the melee students sat back along with Mana, the rest of the students were skillfully killing the griffons in the sky, dropping dead on the ground one after another. It wasn¡¯t very soon that the sky was empty. Without hesitation or fear, the griffons were completely wiped out. Not a single person who was fighting lost their breath. The group walked along the black powder, aiming for the next habitat. When the black powder made a sharp 120 degree turn, they all knew that the next habitat would lie ahead. Lying across the black powder on the other side were hundreds of harpies, smiling at them. Although each harpie was different, there were many common traits. The bodies took a very human approach, only feathers spiraled towards the belly, with the area around the belly button without feathers. Chicken-like feet replaced a human leg, and wings similar to the griffons were positioned in the spot where a human arm should be, only at the end a human hand still remained. ¡°The harpies probably saw what we did to the griffons and are now lying in ambush before we can do anything.¡± One of the students piped up. ¡°Uh... Mana, being in plain sight isn¡¯t really an ambush.¡± ¡°I would say the same, but the black powder prevents weapons or spells from one side to the other. If you equip your weapon, it will also prevent you from passing.¡± ¡°Hey Mana, I have an idea.¡± ¡°What is it Lucin?¡± ¡°Just watch and see.¡± Lucin equipped the iron shield on his back that was the same size as him. He had looted it from a previous fight on the first floor. Holding the giant iron shield with only his left hand, he walked past the black powder. As soon as he stepped foot on the ground, without even passing through completely, the harpies swarmed. Fortunately, the iron shield was able to withstand the onslaught. Mana was the second to cross, using the Godess¡¯ Touch spell on Lucin just as she passed through. ¡°Hurry, after me!¡± The students quickly crossed and began to attack. Within an hour, the harpies all fell to the students. ¡°Whew, the second floor is a lot harder than the first floor. I actually took some damage.¡± ¡°It¡¯s exponentially harder. Our castle¡¯s knights can only make it halfway through this floor. The kingdom¡¯s best warriors were only able to make it up to the tenth floor. We estimate there are over a hundred floors in this dungeon.¡± Roa looked at Lucin, who took on the most harpies at once. Lucin noticed his gazed, and smiled back. ¡°Zero damage. Looks like being a vanguard is more useful than it sounds. In addition, I can wear and use the heaviest equipment without a single burden on me.¡± Roa smiled back, but inside he was jealous of his friend¡¯s power. Why couldn¡¯t he also be overpowered like the rest of the students? As if Lucin knew what Roa was thinking, he whispered to him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll let you kill the next thing.¡± It wasn¡¯t long before the group had reached the orc habitat. When the students began to fight them, they could tell why Mana led them to first fight the griffons, then the harpies. The orcs were much stronger than the harpies, even bouncing off some of the weaker magics used. However, the orcs still did not cause any difficulties for the students, who were able to easily deal with them one on one. As Laur easily sliced through each orc in one shot, he commented. ¡°The minotaur was at least a bit of fun.¡± Lucin whittled down the red bar of an orc. Roa was able to see the red bar ever since the minotaur. He concluded that it was probably their health. Lucin was also able to estimate how much damage the orc had taken. When the red bar was barely visible, he shouted to Roa. ¡°Hurry, kill it!¡± Roa ran towards the orc who was laying on the ground, bleeding to death. The only super vulnerable spot he knew was a place he knew very well would deal the most damage. The question was, could he really hit that spot? ¡°Ah, for fucks sake. This is to see if I really don¡¯t gain xp.¡± With his dagger, he struck right in the groin, felling the orc. Lucin winced. ¡°Ouch dude, did it have to be that spot.¡± ¡°It was the most vulnerable spot.¡± ¡°Even still, to hit the crotch¡­ nevermind. Do you feel stronger?¡± ¡°...No¡­¡± Lucin couldn¡¯t help but frown. ¡°We¡¯ll find a better opportunity with a better monster later.¡± When the orcs were also cleaned up, Mana felt the need to applaud. ¡°Good job world travelers. Orcs are considered the hardest monsters in the second floor dungeon. If they still pose no threat to you, we should move straight to the third floor to find something that would be suitable for your levels.¡± The students nodded. Why stay here when they could level up much faster fighting something with a higher difficulty. --- The group had made a near-straight beeline to the end of the cave. It had taken several hours for them to reach a bridge similar to the final one on the first floor. Right away, everyone realized from the gap that what they were on was just a giant island. As soon as they had entered the last island, the students were positioned in their battle stances. Mana was the only one that nonchalantly kept on walking. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry guys, for some odd reason only the second floor has no boss at the end.¡± The students looked at each other and shrugged, following Mana. One by one, everyone took the portal to the next floor. Chapter 5 - The Fall The students had made it up to the start of the fifth floor. It had been six days since they came to the world. They had not left the dungeon since a few days ago when they entered the dungeon a second time. The fourth floor dungeon boss actually posed a challenge, but not enough to hinder their advancement to the next floor. They had only stopped advancing the fifth floor due to lack of food supplies. Mana originally had everyone bring five days of rations, but the food was consumed quickly. Apparently the students had a much bigger appetite compared to even the kingdom¡¯s richest nobles. ¡°It looks like we ran out of food earlier than expected. It¡¯s time to go back and procure more.¡± ¡°But Mana, why don¡¯t we just eat the monster meat?¡± ¡°Eating the monster meat has dire consequences. On the kingdom¡¯s first run, before the current king was even born, one of the explorers ate some meat from the giant rats. In one day, he half transformed into something which resembled a demon.¡± Roa had an epiphany. He had read a book online that was in a situation similar to this. A group of people, just like him, was transported to another world. There, he was betrayed when a fireball hit him, plunging him deep into the dungeon he was also exploring. Fortunately for him, he found some magical water that let him eat monster meat without dying to grow stronger. (Forgive me for this, I couldn¡¯t help it.) If only he was that lucky. Mana looked at a watch which had the numbers from 0 to 6, with only one hand that was very slowly moving counterclockwise. The hand was halfway between the 1 and 0. ¡°If we hurry, we should be able to make it through the third floor before we fight monsters again.¡± Not a single person disagreed. Even though everyone lusted after levels to become stronger, continuously fighting monsters with only a few hours of sleep and eat in-between deteriorated their battle spirit. This time, Roa was the first to enter the portal back to the fourth floor.
Gresknov Dungeon Floor 4 Mobs: Shrieking Banshee, Carnivorous Slime, Dripping Husk, Demon Beetle, Floating Watcher, Timeless Clown, Cursed Fairy, Flying Fish Rider, Horned Goblin, Troll
The layout on the floor consisted of two islands, separated by one extremely long stone bridge. The width of the bridge was able to hold 20 of the students side-by-side, and the length was large enough for them to previous encounter monsters. The remains of the troll was still there. The body was not rotting, which Roa attributed to the dungeon¡¯s power. The students come in drones of two. In the previous floor, two people accidentally walked in together, allowing the group to discover that two people were able to go through the portal at once. They did not dare try it with three. As group made their way across the bridge, the deceased bodies of the numerous monsters they fought were everywhere. Roa was glad that they did not rot; the smell would¡¯ve made him vomit. Everyone, even Mana, was looking at the corpses with satisfaction. They worked hard on this floor to kill the monsters that grouped up all at once to try and kill them. How could they not be proud, handling so many enemies at once? This floor had taken two of the three days they were in the dungeon this time around. Arriving at the end of the bridge, at the end was the island leading back to the third floor. Everyone entered through the portal without hesitation. Some were hoping to go back and just explore the town, tired of looking at the cavern ceiling.
Gresknov Dungeon Floor 3 Mobs: Superior Giant Rat
The third floor of the dungeon was one giant island, which had originally consisted of many miniboss giant rats. The corpses from this floor were already gone, indicating the kingdom had already retrieved the remains for future use. A quarter way through the island, Mana looked at her watch. The hand had touched the zero. Around them, yellow wisps of energy began forming into the shape of the rats earlier on this floor. While everyone was patiently waiting for the rats to form, Roa tried something different. Whether it was a malicious intent or not, not even Roa knew. When he waved his hand through the glowing shapes of the rats, the wisps of light expanded and floated away. A red health bar appeared and depleted when he blew away the wisps, confirming his suspicions. The glowing shapes of the rats were also considered monsters, but he would be unable to confirm whether or not they actually gave experience. He was only able to kill one before the rats completely solidified. As soon as the students heard snarling, they jumped straight into action. When Roa backed off from the fight like usual, a blur had come at him. Before he knew it, he felt a needle prick on his arm. The blur looked oddly familiar to the small rat he had fought the first time around. Roa found it funny how he now called the regular-sized rat a ¡°small¡± rat. Looking at his shoulder, his clothes were completely torn at the spot of the prickling, but he did not ooze blood at all. As the small rat once again turned into a blur, Roa stuck his hand out at the direction it was facing, expecting to be able to trap it again. To his surprise, the small rat had made a sharp turn and avoided his hand. It was like the first time all over again, except he felt needle pricks instead of tickles. The needle pricks were far more annoying than the tickles, so Roa focused more on the battle. Because of that, he was able to discern a pattern on the small rat¡¯s movements far quicker than before. The small rat was only able to turn its direction once before it had to stop. Roa once again attempted to stick out his hand to block the small rat¡¯s movement, then moved it up in a chance catch. Unfortunately, the small rat had shifted down this time. However, the small rat wasn¡¯t dumb either and quickly caught on. When Roa attempted his newfound method again, the small rat just ran straight through and pricked near his armpit. Roa took a new approach. He once again slid his hand in the path of the small rat, then slightly moved his hand up. If the small rat could smirk, it would have. It ran straight through once again. But this time, Roa had caught the small rat in his trap. The small rat swore it saw Roa¡¯s hand move upwards, but in reality it was a fakeout. Roa had only slightly moved his hand upwards. He knew the small rat had already caught on to his schemes, so he concocted another. By only slightly moving his hand up, the small rat would believe that he was going to try the same trick as before. However, as soon as Roa moved his hand up, he moved it back down to the original position, knowing what the small rat would do. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Just like that, he had gripped the small rat in his hands once again. This time, Roa carefully made sure that he couldn¡¯t get bitten by pinching his thumb and index finger on the small rat¡¯s head. I have to kill it¡­ I have to. After spending time with the other students who were able to kill with ease, Roa was angry with it all. It was always him who had the worst luck, who had to cower in fear watching Lucin protect him. With the flip of his hand, the steel dagger faced right above the small rat. Even the small rat had gotten stronger. But, what¡¯s the point? I¡¯m useless anyways. I can¡¯t gain experience, why kill anything at all? He eased his grip on the dagger, which clattered onto the ground. Perhaps there was a way out of this idiocy. If the students could accomplish their mission in this world, they might get warped back to their own world. Until then, Roa would just have to sit back and watch. Roa stared into the eyes of the rat. His language proficiency told him that somehow, the rat could understand him. ¡°Go, and don¡¯t come back. The others will kill you.¡± He flicked the small rat across the island as far back as he could, away from everyone else. Everyone had already finished their own battles, with not a single living giant rat left. They had already begun crossing the portal to the second floor. Roa quickly followed after. The small rat saw Roa disappear in the portal. For a moment it contemplated on its next action. Shaking its head like a human, it hurriedly followed after, disappearing into the portal.
Gresknov Dungeon Floor 2 Mobs: Griffon, Harpie, Orc, Mutated Rabbit, Venus Human Trap, Sand Dummy
On the other side, Roa saw everyone standing still. He walked up to Lucin. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s going on?¡± Lucin didn¡¯t respond, only pointing forward. Looking in the direction of his finger, Roa understood why everyone was standing still. Blocking their way back, was a yellow-scaled dragon laying down. Aside from its appearance on the second floor, the only oddity was the stump that used to house its wings. Near its scaly mouth, one could see the remains of a human arm. One of the students had grabbed Mana by the shoulders, in tears. ¡°I thought you said there wasn¡¯t a boss monster on the second floor!¡± ¡°I.. I¡­ this has never happened before.¡± ¡°You¡­ you killed Michelle!¡± In a fit of rage, that student ran towards the dragon, with a bastard sword twelve times its normal width. He thought that because he was the third strongest in the group, he would be able to avenge his friend. Had he thought clearly, he would realize that the dragon easily crushed Michelle, who was also far beyond the norm. Before he could even reach the dragon, he was seared by the flames emitted from the dragon¡¯s mouth. Everyone had saw what just happened. When the flames from the dragon finally subsided, only ashes remained. ¡°EVERYBODY RUN FOR THE BRIDGE!¡± After what just happened, not even Laur was brave enough to fight the dragon. In a mass of panic, everyone began to scramble for the bridge. There was still some sense of order within the chaos. By habit, the students grouped up in their respective party formations, assisting one another out. In the back, by himself, Roa was trying to mask his presence. If the dragon could smirk, it did. It was able to sense which of the fleeing toys was the strongest, and because of that targeted Laur¡¯s party. One of the people in the party panicked even more, and stopped moving to chant a spell as her final resort. ¡°Emerald Shield!¡± The barrier which normally encased only herself, had expanded to cover her entire party. To her surprise, the flames could not pierce the barrier. Everyone saw a chance. The whole group rushed towards the barrier for safety. Many began to cross the bridge. The dragon roared. Its prey was getting away because of one insignificant bug. It finally got up, stamping towards the person who was holding up the barrier. By the time the dragon had reached them, the last party just finished crossing through the barrier onto the bridge. Once no one was in the barrier, the student had released it and also fled for the bridge. Suddenly, the surrounding around her had become dark. The dragon was lifting its foot to stomp her location. She sneered, casting Emerald Shield again. The barrier collapsed immediately, with dragon foot meeting student. Smashed to a pulp, blood trickled from the dragon¡¯s foot as it lifted it back to a more comfortable position. Everyone had finished crossing, except Roa. Miraculously, Roa was halfway across the bridge when the student was smashed to a puddle of blood. Watching the toy run helplessly, the dragon also began to cross the bridge, quickly catching up on Roa. Mana issued a command. ¡°BREAK THE BRIDGE NOW.¡± Lucin protested. ¡°But, there¡¯s still one person on it.¡± ¡°Ah, who cares about him, he¡¯s the weakest anyway. He has done nothing, can¡¯t even kill the first monsters in the first only, only leeching off what we have given. He can¡¯t even get stronger, he has a rare affliction where he can¡¯t gain a single bit of experience.¡± ¡°What?!¡± Before Lucin could say anything else, Laur had already severed the bridge off. The bridge slowly crumbled, bringing first the dragon, then Roa with it. To Roa, because Lucin was at the very front, it looked like he was the one that broke the bridge. The pain of betrayal was almost as bad as the fear of death of smashing onto the ground. Lucin watched in horror as Roa fell into the abyss. --- Roa didn¡¯t know how long he had been falling, but it felt like days. His stomach was growling. He couldn¡¯t understand why he hadn¡¯t reach the ground yet. Maybe he was already dead, and the afterlife was a dark, neverending pit. Sighing, he watched as the dragon descended faster than he did, eventually passing him. As it passed by, it tried to swipe at Roa, but was too far away to even shoot its flames. It was then that a revelation had hit Roa. Wasn¡¯t the dragon originally ahead of him when falling down the abyss? He had to test his luck and take the risk. Roa thrust his right hand out, gripping his wrist with his left hand, as if firing an energy ball. ¡°Absorb!¡±
You have absorbed 9/100 transportation magic points. You have 16/100 transportation magic points.
Facing upwards, the scenery changed from the endless blackness, to a full view of the sky. The sun was glaring at his face, and before Roa blacked out, he saw a familiar figure poke out of his right pants pocket. Chapter 6 - Tasmania Village Roa woke up on a straw-stuffed bed. Looking around, it looked like he was in a small wooden cot. On one side, was a kitchen that didn¡¯t seem to fit in, taking up half the cot. On the other side, was a table with many vials, and three chairs. As he got off the bed, his feet touched a rug made of horse skin before he heard a tiny squeak behind him. Turning around, it was the small rat that had hid in his pocket during the abyss. How it even got into his pants pocket without him noticing, he did not know. Roa should¡¯ve at least felt extra weight on that leg. The small rat lept off the bed pole it was standing on, and jumped on Roa¡¯s shoulders. Roa could feel the small rat¡¯s whiskers nuzzling his cheeks. ¡°What is it, do you want to stay with me?¡± The small rat¡¯s head bobbed up and down. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll tell you right now that I won¡¯t care for you, and also I¡¯m permanently stuck as a level 1.¡± The small rat just kept staring at Roa. ¡°...Fine. What¡¯s your name?¡± Hopping off, the small rat quickly brought back a flower and a plate. It first nudged at the flower. ¡°Flower.¡± It nudged again. ¡°F-.¡± It squeaked before Roa could finish, then nudged the plate. ¡°Plate.¡± It nudged it again. ¡°Pl-.¡± Once again, it squeaked before Roa could finish, but kept on nudging the plate. ¡°-ate?¡± The small rat put the flower of the plate. ¡°...Fate.¡± Content, Fate scurried into Roa¡¯s right pants pocket. Roa still couldn¡¯t understand how he didn¡¯t feel Fate inside his pockets at all. ¡°Haha, what a name. This world is playing tricks on me again. Why can¡¯t I understand what Fate is saying? My stat card says I should be able to understand all languages.¡± He shook his head. A lot of the things in this new world didn¡¯t make sense. Walking over to the table, Roa noticed that the vials were- ¡°Plastic.¡± Roa¡¯s quick body turn caused some of the vials, some of which had liquid in them, to fall to the ground. When the vials hit the ground, they merely deformed, unbreaking. The voice which startled Roa came from a withered old man who had just entered through the doorway protruding from the right of the kitchen The old man was barely taller than the table, which Roa estimated to be able one and a half meters. His skin was fairly tanned, similar to those who were always at the beach in Roa¡¯s home world. Aside from the two horns protruding near the ears, everything else was humanlike. The old man walked over to the table, picked up the vials that fell on the floor, and inspected them. ¡°Interesting thing, isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s a recent discovery of mine. It¡¯s malleable and durable. I call it plastic.¡± ¡°If you put something too hot in it, it¡¯ll deform.¡± ¡°And how do you know that?¡± ¡°Just a hunch.¡± Behind the table, Roa also noticed a brewery filled with black liquid inside its tubing, and a tub of slightly transparent, white beads. ¡°Say, who are you anyway?¡± ¡°Me? Shouldn¡¯t you introduce yourself first?¡± ¡°...I¡¯m Roa.¡± ¡°Roa, is it? I¡¯m Darvin, a devil.¡± When Roa heard the word devil come out of Darvin¡¯s mouth, he jumped back. Humans were currently at war with the devils, and right in front of him was one of them. A devil capturing a human only spoke of bad things for the human. Roa reached for his steel dagger, but when he grasped air he remembered he dropped it and left it in Gresknov. Instead, he balled his hands into fists, and tried to imitate an MMA fighter. The old man only chuckled. ¡°There¡¯s no need to be tense. If I really wanted to hurt you, I would¡¯ve strapped you to the bed and tested my potions on you.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Oh don¡¯t be like that. You¡¯re only alive because I saved you when you fell out of the sky.¡± ¡°...Thanks.¡± ¡°Now that¡¯s better. Come, let¡¯s eat, I bet you¡¯re hungry after sleeping for two days.¡± Darvin and Roa arrived at a wooden longhouse. Two chimneys were continuously puffing out smoke. As soon as they walked in, Roa could smell a tasty aroma. The devils that were already inside looked up and saw Roa. They stared for a moment, then resumed eating. ¡°I thought devils and humans were at war.¡± ¡°They are, but we are a peaceful village. We have no care for what comes in, and what goes out, as long as they earn their stay.¡± The two walked over to where the food was being served. ¡°Hello Darvin.¡± ¡°Oh, hello there Emelia. This fellow here is a new guest of mine.¡± ¡°A human, how interesting. Pleased to meet you, I¡¯m Emelia.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Roa.¡± Roa¡¯s stomach growled. ¡°Well Roa, looks like your stomach just took over the talking. We have a nice lunch today: dragon bone soup with dragon meat and toun rice.¡± Emelia took out a polished plate and piled food on top of it. It soon looked like an ant hill. ¡°That¡¯s enough, right?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ yea, that¡¯s enough.¡± ¡°How about a little more? Auntie won¡¯t tell.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s fine!.¡± Emelia took out another plate and filled it up just the same. Darvin thanked Emelia for both his and Roa¡¯s food. The two walked around a bit and found a seat. Sitting down, they began to eat and chat. ¡°So Roa, how did you fall from the sky in the first place?¡± ¡°I¡­ got teleported out of a dungeon.¡± ¡°Oh, a strong one are you. That explains why a dragon fell from the ground with you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not actually strong at all. Nevermind that, but is what I¡¯m eating from that same dragon?¡± ¡°It sure is! When the dragon fell from the ground, it went SPLAT, and died.¡± ¡°How did I not die?¡± ¡°Well Roa, you were quite lucky. I was out picking up new ingredients, when I saw you and a dragon falling down. I propelled air under you as you fell, creating a cushioning for what it was going to be an inevitable demise.¡± ¡°Say, are you going to eat the rest of that?¡± Darvin¡¯s mountain of food had disappeared. Roa¡¯s mountain, on the other hand, had barely diminished at all. ¡°Err¡­ I¡¯m kind of full and all¡­¡± ¡°No worries, I heard that humans didn¡¯t eat that much anyway. I guess Emelia wanted to err on the safe side instead of giving you too little to eat. If you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯ll gladly take the rest of it.¡± ¡°Of course, take your fill. You saved me, so it¡¯s the least I could do.¡± ¡°Haha, at least you have some manners.¡± Darvin and Roa returned to the cot and sat at the table filled with vials. ¡°As I said before, anyone who wants to stay in this village must earn their keep. The amount of work you must do is equal to how much manpower you are able to offer to the village. Therefore, I would like to see your stat card.¡± Roa hesitantly gave his stat card to Darvin. Darvin looked at the stat card, then had a sudden moment of realization. ¡°Ah, I forgot human stat technology still isn¡¯t there yet.¡± From a drawer near the bed, he took out a smaller version of the stat displayer from the castle and inserted Roa¡¯s stat card.
###Roa XeltAge:16
Gender:MaleLevel:###
Class:###
-
Health:100/100######
Strength:10###10
Agility:11Resistance:10
Magic:100###10
-
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  • Wind, ###, Earth, Water, ###, Light, Dark, Void
Skills
  • [Unique] ###
    • ###
    • ###
    • Access to all elemental affinities.
  • [Unique] Power of Knowledge
    • When absorbing points of an object, gain attributes similar to the object.
    • Able to appraise all objects
  • ###
    • ###
    • Increased stat growth.
    • Able to understand all languages.
Titles
  • World Traveler
The serene aura that Darvin normally held had disappeared in a flash, replaced by a malicious one. ¡°You think this is a joke?¡± ¡°Huh?!¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way you could even explore a dungeon with such low stats! And what¡¯s with the static everywhere!¡± The killing intent emitted from Darvin was immense. Roa gulped, and tried to speak as calmly as possible. ¡°T-the d-dungeon was m-mostly b-by my c-comrades. I m-mostly sat back and watched. And I was g-going to get a special stat c-card f-from a small test tubeofredliquid!¡± Roa rushed out the last words. Roa heaved a sigh of relief as the menacing aura faded away. ¡°A test tube of red liquid huh? That¡¯s quite an interesting stat card type you have.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m assuming said red liquid is quite rare because it was being housed in a test tube. The metal that makes up the so-called red liquid is Luplacium, only found in remote places. It normally looks like a small cyan square.¡± Avoiding Fate, Roa pulled out the cyan plate he had discovered in Gresknov. ¡°Oh, you mean this?¡± ¡°...¡± Darvin snatched the cyan plate out of Roa¡¯s hand, and carefully inspected it. ¡°You lucky son of a¡­ this is the biggest piece of Luplacium I¡¯ve seen in my life.¡± ¡°That¡¯s big? It¡¯s barely the size of my fingernail.¡± ¡°Why, it is indeed big. Luplacium is usually found the size of a grain of sand.¡± Darvin accidentally turned a tiny corner of the cyan plate into powder. ¡°Oops. You don¡¯t mind if I take a bit of it right?¡± ¡°Of course not, but I would like it if you could make me a stat card.¡± ¡°No worries, in fact I¡¯m actually the stat card maker in this village. I¡¯ll have a new stat card ready for you in two days.¡± Pulling out an empty plastic vial, Darvin tapped the plate on the tip of the vial to procure the powder. ¡°Here¡¯s your Luplacium back.¡± Roa watched as Darvin took a few herbs from various locations, to create a green mixture in the vial. Darvin sealed the vial, and vigorously shook it like a cocktail. Inside the vial, the green had turned red. ¡°Darvin, you said this Luplacium was rare right?¡± ¡°Oh yes, quite rare indeed.¡± ¡°Does that mean I can sell it for a lot?¡± ¡°Oh, if only. Luplacium is used only for this very specific type of stat card. Since the amount of people who have this stat card is less than the amount of Luplacium in the world, there aren¡¯t many people who are willing to pay much for it.¡± --- The next day, Roa was called by Darvin as he woke up. ¡°I know you just woke up, but I need you to do a few things for me. I¡¯m busy working on your stat card, so I¡¯ll need you to do my daily duty. I need you to gather a few red herbs and blue herbs a few hundred meters away. Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯re really easy to spot.¡± Red and blue herbs sounded familiar to Roa. ¡°Also, for your weight in the village, bring back at least fifty red and blue herbs. Even with your stats, I¡¯m sure picking herbs shouldn''t be a difficult task.¡± ¡°Yessir.¡± Fate, who was sleeping next to Roa, leapt into his usual spot in Roa¡¯s right pants pocket as Roa left to fulfill his duties. At the back entrance, Roa grabbed a few small sacks to hold all the herbs. Surprisingly, just like Darvin said, the red and blue herbs were easy to spot against a mass of green. Upon further inspection, Roa could see slight discrepancies between different herbs. Some were darker, some were brighter, while others grew too tall. He picked the ones that were the closest to the one¡¯s he saw in Sil¡¯s farm. Nearby, there were a couple of rabbits hopping around. While Roa was picking herbs, Fate decided to have some fun and toy with the rabbits. Fate was able to bleed two rabbits to death with continuous bites before Roa had finished filling a small sack he had brought along. ¡°Well Fate, these are your own spoils. We can cook them up and you can eat every single peace.¡± ¡°Squeak!¡± Fate opened his mouth like he was yawning, and crawled into his usual pocket. Roa picked up the two rabbits and threw it into a sack different from the one with the herbs. Roa himself tried to catch a few rabbits, but they all scurried away at a faster pace than he could chase. ¡°Damn, if only I still had my dagger.¡± Roa ran around for a few hours trying to catch a rabbit, but to no avail. No matter how hard he tried, the rabbits were always able to outrun him in the end. ¡°Damn.¡± He knew that there was no chance at all for him to catch one of the rabbits, and searched around to find other prey. Not far away from the rabbits, was a forest. Roa had approached the outskirts of the forest, and discovered chickens. To be exact, they looked like chickens, only with beaks that were the same size as their body. One of the weird birds noticed his presence and charged at him beak-first. For the first time since he had come to this new world, Roa genuinely laughed. The chicken-like existence was slower than the sun in the sky. The laughing immediately went away when the bird got close and moved its head extremely quickly towards Roa. The attack missed him by a few millimeters and the beak pierced the ground. The bird struggled to remove its beak from the ground. Roa only laughed even harder, making him forget the death he had almost encountered. Fortunately, the neck was easy to twist, which Roa learned from watching his grandfather kill chickens. He crammed the weird creature into another sack, with its beak jutting out of the opening. Roa believed that the chicken would satisfy the requirements set by Darvin. Out of nowhere, Roa heard a disgruntled voice before he felt something slide into his sides. ¡°I¡¯m not handing over Tasmania village to you.¡± Chapter 7 - Another Human? As Roa winced it the blunt pain on his sides, he turned around only to be met by a flurry of fists to his face. Roa weakly threw a punch, only to get his arm twisted and dislocated. An ear-piercing scream filled the air as he collapsed onto the ground. Towering above Roa was another human male in his mid-30s. The human was tall and frail, resembling a scarecrow. His hair was haggard, but the rest of him was shaved and neat. His golden eyes gleamed of something miserly. This human was breathing heavily, surprised by how easy it was to heavily injure Roa. Fate was furious. He leapt out of Roa¡¯s pocket and attacked the stranger. ¡°The hell is this.¡± With a simple swat, the human had sent Fate flying a few meters. When he confirmed the random blur didn¡¯t appear again, he grabbed the sacks Roa was holding and nervously walked towards the village. Roa was shivering and gasping in pain, barely hanging on to his consciousness. ¡°Why am I so weak?!¡± He faintly laughed, then remembered he had a belt full of potions. Forcing himself to turn tilt his head up, he saw that all but the potion on the far left had broken and spilled from the fall. ¡°It¡¯s worth a try.¡± He groaned, and sat as upright as he could, wincing as his left arm hung limply. Roa uncorked the potion from its glass vial, and began to drink. He sputtered and gagged, but he forced himself to swallow. ¡°Tastes worse than medicine.¡± Clenching his teeth, Roa forcefully relocated his shoulder, enduring the pain without uttering a sound. The potion had cleared up most of the bruises on his face. Still shivering, Roa got up and wiggled his body to check for any other damages. After confirming that his body was almost as good as before, he found Fate lying unconscious nearby, and put him in his pocket. ¡°I still have to finish gathering herbs and food.¡± Luckily, the man had only taken the sacks that were filled, leaving the empty ones behind. Roa arrived back at Darvin¡¯s cot a few hours after the sun had gone down. All the lights in the village were off, save for Darvin¡¯s cot. He knocked on the door, and Darvin came out grumbling. ¡°Who¡¯s haughty enough to disturb a ma- oh Roa, what took you so long?¡± The look on Roa¡¯s face gave the impression that he had a story to tell, so Darvin let him in to talk. Sitting, Roa placed the sacks he worked hard to replace on the table before he discussed the encounter. It didn¡¯t take long for Darvin to put on a more serious look. ¡°I see, so that¡¯s what happened.¡± Darvin had a disappointed look on his face, while his eyes were shooting daggers into the sky. ¡°The person who injured you is someone I know.¡± Sighing, Darvin began to tell his own story. ¡°You are not the first human to encounter this village. In fact, during my own lifetime, there has been one other human, whose name is Binor. I was the one who found him actually, dressed in a worn-out soldier¡¯s attire. He told me that the humans were fighting a civil war and he had ran away from the battle. Although he did have some mysteries about him, he was nice to most of the villagers, and we eventually came to accept him. I guess he thought that you being here would ruin his position as the only human in the village.¡± ¡°Now that I think about it, how come there are so few humans here?¡± Roa quipped. ¡°We have a divine barrier that makes it so only those who would not harm the village would be able to find their way here. If someone had malicious intent, they would subconciously take a detour away from here.¡± Darvin got up from the chair that was on the opposite side of the table, and headed out towards the village. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to have a talk with Binor.¡± Before Darvin fully left, he threw a bright red bottle at Roa. ¡°This should heal you up completely.¡± When Darvin had left, Roa clutched the potion he caught and thought. He thought about how he couldn¡¯t fight back. He thought about how Fate was easily blown away as he could only lay there broken. He thought about how useless he was. He thought about the fear he had of this happening again. Anger boiled up within Roa, and he let out an anguished cry. He took the herbs he had retrieved and ripped them into pieces, and began to wring the herbs as hard as he could. He rung, and rung, and rung, until his arms were too sore. But he kept on going, venting out his anger on some plants that couldn¡¯t fight back. The tears that he didn¡¯t notice dripping down his face had fell into a puddle on the floor made of the red herbs juices. Sobbing, Roa just kept twisting the herbs, regardless of color, as the puddle slowly expanded. He cried himself to sleep sitting up. --- Binor woke up late at night to a couple of angry raps on his door. He heard a familiar voice shouting behind the door. ¡°Open up before I kick it down!¡± ¡°Alright, alright, geez.¡± Opening the door, Binor saw Darvin, and was immediately all smiles. ¡°What brings you to my humble abode Darvin?¡± ¡°Enough with the act, Binor. I know what you did to our new human friend.¡± Binor¡¯s smile faded, but lit up again. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about Darvin.¡± ¡°I said drop the act. It was obviously you who hurt the new human. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re up to, but you better drop whatever it is and stop before we kick you out.¡± ¡°You trust him, over me? I thought we were good friends Darvin.¡± ¡°We were until you started being all sneaky at night. We¡¯re all watching you Binor, we¡¯re all watching you.¡± Darvin stared daggers at Binor before he turned around and swiftly walked away. Binor, who stood at his doorway, didn¡¯t drop his smile. ¡°We¡¯ll see who gets the last laugh when I¡¯m through with the lot of you.¡± When Darvin opened the door to his house, he saw hundreds of shredded herbs lying around a sleeping Roa. Darvin gasped when he saw the puddle of the floor. Instead of the usual red or blue coloration when the reds were mixed, a light purple had spread across the puddle. He stuck a finger into the puddle, and licked the drops that had stuck on. ¡°By the gods, this puddle heals both health and mana¡­¡± Darvin quickly scooped as much of the puddle into puddle as he could, and cleaned up the herbs. Not wanting to disturb sleeping Roa that sat on the floor, Darvin pulled out a seat from under the table filled with the purple vials, sat down, and placed his head on the table. -- When Roa woke up, his whole body was burning from soreness. The potion that Darvin had given him rested on the rightmost part of his belt, as he noticed it was more pure than the two Sil had given him. Darvin heard the groans that came from Roa, and brought him some tea. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Are you well rested?¡± ¡°Not really, still sore from yesterday.¡± When the small talk between Darvin and Roa was over, Darvin began a more serious conversation. ¡°So, how did you make a potion that could heal both health and mana?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Darvin brought over one of the many plastic vials that held a light purple mixture inside. He swirled the potion in front of Roa with his thumb and index finger on the top of the vial. ¡°This. This purple potion is a combination of a red and blue potion.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re telling me I made it?¡± ¡°Well, who else could¡¯ve made this?¡± ¡°...You?¡± ¡°Funny. I grabbed this mixture from the puddle that was at your feet last night.¡± As Roa recalled the previous night¡¯s memories, he could only scrunch his face. ¡°I don¡¯t remember the puddle being purple.¡± ¡°But you did make the puddle right?¡± ¡°All I did was squeeze the red and blue herbs dry.¡± Darvin quietly took out a red and blue herb from out of thin air, and wrung both dry right in front of Roa. When the juices dripped onto the ground and mixed, the red engulfed the blue, finalizing into a blood red puddle. ¡°Did you do anything else.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Whatever. Your task for today is to grab the same types of herbs you retrieved yesterday.¡± ¡°Yessir.¡± ¡°Which reminds me. You know you only picked the best herbs out there right? How did you know which herbs were the best?¡± ¡°I... picked the ones without imperfections?¡± ¡°Do you know how hard it is to tell imperfections on herbs? It¡¯s like trying to find a bump on a sanded down table.¡± Roa could only shrug. To him, the imperfections were extremely obvious. The herbs at Sil¡¯s place were all uniform, and he tried he base what he picked off those. The red and blue herbs were bent at a 45 degree angle, while the leaves had perfect symmetry. ¡°You can stop zoning out now. I¡¯m going to get food, are you coming?¡± ¡°I guess.¡± While walking to the wooden longhouse in the center of the village, Roa observed that the village itself wasn¡¯t very big. There were at most 30 houses in total, but the place itself was lively. The demon villagers were bustling about, occasionally glancing in his direction before going back to what they were doing. What seemed odd to Roa, however, was a purple rippling circle on the side of the wooden longhouse. People were going in and out of the circle, but they were always different people. Entering the longhouse, Roa was greeted by the smell of roasting meat. Emelia immediately noticed the two, waving at them to come over. ¡°Hey Roa, good to see you again!¡± ¡°Emelia, where¡¯s my greeting?¡± ¡°Oh come on you old man, I see you almost everyday. At least Roa is a fresh sight for sore eyes.¡± ¡°Yea yea, whatever. What¡¯s for breakfast today?¡± ¡°Dragon shish kabob of course. There was so much meat from yesterday that we could eat it breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a week and still have leftovers. We already started turning some into jerky.¡± Emelia placed a dozen kabobs the size of an arm on Darvin¡¯s plate, while Roa got one. Darvin looked at Roa¡¯s plate and furrowed his brows. ¡°Are you trying to starve him?¡± Darvin felt something heavy hit him on his left horn. Looking up, he saw Emelia twirling the blunt end of a skewer. ¡°Does it look like I¡¯m blind? I clearly saw you eating all of this kid¡¯s food yesterday. Seems to me you knew humans didn¡¯t eat as much as we devils do, and used it to your advantage.¡± Darvin clicked his tongue and walked away disappointed. Before Roa chased after Darvin, Emelia whispered into his ear. ¡°I have no idea how he¡¯s able to eat that much food.¡± After a very meaty breakfast, Darvin and Roa parted ways. The village had no fences or gates, so Roa had to estimate the direction based off the way he wandered yesterday from the back of Darvin¡¯s house. Strolling about, Roa ran into the outskirts of a forest. Seeing a cluster of red coloring on the ground deeper in, he walked into the forest. When Roa walked enough so that the plains behind him couldn¡¯t be seen, he felt a tingling sensation jolt through his body. He looked everywhere, but couldn¡¯t determine where that feeling came from. On cue, Fate rose from Roa¡¯s pocket right as they passed into the forest. Looking at each other, Roa simply shrugged. Walking towards the red patch, Roa discovered that it was not red herbs, but a spot in the forest that was colored red. What was off about the red spot was that it reflected light to the point where it was easily visible from far away, and that all the trees were cleared away from the location. Not know what it did, or what to do about it, Roa decided to walk back a bit and continue along the outskirts of the forest, once again feeling a tingling sensation. He passed by two more red spots that were similarly spaced out until he saw a clump of red and blue herbs in the horizon toward the village. Just as he was about to exit the forest, Roa tripped on a large root, face-planting into the dirt. Pushing himself off the ground with the leverage of his arms, the rock he carried in his pocket slipped out. Since he had fallen from the sky out of the Gresknov dungeon, Roa completely forgot that he had carried the rock the entire time. The rock shook a little bit when it touched the ground. As Roa picked up the rock, he felt that the sharp juts from the rock had smoothened a little bit. When Roa went to reach for the rock, compared to his hand, it was a lot smaller than before. It was originally the size of his palm, and fit his pocket just enough to not be noticeable. Now, the rock was the size of a skipping stone. Gripping the rock with his thumb and index finger, Roa noticed that the rock was weightless even though it had made a thud on the dirt. Something in his head told him to keep it with him. It was always something in his head, but Roa knew it wasn¡¯t his intuition. It was as if something was speaking out to him, guiding him along his path. Although he had poor stats, coupled with the ridicule of everyone from his world, the voice inside his head never failed him. The voice was with him even in the other world, just never bothered him as frequently as now. Looking up from the rock, Roa saw a shadowy figure standing a few trees away mumbling to himself. Putting the rock back into the pocket, which now held a lot of empty space, Roa crept towards the figure. His sneaking was immediately noticed by the figure, who twisted his body. ¡°You aren¡¯t being very sneaky. Come out!¡± The voice sounded very familiar. Chapter 8 - Something Familiar Roa didn¡¯t know what to do, so he stayed hidden. ¡°If you¡¯re not coming to me, I¡¯m coming to you.¡± In a single breath, the wind whistled in Roa¡¯s ear, and the person was already in front of him. At first, the person was frowning, but was then all smiles. ¡°Hey there, fellow human.¡± Roa couldn¡¯t put his finger on it, but the voice he was hearing from the other person made his skin crawl. ¡°Do I know you from somewhere?¡± ¡°Not that I know of.¡± ¡°Then can you come out where I can see you?¡± The other person hesitated for a second before walking into a small patch of light. Shadow covered half the body, but Roa was still able to tell some characteristics. The person was a human male, older and taller than him. He had piercing golden eyes and a buzzcut. The rest of his body was obscured by a pitch black robe that covered from head to toe. Fate poked out of Roa¡¯s pocket, saw the man, and started screeching. ¡°Hey, could you turn your rat down? It¡¯s a bit annoying.¡± ¡°Fate, quiet down will you?¡± Fate bit down on Roa¡¯s skin, giving Roa a tingling sensation. Believing that Fate was acting weirdly, he pushed Fate back into his pocket and zipped. The man gave Roa a curious gaze. ¡°Hey, are you able to leave the forest?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°... Can you walk over to the plains over there?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Look, it¡¯s not a trap, ok? Here, I¡¯ll even give you this pill if you just cross on over.¡± From his robe, the man slowly took out a red and white pill the size of a pin and tossed it at Roa. The pill fumbled in Roa¡¯s cupped hands and almost fell through his fingers. When he was able to grasp it and identify what it was, he only looked at the cloaked man. ¡°What, you don¡¯t know what this is? If you swallow the pill, after 24 hours you will get one extra health! I had to go through great lengths to acquire some.¡± ¡°...¡± An audible sigh emanated from the man. ¡°Of course, you don¡¯t trust me. Look, I¡¯ll take one just like yours.¡± Once again reaching into his cloak, the man pulled out another pill and swallowed it immediately. ¡°See? No harm done.¡± Roa was still hesitating. Why would this strange man want him to cross over? Why couldn¡¯t he do it himself? Was the reward worth it? Although the reward was a measly one health, the anguish deep within his heart refused to let any stat growths go to waste. One health may not mean much, but 100 of the pill would double his current health. Stuck forever weak, his only chance of getting stronger was through this pill. Perhaps out in the wild, there were better health pills, or even pills for other stats. In his momentary thought, Roa had nearly squeezed the pill in his hand into powder. Roa pressured himself into doing the task, scared of being forever weak. No alarms were ringing in his head, so he didn¡¯t worry as much. Turning sideways, Roa carefully watched the cloaked man as Roa began to leave the forest. As soon as he felt the ripple in his mind, Roa saw the man¡¯s eyebrows raise. Before Roa had finished walking to the end of the forest, he heard the man¡¯s voice call out for him. ¡°Hey, uh, could you come back? I want to ask for another favor.¡± Roa stopped walking and turned to fully face the cloaked man, but not moving a single step towards him. Watching each other, the cloaked man and Roa just looked at each other for a minute before the man piped up. ¡°Right, right, I forgot. I¡¯ll give you another pill.¡± When the word pill reached Roa¡¯s ears, he unhesitatingly walked towards the man until they were in arms reach of each other. ¡°Ok, that¡¯s close enough.¡± As the man extended his arm towards Roa, his cloaked fluttered and Roa was able to catch a glimpse of the clothing underneath. Once again, the clothing looked distinctly familiar, but he just couldn¡¯t put his finger on it. ¡°Hold my hand.¡± ¡°...............¡± Roa didn¡¯t know much about the world, but he could easily assume that malicious intents could easily be transferred via skin contact. ¡°Oh, come on.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll give you another pill, but that¡¯s it.¡± The man mumbled under his breath. ¡°To think I started with ten pills and only have seven left before anything has started.¡± Roa hesitated a bit before nodded. The man tossed two pills at Roa with his other hand. As soon as Roa touched the man¡¯s hands, the man began to walk towards Roa. Fearing something was wrong, Roa immediately retracted his hand and retreated a few meters. But the cloaked man did nothing, only smiling at Roa. ¡°Thank you for helping me. I¡¯d best be on my way.¡± Watching as the man disappeared into the horizon, Roa contemplated what just happened. Though the cloaked man did arouse some suspicions, nothing had happened to him. He looked at the three red and white pills that he was gripping. When Roa released his grip, only then did he realize how hard he clutched the pills by the red marks on his palm. He unhesitatingly swallowed all three of the pills. Roa knew the pills could be a trap, but the allure of even the most miniscule amount of stat gain was too enticing. After a few minutes, Roa had felt nothing. He shrugged, assuming they were duds. Although Roa had gained nothing from what just occurred, he had only spent maybe ten minutes talking with the cloaked man. Without a single worry left, Roa advanced towards the patch of red and blue in the distance. When he got there, he discovered that it was indeed the herbs he needed, but different from the patch he had discovered previously. In the center was a gaping hole about ten meters deep, with herbs on the perimeter of the hole. Roa peered into the hole and gasped. To his amazement, in the center of the hole was a steel dagger exactly like the one he was given, and a part of the dungeon with a black crystal jutting out. When he tried to get up, a knot had caught on to Roa¡¯s pocket zipper and opened his pocket. Out popped Fate, who climbed on Roa and bit him multiple times in the ear. ¡°Ouch! Ok, I¡¯m sorry!¡± Seemingly contempt, Fate glanced over Roa¡¯s shoulder and saw the black crystal. With a face full of greed, Fate became a blur and moved towards the black crystal. Hopping frantically for a second, Fate opened his mouth and began to chew through the black crystal like jelly. In the next second, the black crystal was completely gone, leaving the chunk of the dungeon with a hole in the center. Before leaving the pit and climbing onto Roa¡¯s shoulder, Fate picked up the steel dagger with this teeth. Roa gently lifted the dagger out of Fate¡¯s mouth, and inspected it. What surprised him wasn¡¯t the dried blood on the dagger, but how worn it was. It had only been two days plus who knew how long he had been falling since he had fallen and at that time no one even touched their dagger. To the students, the dagger was useless since they relied had better equipment given to them a few days after the first expedition based on their contribution. Everyone aside from Roa had a huge power-up in levels and equipment, not to mention how their teamwork had improved. To see a worn dagger in just two days meant that at least one of the students had become desperate. Looking up at the sky, Roa found no sympathy for any of them. -- ¡°Hurry up!¡± Since the dragon incident, the students were scared witless. Many confined themselves to their rooms within the castle, afraid of ever going back into the dungeon. The king was at first in shock at how many were unwilling to go back inside the dungeon, but after Mana¡¯s explanation he understood how they felt. He once again summoned them all to his hall. As the students piled in, he noticed a few were missing, most notably the kid he had met personally. Looking at Mana, the king couldn¡¯t trust the priestess anymore. She had hid information away from him, which had never happened before. Regardless, the king stood up from his throne and rumbled. ¡°I have heard from Mana about yesterday¡¯s incident. First off, I am terribly sorry for any of the losses you may have experienced. No one had ever seen anything spawn on the third floor boss area, but we will take all responsibility.¡± The king saw the students faces ease up, and continued to speak. ¡°Just like the previous expedition, we will not force anyone to go any further than they want. But I must remind you that if you don¡¯t want the same thing to happen again, you must all grow stronger. And the best way to grow stronger, is to keep fighting.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. With a simple speech, the students were lively once again. In the next couple of days the second floor bridge was shoddily reconstructed, enough for one person at a time to pass without breaking, and the students progressed farther and farther until they were stuck on the seventh floor. Before they had stepped into the portal, Mana had spoke out. ¡°The next floor is different from the rest. The monsters will only respawn after you¡¯ve defeated all of them, and will take about a month to respawn. The floor was like a colosseum. The monsters that the students fought came out one by one from the seats, pitting one monster against the whole group. There were about 100 monsters in the beginning, and they were finally at the last one. Similar to all the other floors, the boss was at the very end. The final monster to come out, however, was four times smaller than the others. In addition, it looked very similar to the rats they had encountered on the first floor. Its fur was longer than its whiskers and it stood upright. But what shocked the students and Mana the most was that the rat could talk. ¡°Ah, otherworlders, you¡¯re finally here.¡± Everyone had become as stiff as a rock. The rat chuckled, and continued. ¡°Initially, I had doubts on how far you all would get. I really underestimated you otherworlds, being able to get this far in only two weeks! You could say I was quite surprised that you even beat the dragon on the second floor that even I had never seen spawn before. Laur was the first to break away from the tense atmosphere, and angrily shouted back. ¡°So it was you who did this to Evan and Michelle!¡± He had known the two for a long time, even actively helping him bully others. ¡°Young otherworlder, you need to calm down. I did not of th-¡± Before the rat could finish talking, Laur slashed at the rat with Uriel¡¯s sword. Compared to before, Laur had drastically improved his speed in battle. He had strove to get faster and faster, enough to see his stat growth was drastically skewed the day before they entered the dungeon again.
Name:Laur MofferAge:16
Gender:MaleLevel:1
Class:Hero Apprentice
-
Health:1232/1232Mana1232/1232
Strength:1310Stamina:1232
Agility:1435Resistance:1232
Magic:1232Magic Resistance:1232
-
Elemental Affinity
  • Wind, Fire, Earth, Water, Thunder, Light
Skills
  • [Unique] Incantation of Uriel
    • Continuously drain 10 mana per second to summon and equip Uriel''s Sword.
  • [Unique] Aura of Propensity
    • Party size increased from 3 to 10.
    • Increase in 10% experience for everyone in party when leader.
  • Rite of A Hero
    • High possibility to become a hero.
    • Increased stat growth.
    • Able to understand all languages.
Titles
  • World Traveler
Traversing the dungeon again had once again made his speed improve after continuous battles. At this point, it seemed to the others that his speed had doubled from before. When the rat got slashed, it only smirked as its silhouette slowly began to dissipate. ¡°I was going to give you this floor¡¯s boss as a freebie, but I guess you don¡¯t want it! Hahaha, I¡¯ll see you all in the later floors.¡± When the rat fully vanished, the students who still gaping turned to look at Mana, only to see her gaping as well. It took the students a few minutes to settle down, before returning to normal. They leisurely walked across the arena towards the portal to the next floor. Laur was the first to step onto the portal, and did it alone. When he shimmered into the second floor, he was greeted by a bald gorilla¡¯s face. At first alarmed, he hesitated for a second. Fortunately for Laur, the gorilla simply smiled at the sight of Laur¡¯s shock. Laur was immediately battle ready after recovering from the shock, and launched towards the gorilla, brandishing Uriel¡¯s sword with two hands. He sliced at the gorilla¡¯s leg, and was astounded to find that he had not even left a dent on the bald gorilla¡¯s skin. It seemed to Laur as if the gorilla¡¯s smiled had widened. For the first time ever, Laur was at a loss, and without hesitation ran away. As the next group of people shimmered into the eighth floor, they saw Laur disappear back into the portal. Confused, they saw turned around and saw the gorilla running towards them. Shrieking, the two students froze, and were smashed into paste by the gorilla¡¯s fists with the strength of a bomb. Still smirking, the gorilla also stepped into the portal. On the seventh floor, Laur shimmered into existence, and kept running. Everyone was confused until they saw the gorilla also shimmer in. They could guess why Laur was running, and everyone followed after in a panicked hurry. They had ran all the way to the second floor, with the bald gorilla playfully following after. One by one, the students ran through the bridge as the gorilla was shimmering into existence once again. When the gorilla was able to see what was happening, it ran towards the bridge angry. It was able to discern that the bridge wouldn¡¯t carry its weight, and that the distance to the next island on the second floor was too far for it to jump to. By the time it had reached the bridge, only one person was left. He had just began to cross when he saw the gorilla right in front of him. With a second wind, he ran across the bridge faster than ever. The gorilla grabbed a part of the bridge ahead of the student and teared it to pieces, breaking the bridge in two. In a stunning display of acrobatics that even the student didn¡¯t know he had possessed, he lept onto the next part of the bridge. As if on instinct, he took out the steel dagger he was given and rammed it into the steadily falling bridge. He grabbed on as hard as he could until the bridge slammed into the side of the island, finally stabilizing. Shaking, but generally unhurt, the student began to climb up the bridge, using the dagger as support and leverage. As the student neared the end, he eased up and began to climb with more gusto. Right at the end, he was careless and stabbed the dagger into a missing part of the bridge. Feeling nothing but air, the student let go of the dagger and screamed as he felt vertigo spreading throughout his body. Suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed the student by the arm. As the student was dragged up, he felt the stress pile up as the endorphins washed away. When the student was on solid ground, he collapsed. ¡°Thank you, Lucin.¡± On the other island, the monkey was furious, slamming his fists onto the ground in anger. The floor rumbled, and pieces of the ceiling fell into the abyss. Chapter 9 - War Against Evil After gathering all the herbs around the hole, regardless of quality, Roa walked back to Darvin¡¯s house as the sun began to set. The worn steel dagger that he had previously found was now resting in a sleeve on the inner part of his garb, stitched just to hold the dagger. Bored along the way, Roa decided to tinker with his weird book skill. ¡°Summon Book.¡± As the book spiraled into existence with its pages flipping, Roa saw a page flip by with a color other than black. When the book fully materialized, Roa quickly opened the book, shaking in excitement. On the first page, were a few rows of white words that looked to be popping off the page.
Consumption of 3 Minor Health Pills, +3 Maximum Health after 21 hours. Due to overconsumption from two Minor Health Pills, -20 Maximum Health for one week.
Roa was both ecstatic and disappointed. It turns out that the pills were, in fact, pills that increased his health. On the other hand, he would be stuck with 20 less health for a while. On top of that, the book¡¯s skill was utterly useless. What use was a book that told him a little more than what his stat card could tell him? His other skill may be utterly broken, but what use is a broken skill when he would sleep for a whole day after using it? It limited him to using it only in dire situations, and would be rendered helpless after. Roa couldn¡¯t help but inwardly sigh. Roa arrived back at Darvin¡¯s place, opening the back door to be greeted by the smell of something amazing. Following the smell, Roa walked straight through the house from the back door to the opened front door, and saw Emelia spit roasting some meat on the patio. Whilst slowly turning the meat, Emelia was happily chatting with Darvin who seemed to like the company. They were both sitting on a bench made of wood similar to the trees Roa had saw in the forest. He saw a few plates of meat already out and, not wanting to disturb their alone time, grabbed a plate and walked back inside the house. The chat between Emelia and Darvin was far from happy. ¡°You know Darvin, I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re the one who is suspicious of Binor. You were the one who brought him in, and you know people can¡¯t get in our village if they harbor any bad intents.¡± ¡°I know, I know Emelia. But, people change, and there is a big loophole about our barrier. Once someone enters, and changes their mind about how they think of the village, it doesn¡¯t eject them out. Additionally, those from the inside can bring someone in.¡± ¡°You mean to say someone is helping him?¡± ¡°Intentionally or unintentionally, yes. You know I¡¯m never wrong about my judgements Emelia.¡± ¡°Then, what should we do?¡± ¡°Right now, we can do nothing. We have nothing to incriminate Binor with.¡± The two sat in silence, losing track of the time as they watched the stars glittering above. ¡°Ah, I burnt the dragon meat.¡± ¡°It¡¯s probably fine if you just scrape off the outer burnt parts.¡± As Emelia scraped off the burnt flesh with a small knife, she had a stroke of thought. ¡°I saw Roa¡¯s card on the stat tracker. Aside from the odd static, I¡¯ve never seen anyone with two unique skills before.¡± ¡°Well, now you have. Having a unique skill is a one-in-a-million chance, so having two would naturally be one-in-a-trillion.¡± ¡°What about his title? I¡¯ve never seen a title called ¡®World Traveler¡¯ before.¡± ¡°What about it?¡± ¡°Well, there are rumors going around that the humans have summoned otherworldly beings. Those beings are said to break the rules of our world and are many times more powerful than anyone of our world.¡± Darvin chuckled. ¡°Do you think Roa is one of them?¡± ¡°Well, what if he is? Isn¡¯t that basically letting the enemy into our home?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you forget that he was able to get in here? Not only that, but his stats are completely average. ¡± ¡°The thing is, him and the dragon we¡¯re about to eat fell from the sky and broke the barrier. We made the most rudimentary patch on it, remember? And what if the static is hiding his better stats? Think about it: if the stats you can see are average, then what would the hidden ones look like if he was an otherworlder?¡± The smile on Darvin¡¯s face quickly turned upside-down as he cursed softly. ¡°Shit, I forgot about that.¡± Suddenly, Darvin stood up. Emelia looked up at him questioningly. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°My foresight was originally unable to determine his alignment. I¡¯m going to check Roa by using the barrier.¡± Looking at Darvin¡¯s back while he went inside the house, Emelia could only shake her head helplessly. Darvin walked into his house to see Roa playfully chasing Fate around. ¡°Roa, can I have a moment?¡± Roa stopped running about and answered Darvin. ¡°What do you need Darvin?¡± ¡°Come with me on a stroll, would you?¡± ¡°This late at night?¡± ¡°Anytime is a good time to take a walk.¡± Roa felt that nothing was out of the ordinary. His benefactor just wanted to get to know him better, what was wrong with that?¡± ¡°Fate, stay here, I¡¯ll be back in a bit.¡± -- A guard walked up a regal man who lazily sat on his throne, and whispered into his ear. ¡°The bald ape has not left the second floor.¡± The motivational speech from before had really left an impact on the students. Although they could not continue through the dungeon until the next reset due to the bald gorilla on the second floor, they still wanted to gather experience and get stronger. No longer were they afraid of what of stronger opponents, rather they were afraid of not being able to get stronger than the opponent. ¡°Hmph, this lined up quite perfectly with our invasion. A perfect time to let the otherworlders have a taste of war. Inform the otherworlders to immediately depart.¡± -- ¡°Hey, um, Lucin, where do you think we¡¯re going?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know Jarvis.¡± For the past few hours since Lucin hoisted Jarvis up from eminent death, Jarvis had followed Lucin everywhere like a puppy. All the students were on ships that were floating, powered by giant mana crystals that pushed air to lift. Ten ships were quickly flying southwest of the castle, each one accommodating 20 people. The loud roars from the mana crystal was deafening, and so the people chatting were screaming at each other. ¡°Lucin, I want to thank you.¡± ¡°Spank me? Why would you want to spank me?¡± ¡°I said thank.¡± ¡°Rank? I don¡¯t really care about ranks.¡± ¡°THANK!¡± Jarvis had hit a pitch so high up others were able to hear it over the sound of the mana crystals. After a few moments, Lucin grasped his stomach and started laughing until he couldn¡¯t breathe. ¡°You made such a big deal over that? I appreciate the thanks, but anyone else would¡¯ve done the same.¡± ¡°Maybe so, but you were the one that did it. Therefore, I have to thank you for saving my life.¡± Lucin merely looked up and sighed. ¡°I would rather not see another person disappear that way.¡± Before Jarvis could question Lucin¡¯s answer, a voice which had previously brought them hope in the past once again resounded in the air. The king had taken out a spherical glass full of holes, and spoke into it. The sphere projected the king¡¯s voice as if he was right next to them. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°My friends, today is the day we finally fight back against the evils of this world! No longer will we be suffocated by the onslaught of our brethren. Today, we will be the ones to slaughter!¡± Cheers could be faintly heard from half of the ships over the roaring of the blasts of air from the mana crystals. ¡°We are guaranteed victory today, for we have a secret weapon. In half of these ships, we have the heroes joining the fray, with stats like this!¡± With the flick of his wrist, the king brought out a green cube that projected Laur¡¯s stats.
Name:Laur MofferAge:16
Gender:MaleLevel:1
Class:Hero Apprentice
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Health:1000/1000Mana1000/1000
Strength:1000Stamina:1000
Agility:1000Resistance:1000
Magic:1000Magic Resistance:1000
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Elemental Affinity
  • Wind, Fire, Earth, Water, Thunder, Light
Skills
  • [Unique] Incantation of Uriel
    • Continuously drain 10 mana per second to summon and equip Uriel''s Sword.
  • [Unique] Aura of Propensity
    • Party size increased from 3 to 10.
    • Increase in 10% experience for everyone in party when leader.
  • Rite of A Hero
    • High possibility to become a hero.
    • Increased stat growth.
    • Able to understand all languages.
Titles
  • World Traveler
Jarvis was attentive and noticed a discrepancy. ¡°Hey Lucin, aren¡¯t those stats from when we came to this world?¡± ¡°Hmm, looks like the thing used to register our stat cards saves the most frequent load into a database.¡± While Jarvis and Lucin were discussion the mechanisms behind the database, the soldiers from the kingdom were shocked to see Laur¡¯s stats. ¡°My god, that¡¯s two hundred times higher than my stats.¡± ¡°And I thought our beautiful Mana was insanely strong.¡± The cheers became increasingly louder, almost drowning out the deafening roars from the gushes of air underneath. The king smirked and continued. ¡°Our invasion point is at a hidden village at the border of the Daruvan kingdom. Before, we were unable to pinpoint a weak spot, but with the help of an insider we can surprise the evil demons.¡± ¡°And for the heroes! Although killing demons may not give as much experience as those monsters you¡¯ve fought in the dungeon underneath our kingdom, they grant plentiful amounts for how easy they can be eliminated. I trust that all of you will be very happy after the end of this invasion.¡± Soon, everyone was able to see a red circles in the forest. There were ten locations, each the same distance away from each other. The ships began to descend, each one closing onto a red spot. -- It seemed as if the village was in the middle of a circular clearing in the middle of a giant forest. When Roa and Darvin walked in a direction opposite of which he went to pick herbs, Roa noticed that the forest at the end had the same vegetation. The stroll had been quiet, with Roa struggling to match Darvin¡¯s pace. When they finally neared the forest, Darvin finally began to talk. ¡°I need you to walk through the forest and back.¡± Roa was confused. Why did everyone want him to walk through the forest? ¡°Someone else asked you to walk through the forest?¡± Roa realized that he had accidentally spoken out what he thought. He carefully explained what he went through previously, trying to not omit any details. Darvin listened attentively, frequently switching between facial expressions as the story progressed. When Roa was done, Darvin had a hard look. ¡°What you felt when you passed through the forest is the barrier we erected as a second defense. Just like the redirection, if one has malicious intents to the village they would be completely blocked from coming in.¡± ¡°However, I have never heard of anyone that could feel the barrier as they passed through it. If you want me to truly believe you, pass through the barrier again.¡± What else could Roa do but comply? He walked through the forest to prove his claims. Oddly, as he walked farther and farther in, he didn¡¯t feel the ripple of the barrier. It seemed he had walked so far in that Darvin actually went inside the forest to look for him. ¡°Now, let¡¯s go back.¡± Darvin walked behind Roa as they began to walk back. They left the forest, with Darvin giving a satisfied look. Roa, however, had something to tell. ¡°I didn¡¯t feel the ripple when coming back and forth.¡± ¡°What you probably felt before was a minor fluctuation of the mana inside the barrier. We made a quick repair on the barrier after you and the dragon fell through the top and broke it, so it¡¯s not completely stable. To actually be able to feel the barrier, would mean a keen insight into the inner workings of mana.¡± Suddenly, it was as if night disappeared. A scorching white light came from the sky, blinding everything in its radius. A meteor the size of a house quickly descended from a dimensional ripple floating in the sky, heading directly towards the village. As it came down, an audible boom as loud as a nuclear explosion came seconds after the dust flew by Roa and Darvin. Without hesitation, Darvin ran towards the village so fast he left behind a sonic boom. Roa didn¡¯t want to go, but he remembered that he had left Fate inside Darvin¡¯s house. Roa braced himself, and began to take the long trek back.