《The Manaless One》 0 (1/2) | Prologue: Birth of the System Gods - vast entities of unimaginable strength. To the masses, they are myths and legends, beings whose powers are beyond imaginations. For some, objects of their fate, their reason to live - to serve them. But for those who know more, they are simply powerful individuals - immortal and indifferent. Throughout history, gods have inspired devotion, worship, and sometimes, fanaticism.Simply put, every known god-like person has their own believers ¨C less or more. But for every benevolent follower, there exists a zealot¡ªa worshiper who turns faith into obsession. Among these, none are more feared than the Cult of the Eternal Reaper. The Eternal Reaper, or as cultists whisper in reverence, the God of Death, is a name shrouded in mystery. Unlike other gods, he neither demands offerings nor craves mortal worship. In truth, he does not care at all - he remains unaware of his followers'' existence. Yet, his absence only fuels the cult''s determination. They found the first fragments of his legend in ancient ruins: inscriptions detailing his path and power. That was the starting point of their fanaticism - madness, that will soon threaten the whole universe. At the time, the Reaper was an unknown god, without any believers. They wanted to change that, to make him the most worshipped god in the universe. That¡¯s how much they¡¯ve become fascinated by him. A cult had been built, with the three of them in charge. At the beginning, the Reaper was an unknown god, without any believers, but the legend of the God of Death grew quickly and had soon become popular. But that was only the beginning. As the cult grew, their fanaticism grew the same way. Making their god known wasn''t satisfying them anymore, they wanted more - to annihilate anyone who didn''t believe in him. They went silent for years, leaving the existence of the cult in hands of others, making the most evil ritual ever known to mankind - a semi-intelligent spell designed to sacrifice every non believer, and even the lower believers, to the God of Death. *** ¡°Addvvaaaaaance!!!!¡± General of the alliance put out a glorious scream as the walls were falling down, under the constant pressure from joint effort of alliance trebuchets and cooperating powers of all the mages with ritualists. A united army of many races, kingdoms and religions become an unstoppable force, pushing through created holes and completely decimating the defenders. Huge Colossans on the front line with angles and manaborns supporting them from behind. Elf archers firing dozens of arrows over the walls of enormous citadel - a central base of the cult, located on a death scorched planet, deep in the uncivilised space. Information about prepared mass ritual reached out of the cult and the rest of the universe responded immediately. Creating unprecedented alliance, connecting every race to fight for their future. The cult spread in the past year extremely fast, selling the Reaper as the God of War and the strongest warrior ever. Only the core members worship him as God of Death. But little do they know that the Angel of Death is more. He¡¯s not only God of Death nor God of War, he¡¯s both and even more. Death is an inseparable aspect of his path - path of the battle maniac. And even less do they know that they¡¯re not the only ones worshipping the Reaper, although aspects of beliefs of these two sides defy each other. Unfortunately, for the cultists, the other group doesn¡¯t tolerate any misbehavior in the name of their patron. *** POV: General We must be getting near to the hearth of their citadel. The defenders are stronger, and their determination to stop us here is admirable. Their desperation costs us a lot of lives, it is always hard to fight against people who don''t care about their lives. A messenger approaches me, bow and starts spitting. ¡°Sir, resistance on our left wing strengthened, we may need some assistance to break through.¡± I don¡¯t like their desperation, it twists my guts. We have to hurry before it¡¯s too late. ¡°Your majesty, could some of your witches help our left wing?¡± The Divine Seraph - mistress of the angels beckon to one of the angels, female with crimson wings, standing behind her. The witch made a small bow towards her mistress and began to follow the messenger back to the battlefield. ¡°Should we perhaps send more of our elite troops to the front? We can¡¯t afford to be late and something is telling me, with this pace, we might not make it in time.¡± I feel the mistress''s concerned gaze on my back as she speaks to me. So I am not the only one¡­ ¡°Your majesty, my guts are telling me the same thing, we have to hurry up. May you please send more of your witches to the front line? It would be a great help, to speed up things.¡± I get no answer, but five witches disconnect from the mistress¡¯s escort. That would make two witches on each front, great, it should speed our progress a little¡­ but still. As I was about to make a decision, our enemy did it instead of me. The core disciples went out - the strongest people the cult have, only their masters and founders of the cult are stronger, but the army won¡¯t have to deal with them¡­ they''ll be yield by our strongest individuals. Still, a couple of these guys can decimate our attack in no time. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°King, you¡¯re up.¡± ¡°It¡¯s about time, general. Isn¡¯t it?... I was starting to get bored.¡± King Destroyer, the strongest king among our race. No one ever attacked his kingdom after his bloody rise through the weaker rulers. Now he is excited to fight¡­ I don¡¯t envy those cultists, I really don¡¯t. He bash through them like a cannonball, leaving no one alive until he reaches the core disciples - they stop him. As much as I¡¯m surprised, they really stop him. He is not able to hit any of the six of them. The King''s arrival on the battlefield raised and restored the morale of our soldiers. They try to assist him as much as they can, but honestly, they are pretty useless and being slain by the core disciples one after another. As much as is this fight epic, it has to end fast. King is the strongest warrior I¡¯ve ever seen, but even he can¡¯t withstand this bullying from those extremely fast disciples. He can¡¯t hit them with his heavy swings and they can¡¯t really hurt him - his skin is as thick as the best armours are, but they can exhaust him for sure, and those are just smaller flies, real challenge will come after them. ¡°Your majes-¡± I was about to ask her to send some witches to help our King, when they came out. Masters of the cult, second under the founders. There are two of them, both are identical to each other. Bald tattooed heads, red, sharp eyes with hateful gaze in them, muscular in sleeveless robes. Twins?! That''s not good. That is really bad. Two guys nearly as strong as the King with perfect cooperation - deadly. By that time, all common soldiers from both sides already backed up, leaving only the King, twin Masters and to make it worse, even the annoying disciples. The Divine Seraph steps up. With her support, this fight might be possible. But the cultists aren¡¯t dumb, they know that too. Their disciples disengage from their clash with the King and rush toward the mistress. She got the witches around her and other soldiers are trying to help too, but they¡¯re just mere, weak mortals. But even then, they help to release the strain from the mistress a bit¡­ still she now can¡¯t give the needed support to the King, helping her own bodyguards not to die and protect herself. With this pace, we will soon lose, I have to do something! I turn to the elves commander. ¡°Focus the salvo of our archers onto the mistress and her guards!¡± The commander of manaborns is next. He already waits for my commands. ¡° I don¡¯t know what, but do something with those damn twins. Slow them, weaken them, blind them - no matter the cost of ingredients, destroy all of our reservoar crystals if you have to, just to disadvantage them.¡± A deep hurtling step into the air - first salvo of arrows heading to the Divine Seraph and the cult disciples. All of her guards become protected by a see through golden shield like the mistress herself, avoiding all the arrows. Yes! But it is too soon to celebrate, the disciples doge most of the arrows and those who hit, doesn¡¯t seem to cause any materfull trouble. Each of the disciples have dozens of arrows stuck in them, yet they seem unbothered by it. In between, the King is having a hard time, defending himself from coordinated attacks of twin masters. He does have just a little, to no time to counter attack. The wounds are stacking on him even with the blessing from Divine Seraph, while only one of the twins is mildly hurt. We are losing on all lines now. The mistress might be ok, she and her guards are holding ground against the disciples, although she is no warrior, her supporting powers are priceless, but even she can not defend herself and support the King. No! It can¡¯t end like this. I¡¯m just an ordinary fighter, but I have to do something. I am the general! ¡°SOLDIERS!¡± I scream from the top of my lungs with my sword aiming towards the stars. ¡°IT IS NOW, OR NEVER! WE HAVE TO CHANGE THIS STALEMATE TO OUR WIN. WE MIGHT DIE. IT¡¯S VERY LIKELY THAT WE WILL DIE. BUT OUR SACRIFICE WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN, OUR HEROISM OF SAVED UNIVERSE WILL BE REMEMBERED.¡± All fighting stops, eyes are on me, I have full attention of my army. Only the two fights are continuing. ¡°GATHER YOUR COURAGE, DRAW YOUR WEAPONS AND PREPARE YOU TEETH TO TEAR APART YOU ENEMY IF NEEDED.¡± ¡°MY SOLDIERS, ADVANCE!!!¡± A united scream from millions of mouths of my soldiers covers the battlefield, making the two continuing battles pause for a second, its contenders looking for the source of the screams. A wave made from soldiers of all races blow over me with glorious screams towards our enemies. In the faces of the leftovers of cultists'' army is visible fear, but they hold the line. I join the soldiers in the attack, leading it towards the cultist disciples. Helping King directly would be counterproductive, we would be just simply destroyed between him and the masters. Best way we can help him is by reducing the stress on the Divine Seraph, so she can support him with her powers. As we get closer to the disciples, massacre begins. They cut through our common forces with ease, not really sweating, but there are millions of us, they are only six. We have the numbers and we have to use it to our advantage, even for the price of death of thousands. Soon, all the soldiers in front of me are reduced to pieces and bloody mist. Now it¡¯s my turn to buy us some time. We lock eyes with the nearest disciple. He recognize me. There¡¯s no rush in his approach, but soon, our swords meet - his short sword, with mine long sword. As we lock our swords, we look in the eyes again. He is nearly half of my size, most people, when they get into a fight with someone from our race, get intimidated by our size, but not him. There is absolutely no fear in his eyes. None of us are stronger, but he is faster. The short sword in his hands is deadly, landing multiple hits on me. Thanks to my armour, I¡¯m like a tank and most of the hits get caught by it, but not all. Slowly, the time I¡¯m buying for us is shortening. The storm of slashes ends. He prepares for a big slash from my left side. I can¡¯t dodge it nor parry it - there¡¯s no time for it, he¡¯s too fast. I grab my sword with my left hand by the blade to block it. He swings. And my right arm fall of my body. He stopped his swing and redirected it, to cut off my right arm in the shoulder. This is the end. My last look fell on the King Destroyer. End it, my king. The time slows down, all the colours fade out. Did the manaborns do thi-? Three extremely strong presences appear behind, in between the army. There is no calm in the cultists disciple''s eyes anymore¡­ only fear, fear of what will come. Then something made him disappear, leaving just a red mist behind. It was fast, but I think it was a hammer¡­ big hammer. The time influencing effect disappears. I am a big colossan, but the guy standing beside me is a head bigger. Shirtless, only his abnormally big muscles defend him, but I bet they are stronger than my armour. He looks like a beast. A thick hornet helmet and black gloves are the only things on his upper body. There¡¯s the last thing - his weapon. He got it in the right hand. It¡¯s enormous, yet, he holds it like nothing. Approximately three meters long thick shaft, with a massive hammerhead on the end, leftovers of the cultists disciple stuck on it - that¡¯s the hammer I saw. Then he move, running at the remaining disciples. He¡¯s faster than them. It is pure massacre. The two other persons rush at the twins, who were fighting with our king. They¡¯re both scratched, but not heavily injured. Scratched¡­ for normal people, those wounds would be fatal. The King Destroyer is on the other hand heavily injured, but without help of the Divine Seraph, which we ensured, he would be dead. The two newcomers take each of the masters one on one. The fight takes a few minutes, but it¡¯s clear from the start who got the upper hand and soon, the twins are dead. One taken down by a black swordsman. The second one is decimated by some kind of mage, fighting in close combat. Who are they?! They¡¯re powerful enough to be well known, yet, I¡¯ve never heard of any of them. I pick up my unwillingly detached hand and go to visit the mistress of angels. She looks exhausted, surrounded by her crimson winged witches. They let me in, and she, without any words, heal my arm. The King is heading towards us from his battlefield, with the black swordsman following him in respectful distance, and stopping before reaching us. The King is healed by the mistress too. ¡°Who are they?¡± 0 (2/2) | Prologue: Birth of the System The black swordsman spoke with us, no name given, nor any excessing information. Apparently he and his group are from a faction called Reapers¡­ yes, Reapers like followers of the Eternal Reaper and they are fed with those cultists, misbehaving in their lord''s name. Shortly said, they will help us to erase the cult. Soon, the cult¡¯s army was absolutely decimated, leaving no one alive and while our army is being treated by angel healers, the elite group, in which, for some reason, I¡¯m included too, is going to finish this cult''s existence. There is a sealed center, or core, of the citadel - the last unconquered place. We are standing right in front of its main door, it¡¯s massive. ¡°To crack its seal will take our ritualists some time¡­ Not an expert, but I would say a long time. We can¡¯t afford that. Do you have any way to crack it?¡± I turn for help to the black swordsman. He does not answer, but the mage from the trio steps forward. He place his hand onto the seal and¡­ nothing? No, around his hand placed on the seal starts forming little cracks and soon, the seal is all cracked up a few meters around his hand. He pushes forward¡­ and the seal starts to crumble. The black swordsman halfway turns to me. ¡°We won¡¯t need your ritualists.¡± Yeah, I see. His words frustrate me but I control myself, and not let the frustration appear on my face. The beast guy with a huge hammer steps forward. At the same time the now fully healed King did the same. There¡¯s a short side-eye stare down after which King backs down, letting the Reaper¡¯s colossan open the door. He, in one strong push, smash the door open, unveiling a big rounded room with pillars all around, a huge ritual circle in the middle and above the circle a big red and black pulsing sphere. Behind the sphere, on the other side of the ritual circle than we are, is standing a person - guy. He got a long monk-like robe in black, with red design. Also, he is bald with a fully tattooed skull. What''s the deal with that? Why do all cultists have to be bald? ¡°It took you less time than I expected, my fellow masters were quite strong, especially together and their disciples weren¡¯t half bad either¡­¡± This doesn¡¯t feel good, he should be in a hurry, yet he¡¯s got enough time to talk. This is bad. ¡° ¡­Oh, you found some new friends, I see. That¡¯s the reason you were faster, I guess. Maybe you could introduce them to me?... No? Nevermind, I don¡¯t actually care.¡± For a second, we all stand there in shock, then the Reapers, together with King, dash forward to crush the, who we suppose he is, founder. They¡¯re quick, and though the founder isn¡¯t quicker, it takes him just one step to get into the ritual circle. All the weapons aimed at him are stopped by a barrier appearing at the line of the ritual circle. ¡°Ahahahhahah- You really thought it would be that easy to kill me? How amusing. What would you even do after killing me? Just the thought of you trying to destroy our curse, our child, is making me laugh. You can¡¯t kill it! Ahhahahahahhah¡± His hysterical babbling is making all of us nervous, but there is no escape to it. Divine Seraph, together with the Reapers mage, starts working on the barrier around the sphere. I call our ritual specialists - mostly manaborns, to help¡­ perhaps their joint efforts will help speed up the process. We are playing for every second now. But the founder of the cult did not ,and not shut up. ¡°Our child, The System of Dawn, will consume you and everyone else in the name of our lord - the almighty God of Death! It¡¯s so powerful! Witness the birth of he System of dawn, the birth of a new era!¡± With these words, he pulls out a dagger from his cowl and with a last hysterical laugh, thrust it into his chest, right into heart. The sphere reacts instantly, pulling his corpse towards itself. It consumes, not distinguishing between meat, clothes, or dagger - it consumes them all. With his sacrifice, the sphere begins to come ¡°alive¡± consuming the ritual circle and even the barrier. That¡¯s when a shadow of fear appears on the mistress''s face. ¡°I-It¡¯s alive. It¡¯s conscious a-and¡­ intelligent?¡± ¡°What do you mean, intelligent?!¡± Black swordsman nearly screams at her. For the first time the Reapers mage speak up. ¡°Curses can¡¯t be intelligent. It may have some intent but that¡¯s all, anything more is impossible.¡± ¡°No, this one is at least semi-intelligent, its intelligence is somehow twisted, but it still¡­ thinks? It also has a soul, all messed up, yet stable. I can feel it with my powers, but I don¡¯t understand it. How is this possible?!¡± Her supporting abilities let her feel life and her race lets her give blessings and thus feel the soul of others. It¡¯s good she¡¯s here, otherwise we wouldn¡¯t know how much trouble we are in. Lot of races have some born ¡°abilities¡± or traits, for instance, we colosseans got a thick skin and very dense muscles, manaborns have born connection to mana and runes. Angels are divided in mostly four sections, if we count myths and fairy tales, there are six of them. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The most common ones does have white wings, those are common people, then there are grey winged - warriors of the angels born with some fighting talent, the crimson winged are called witches, they are the mages of the angels and the last ones are angels with platinum wings - the most rare known, those got a supporting powers such as healing and boosting others from backline, that¡¯s the current mistress of the angels, the one called Divine Seraph, because she is the only platinum winged angel known. No matter the colour of their wings, all of them have the power to give blessings, though they don¡¯t do it often. I heard that it¡¯s for them like to donate a kidney - they lose, not exactly power, but some life force, if it makes sense. They obviously doesn¡¯t share those details. But I¡¯ve never known they can actually feel souls. One of the manaborn ritualists shout at me in panic from his working position. ¡°We are not able to dispose it, it will kill us all! ¡°It has too much of the cultists'' intent, they sacrificed too many of them to the curse. It is too strong for us to destroy it¡­ but maybe, just maybe, we could change its intent.¡± Divine Seraph looks at us and lowers her voice. ¡°By sacrificing ourselves to the curse.¡± Everyone stops and looks at her in a mixture of despair, fear, but also determination to save the universe. Still, there¡¯s a question to be asked. It looks like I¡¯ll have to be the one who puts it. ¡°Isn¡¯t there any other option?¡± The response is sad, her voice is shaking. ¡°I don¡¯t see any.¡± By the looks of others working on the curse, I can say that no one has any other idea. Only the Divine Seraph is giving us some hope. Her shoulders straighten and with determined expression, give us even more hope. ¡°I will use my blessing on the curse, but normal blessing will not make any difference. I¡¯ll sacrifice my whole life to the blessing, in hope that it will change something.¡± She smiles a little. ¡°It was pleasure to meet you all¡± Then she starts walking towards the sphere, her wings glowing as she, I suppose, gives it her life in the form of a blessing. That¡¯s it. I turn around and walk off the room. Whole army spreads there, waiting for my orders¡­ but I don¡¯t have any. I stand in front of the soldiers. One of the magicborns amplify my voice with magic, I nod to him thankfully. ¡°Soldiers, we killed all the cultists, but we didn¡¯t win. We may not even be able to win.¡± At this point, the whole army looks at me with pure confusion. ¡°In the room behind me, there¡¯s a very strong curse that cultists made to kill everyone who doesn¡¯t share their beliefs¡­ And we are not able to dispose of it.¡± I pause for a few seconds, letting soldiers absorb it. ¡°Our death is inevitable, but we can choose how we die. We are currently unable to undo the curse, but perhaps we can change its intent and potentially avoid the curse killing everyone.¡± Now the hard choice. ¡°The Divine Seraph, mistress of the angels, already sacrificed her life to bless the curse with her powers¡± After this news, all the angels in the army crumple. ¡°That¡¯s the only possible way to save the universe - by sacrificing ourselves and changing the curse''s intent. You die in both scenarios, so choose your death wisely, no one will judge you, but me personally¡­ I wanna know that my death will be for something.¡± *** Just a small number of soldiers decided to stay away from the curse, others chose to sacrifice themselves in hope that it will change its intent enough to stop the curse from killing all creatures in the universe. But not everyone took it well. The Reapers, together with the King, refused to sacrifice themselves without a fight. They attacked the curse together¡­ and were devoured. Millions of soldiers have been devoured, one would assume that it could be enough¡­ it was not. The sphere started to rotate unimaginably fast and then, when it reached its top speed, the curse was released. All the sacrificed soldiers couldn¡¯t change the intention of it, they made it worse. Now, it not only devoured every non-believer, but everyone - people, beasts and even planets. Well¡­ not exactly everyone - the strong ones survived, some of them just nearly, some with difficulty and some¡­ didn¡¯t even have to try. *** POV: The Eternal Reaper What was that just now? A surge of power blew over me with enormous killing intent. ¡°Hmh¡­ I suppose most of the mortals are dead by now. I bet they were doing some maniacal bullshits again¡­ they alway do though.¡± But this time it had to be something really crazy - it was so strong, that being on a weaker planet, it would be dead. It is actually scary that mortals can make something so strong, it can drain planets to death¡­ and not just one planet, it was strong enough, I believe, to span the whole universe. ¡°Heh, crazy mortals¡± It¡¯s not like it matters to me, I still have some meditating to do. *** The System of Dawn, now reduced only to The System, after the mass destruction of the universe - its destruction fueled more with every planet devoured, now digesting all the energy it has absorbed. It can¡¯t be called a mere curse anymore - it¡¯s more. The amount of devoured people, animals, monsters and planets and all the energy it got from them forced it into long lasting hibernation, changing and evolving there. No one in the area stayed alive, and no one will get to that galaxy for at least a few millennia¡­ In that time, The System will grow and soon bring a new era to the world - exactly as the former cultist promised. *** A few millennia later SYSTEM INTEGRATION I dash out away from the place I¡¯ve been meditating at, ready to fight whatever interrupted me. A similar wave of power, like the one that occurred not that long ago, blew over me, leaving the whole word in purple tint with ancient runic words written in the very fabric of reality itself. I¡¯ve never seen anything like that. Every meter of reality is filled with old ass runes, rewriting and appropriating the laws of reality¡­ it¡¯s scary to see it happening - it shouldn¡¯t be possible, yet it¡¯s happening. What is this?! SYSTEM INFORMATION Welcome to the system controlled universe. You have been recognized as a higher form of life, your knowledge will be borrowed for better functionality of The System. ¡°The fuck you mean by that?! ARE YOU GONNA BE MESSING WITH MY HEAD??!!¡± SYSTEM MESSAGE Your knowledge will be borrowed for better functionality of The System, same way as knowledge of other higher beings. At this point, I just stand there with a wide-eyed expression on my face, blankly looking at the message floating in my vision. You fucker. At least it means that the old hag and the others are alive¡­ they should be considered as ¡°higher beings¡± too. SYSTEM MESSAGE Your status will be determined later, after proper calculations and comparisons are done. There is not enough information gathered to give you a proper reading yet. Azrael Title: The Eternal Reaper Level ??? Affinity: ??? Abilities: ??? Skills: ??? Traits: ??? ¡°Hmm¡­ I have to give it, that this System seems like it might be fun.¡± Maybe even the monsters will get stronger with it? That would be awesome¡­ finally. It has been too long without any real challenge. A grin appears on my face as I imagine that good fights are in the future again - what could be better than that? 1 | A demonic pig? It is a hard fight. Sweat drips down my forehead as I strain harder than ever I can think of. Only me versus him, and neither of us can get an upper hand. We become stuck in a stalemate. I try my best, pushing with all my strength¡­ Still isn¡¯t enough. The shit is stronger than me at the moment, forcing me to push with all my strength, but I can¡¯t give up. No way in hell! I will not let some shit be stronger than me. Push harder! Push past my limits! Don¡¯t let up! I can not afford to lose all my progress! All these thoughts spinning in my head like a mantra. A battle of strength, willpower, and frankly, desperation. In this transcendent fight, I can not afford to lose! Not there! Not to this! I¡¯ll not be defeated by some... literally shit. I thought, so I pushed, giving in this push every bit of my will and strength. More! I give it more than everything, not 100% but 120%! I am nearly there! I took a big breath for the last winning push. My vision becomes blurry and gets darker¡­ The World went dark. SYSTEM INTEGRATION ¡­9%¡­ Huh?... Soo¡­ I didn¡¯t pass out from shitting too hard?¡­ good. Relief goes through my mind. But what the hell is happening?! Why is this text sticking to my vision?! SYSTEM INTEGRATION ¡­27%... YOUR PLANET IS BEING INTEGRATED INTO THE SYSTEM. Yeah, sure. Integrate my planet while I am taking the biggest shit I ever had. Why not, right? It seems like a GREAT Idea. Top-tier timing, for sure. SYSTEM INTEGRATION ¡­92%... It is like in these web novels I¡¯ve used to read at 3 am. Even the text is in my face, the same way it was, when I read on my phone, and the phone fell on my face. I hope it will, at least, be fun, when I have to undergo it. SYSTEM INTEGRATION ¡­100%... The darkness lifted, and my vision began to clear. First thing I¡¯ve noticed is that I am still perched on the toilet, where my epic fight took place. But the toilet itself does not look the same as before. Something changed. The toilet seat feels wet and spongy. Eww It''s a completely different feeling than sitting on a warmed up porcelain seat. Everything is now overgrown with moss and looking old. Even the toilet paper is a soggy mess ¨C absolutely unthinkable to use something like this to wipe. I don¡¯t know why, but thank God, the roll in my hand remained in its normal state, ready for wiping, something I immediately do. Mid-move, I freeze. All hair on my body standing on end. Low, guttural noises come from the other side of the rotting toilet door - sounding like a grunting of a sick pig. Disgusted frown appear on my face. HUH?! Wow, awesome. First, my toilet turns into a fucking jungle and now, there is... I don¡¯t know what! A Demonic pig or some, behind the door. Then, nearly shitting myself again, a rusty blade come through the door, making it fall into pieces and sending chunks of wood flying. The door crumbles and reveals a wielder of the dagger. The ¡°You are not serious, right?!¡± type of expression slides to my face as I catch sight of the intruder. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me!¡± It stands there, with a bloated belly hanging out, small short arms and legs. Ugly green face with big pointy nose and small, nearly unintelligent eyes with only hunger in them. Goblin - Level 6 Bruh. You gotta be kidding me. I didn¡¯t sign for this crap. He raise his rusty dagger, aiming right at my head. I, still in disbelief, fall back on the spongy toilet seat, trying to not shit myself from the shock. Instinct kick in - I quickly lean forward, his sword flies right over my head. I am not gonna die here with my pants around my ankles, don¡¯t think so fella. SYSTEM IFORM¡­ Get lost! I Ignore the system message. There is only one option how to survive... The obvious one ¨C killing this bastard. Bouncing from the toilet and lunging forward after this ugly green bastard, tackling him to the ground. I grab his hand with a weapon preventing my precious ass from being stabbed, and start throwing punches at his face. Blood splashing and splattering all around with each punch landed. He squealed and tweaked, but it was no help for him. I kneel on him with my whole body and swing my fists on his head without mercy. When he finally stops moving, I give him a few more hits, just to make sure... not like it¡¯s needed. His face, after the beating, looks kind of like mashed potatoes... really bloody mashed potatoes. My fists are all bruised up and the pyjama I wear is soaked up with blood. It is uncomfortably warm and the pyjamas stick to my skin. There you go, bastard. You shouldn¡¯t disturbed my precious time on the toilet. Also. ¡°This should be a level up, right?¡± I mutter to myself and wipe my hands into the few still relatively clean spots on my pyjama top, all of them on my back. I remain kneeling on top of the dead body, breathing heavily and enjoying the remnants of adrenaline with a cheeky smile. He was extremely weak, but damn, it is still hell a good feeling to beat him. ¡°Hah... Kade Huxley, Goblin beater, the first.¡± I chuckle. Getting some deep breaths while adrenalin coming out of my body. My heavy breathing is, right now, the only sound disturbing the absolute silence that surrounds the whole house. If not for my gasping for air, you could hear a butterfly flap its wings. No other goblins nor any other monsters are around. Their heartbeat would echo through the silence ¨C I would hear them, as my breath calms. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Thinking about it now... this is the first time I¡¯ve been violent like that¡­ I have always been more on the peaceful side, not wanting to get involved in fights. There could come out only problems from fighting and nothing good nor useful... Not like I can¡¯t fight, don¡¯t get me wrong, I can fight. It wasn¡¯t just a best option back then, you know. Hmm. Shouldn¡¯t I feel bad or something, because I killed him? Not like I care about it that much... I guess it would be different if it was a human, but even then, if he wanted to hurt me, I would kill him without remorse. No more discussing this nonsense. I will get through anyone who would step in my way, peacefully or violently, I don¡¯t care. This settled up, I stand up, cracking my neck. ¡°First thing, first¡± I put my pyjama pants back to their destined place before anything else... They had been down there the whole time and I really don¡¯t like that. The most important thing done, so maybe I should now check the system information I had to neglect. SYSTEM INFORMATION Welcome to the system controlled universe. For your planet¡¯s small size, it has been integrated and merged with other planets. Be grateful for this opportunity to elevate your existence. It actually looks not so boring, unlike the old world. Just didn¡¯t had to happen while taking a shit, though. SYSTEM EVENT Tutorial, where you will learn the basics of your new reality. If you refuse to attend a tutorial, or if you do not decide in the given time, you will gain double leveling speed until the tutorial period ends. [ 10 seconds remaining ] Fuck tutorial, who needs it... Definitely not me. Give me my double XP, please. You have not decided in a given time. You will skip the tutorial. Double leveling speed activated, Good luck. WHAAT?! You little piece of shit... Well actually it is whatever since I wanted double XP anyways. Heh. And another, smaller ones LEVEL UP LEVEL UP So, what level am I now, hm? ?Status!¡° Kade Huxley Title: none Level 2 Affinity: reach level 10 to unlock Abilities: Skills: Huh¡­I opened it on the first try, lol. Also I had been level 0 it seems... Bullshit system. It doesn¡¯t make any sense, you start in every game on lvl 1 so why did I start on 0? It does not look like a big difference, but it really irritates me. Nothing else does concern me as much as my starting level, though. Both abilities are rather self-explaining and I will for sure discover the difference between ability and skill in the future. Right now, there are not enough samples to make any reasonable assumptions. I check the goblin, but he does not have anything useful on him besides his rusty dagger, and maybe the piece of clothing wrapped around his intimate parts... But I don¡¯t really want that, so only the dagger finds a new owner. ¡°Better than nothing, I guess.¡± I tuck the dagger into my waistband and take a deep breath before going to check what was left from my house. I look around, slowly walking through my, with darkness covered house. Because it was early morning my windows were still covered with curtains. The hallway is darker than I remember, the air thick with the scent of rot and mold. I move silently. No need for jokes right now. The house could be hiding more surprises. I feel nothing particularly strong, just a little bit of emptiness¡­ After all it was my home, now reminiscent of an abandoned place for several years. When I reach the living room and see my favourite chair covered in vines, I snap back to sarcasm. ¡°Well, that¡¯s one way to redecorate,¡± I muttered, giving the chair a half-hearted kick. The rotten chair leg breaks and I have to quickly step back to avoid it falling on my leg. Once it hits the ground, it basically decomposes. ¡° What a poor end, for an amazing chair. ¡° I mumble and continue in my house tour. I feel like a serial killer, wandering through my house, the morning sun shines between the curtains. It looks like while system was integrating, everything got touched with some system time fuck. I step outside, the damp grass cool beneath my bare feet. The fresh air feels awesome. I make a few deep breaths, filling my lungs with this mold-free air. I lived on the edge of not so small city, and the past tense is on point¡­ The city is gone, replaced with endless hayfields and towering trees that looks like they came from a fantasy novel. So my old house, which I bought not so long ago, is now sitting in between a vast hayfield and huge, I mean really HUGE forest¡­ ¡­Those trees are the biggest things I¡¯ve ever seen. No tree on earth could possibly be that big. My eyes scan the horizon, noting the way the sunlight glinted off the distant leaves. It was beautiful, but beauty meant nothing if I couldn¡¯t survive. ?Soo¡­ Yeah, what now?¡° ?Hmmm¡° ¡° Let¡¯s see if I can find something to stab before breakfast.¡± Barefoot and just in my pyjamas I start to walk towards the forest. The grass is cold and light on my feet as I walk and I enjoy the silence broken only by the sounds of nature. *** I am getting more annoyed with every step. No dungeons, no quests, no monsters. Just endless trees and forest cover slapping against my bare ankles. All this integration and system ¡°big talk¡±, and I am wandering around like a lost fucking tourist. I kick at the root sticking out of the ground, only for my foot to snag. I stumble forward, nearly kissing the ground. ¡°Fuck! Fucking root! Damn it! Can¡¯t even walk straight in this godforsaken fore-¡° I quickly duck, something flies over, the snap of jaws breaking through my rant. My instincts kicked in just in time for me to duck as the thing¡¯s teeth clamped shut, where my neck had been just a second ago. Shit! I twist around to catch sight of it ¨C a wolf, sleek and silver, one eye blue and the other one silver like a moon ¨C blind. Silver Wolf ¨C Level 8 I push myself up. Big smile came up on my face. ¡°Finally.¡± Only the soft rustling of leaves and my instinct saved me from quick death. With the dagger in my hand and in my pyjamas, I face the wolf without fear, smiling back at his low growling. Our eyes are locked onto each other, tracking every single movement. I can see his muscles coiled like a spring, but so are mine. This stare down won¡¯t last long, anything can now start the fight... There it is. I blink. He attack. My eyes open wide, smile disappears. He¡¯s fast! I sidestep, the dump earth sliding under my bare feet, the rusty dagger already in my hand. His jaws snap shut just right next to my face, I can feel his warm breath and metallic scent of blood coming out from his jaw. I thrust the dagger into his shoulder, using his own momentum to push the dagger deeper. I hold on, my grip tightening. His eyes are furiously desperate as he tries to turn around to face me, but his wounded leg betrays him and he falls. I am already moving, yanking the dagger free. He tries to fight back, but he has no chance. I drive the dagger through his throat right into his brain... He is dead in an instant, his jaws just a few millimetres away from my own shoulder. I was faster this time. LEVEL UP LEVEL UP New mastery learned ¨C [ Dagger mastery ] Hot blood spray on my hand, the metallic tang overwhelming, but I don¡¯t mind. I let out the breath, I¡¯ve been holding on and wipe my hand into the grass. This was intense. I like it. Silver wolf''s body laying next to me, now not that much silver, but more of bloody. The new ability, [ Dagger mastery ] seems like some kind of system crutch for dagger users, granting them greater proficiency with designated weapons. That¡¯s what I can tell just from how the dagger feels in my hands. It''s lighter, and it fits there. ¡°I see now...¡± Soo, it looks like the abilities are passives maybe? But would you call [ Identify ] passive though? Hmm... Need more samples. I look at the wolf. ¡°Buddy, If I had a way how to start a fire, I would eat you... I am hungry, not gonna lie.¡± I leave the dead body behind and go deeper in the forest. Forced to eat berries along the way. I am starting to be hungry and those berries cannot feed me enough. I can feel that since I got that ability, the dagger feels more natural in my hand, like I''ve fought a decent amount of battles with it, which of course is not the case. I can also feel that the level ups made me stronger, just a little bit¡­ But imagine it after 10 or 20 levels, when even now I am confident enough to take on the strongest person before the System. I giggle. It feels awesome. ?I want more.¡° 2 | I aint a babysitter I wander aimlessly through the forest, looking for anything worth stabbing. Wolves, goblins - hell, I¡¯d settle for a particularly aggressive hamster at this point. Anything to level up. I saw some deers and rabbits cross my path, but they¡¯re no good. They run away the second I get near, leaving me standing there, bloody dagger in hand, nothing to stab... just like an idiot. After what feels like decades, luck finally turn towards me. A sharp scream cut through the silence, through the trees. Oh my System, finally! Let''s hurry up, or someone might steal my levels. A happy grin spreads across my face. I pick up my pace, speeding up toward the scream. If I¡¯m lucky, I¡¯ll make it in time to get some levels and enjoy some fun. *** When the sounds seem to be close I switch to sprinting, weaving between trees. A moment later, I burst into a clearing. Twigs whip at my face as I dash through the bushes, a wild giggle coming up from my chest. Two women stand there, facing off against five growling silver wolves. Blood spreads across the grass, and a body lies between the wolves. The fight freeze. All eyes on me. Watch me! At full speed, I dash toward the nearest wolf. There is no time for him to react. I am too sudden, too fast. With no momentum lost, I plunge my dagger into his neck, rolling over his back and tearing his throat wide open. Blood paints the grass red, with yet a still standing corpse, its neck transformed into a gaping, pulpy mess. The moment my feet touch the ground again, other wolves snap out from my unexpected appearance and react, their growls rising in volume. My next target is already chosen, its jaws snapping for my face. I switch the dagger to my left hand mid-step, changing my hold of the dagger to rear grip. He jumps at me ¨C bad idea. I thrust the dagger forcefully into his skull. His dynamics serves me great to throw him behind me and simultaneously yank the dagger free. ¡°Three left.¡° All wolves are now completely focused on me. Two of them charge me at once. The first leaps high, its jaws aiming ¡°unexpectedly¡± for my head. So predictable. I duck low, thrusting the dagger upward, adding the strength of my legs as I am raising up, ripping his belly & piercing him all the way up to the handle of the dagger and throwing him away. The second wolf is faster. His teeth sink into my forearm, as I try to defend myself and a white pain explodes in it. It hurts like hell but adrenaline numbs the pain and I drive my dagger through his eye right into his brain. ?One left.¡° The last wolf catch me off guard, already in the middle of the jump for... my head, yeah. Seems like their favourite attack. I try to sidestep, but not fast enough. His jaws sink into my left shoulder, causing extreme pain. I growl at him in pain. But my grip on the dagger won''t loosen. In one smooth motion I bring the blade up and slash his neck, leaving him fall on the ground, where he can now suffocate in peace. LEVEL UP LEVEL UP New mastery learned ¨C [ Movement mastery ] You have rea... ¡°Who are you?!¡± Shaky voice interrupt my little date with the system message. I frowned. Where did the man come from? I ignore the system message as well as the pain from my injuries, though it is hard. Fortunately as I got the levels, the pain dulls a little bit. These upgraded stats are nice, thanks System. Little bit confused, turning around just to see there are no women as I thought. Only three long haired men, who look like... ¡°HUH?! Elves?¡± I murmur in disbelief. The one in front speaks ¨C a silver-haired guy whose age is hard to tell... Surprising, when he¡¯s elf, right? Idiot. ¡°Who are you and why are you in our forest?! If you don¡¯t answer, we will... We will attack!¡± He points his stick-like-finger on me. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. I blink at him in disbelief, not sure if he¡¯s too scared to think right, or if he¡¯s simply stupid. ¡° You¡¯re stupid? I say with a pale voice, then throw a glance at the havoc I made on the clearing. ¡°You want to attack... Me? Are you sure?¡± I ask him in amused disbelief. He opens and closes his mouth like a fish, but no sound comes out. His blonde companions, both looking even more useless than him, are fidgeting behind him, both barehanded. ¡°Did you learn that in the tutorial?¡± One of them nods towards the wolves. ¡°What? No... Wait... you chose to skip the tutorial?¡± Disbelief dribble from my voice. ¡°Yes, we don¡¯t need it and also, who could have known that it will be thit hard.¡± Silver hair says with indignation and helplessness in one. Wow, they¡¯re even more stupid than I thought. The elves look still arrogant, but now also embarrassed and throwing helpless glances at me. ¡°So... What are you going to do now?¡± Silver hair asks. I sight. ¡°Not babysitting you, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re asking. Good luck not dying, ladies.¡± I turn around and walk in the opposite direction then they are, there¡¯s no way I would be losing with someone like this. They chose their own destiny when they decided not to attend the tutorial. *** My pyjama shirt is a lost cause ¨C torn apart and soaked in blood. I take it off and tie what remains around my waist. ¡°Sooo... there are elves and goblins...¡± I think aloud as I weave through the trees. What else? Ogres, dwarfs, orcs... Maybe even dragons!? That would be awesome! I love the though of me fighting a fucking dragon. Dude... Just imagine the epic fight it would be. Wait! Could I maybe fly on him?! Maybe tame a dragon?! Wooohooo... That would be crazy awesome! Hmm... I¡¯m getting distracted. Back to reality. The forest feels calmer now that I¡¯m alone again. Peaceful, even. Dealing with people is truly exhausting. ¡°Good thing those elves weren¡¯t too friendly,¡± I say to myself. ¡°I would feel guilty, leaving them alone to die, if they were.¡± ¡°And why the hell were they so scared? I saved them, didn¡¯t I?¡± My voice echoes between the trees, but the silence that follows feels more accusing than comforting. With a shrug, I push the thought aside and keep walking. Well, I do not keep walking for too long. A lost though comes to my mind... You have reached level 5, you can now choose new skill I am gonna sit down for this ¨C it would be no good to fuck up there, right? Fleet of Foot [common] [passive] Increases overall movement speed by 10%, allowing for quicker dodges and rapid positioning in battle. Swift recovery [common] [passive] Reduces stamina recovery time. Piercing Strike [common] [active] A focused thrust that bypasses armor, dealing 25% more damage to the target. Perfect for exploiting weaknesses in defense. Oh man, I love passives. It makes me wonder, how many of them I can stack¡­ Can I have a build with dozens of passives, few active skills and just outperform the opponent? That would be badass. With that in mind, I put out of the consideration the only active skill there. Although it sounds like very useful skill, I don¡¯t feel like I need it right now. Only monsters I met there were one goblin and few wolfs. I don¡¯t think that there will be much armoured monsters in the forest, or at least nothing suggests it. Swift recovery sounds a little bit boring, but probably very useful. In the last fight with wolfs when I was fighting the last one, I felt that I couldn¡¯t take another without complication, I was exhausted, although it may not seem like it. Simply put, I was low on stamina, so this skill could help a lot. It would also help with running around the forest. ¡­Oh System, I hope I will find a dungeon soon¡­ Now, moving to the last skill Fleet of foot, the one that sounds most attractive. Since the Piercing strike is out of the discussion. Fleet of foot might look like it gives the best combat value here, yet if we think about it more in detail, then we can come to the conclusion that the faster and quicker I move, the more and faster I become exhausted in the actual fight. I have been mostly speed walking through the forest until now. If I run, I could get into the fight exhausted and I really don¡¯t want that. So, if I can run, I can find monsters faster, I can level up faster AND have more fun... faster. That been said, I choose Swift recovery and warm sensation spreads through my body... and that¡¯s it. Kade Huxley Title: none Level 5 Affinity: reach level 10 to unlock Abilities: Skills: I take off running, no destination in mind, just testing my new skill. Hah, like if I know any destination here. Branches whip at my face and arms, forest blurring out. I can just barely feel the strain in my legs. After about twenty minutes of sprinting, I burst into a clearing. A herd of deer grazes quietly in the tall grass, their heads already up as they heard me crashing through. At the center of the group stands a massive white stag, its antlers gleaming like polished silver. It doesn¡¯t flinch like the others. Instead, it turns to face me fully, his unbothered gaze locking onto mine. Lunatic Deer ¨C lvl 56 At that time, even through the new passive, some exhaustion is there, but regardless, I speed up, running as fast as I can to get out of this clearing. The air becomes heavy. His aura is monstrous. He stares at me, unfazed... My instincts scream at me ¨C to get the fuck away, fast! If he wants to, I can be erased from the Earth in an instant, for sure. The stag doesn¡¯t chase. He doesn¡¯t need to. Fortunately, his pride seems big enough, to let go a small fry like me. I might not have the same luck next time though. Come to think about it... Is it still Earth? Or better, should I still call it Earth with big E? As usually, I got easily distracted, not giving enough attention to where I run, I trip over a root that is hidden in undergrowth. I wrap my fall in a roll and slow down to a walk until I finally stop. Only when I¡¯m deep into the forest again do I slow to a stop, panting. ¡°Okay, no deer hunting in the near future. Noted.¡± After my frantic run, it doesn''t even take me long to catch my breath, and after a few minutes, I¡¯m at full strength again. My new passive works as it should, confirming that my choice was right. I run out again and pick a few berries along the way, hoping they''re not poisonous. It''s getting dark and cold, and I have no clothes on except my pyjama shorts and the rest of my t-shirt. Sleep is therefore out of the question and although my legs are bruised, it would be best if I keep running. That way, I can stay warm. 3 | Overgrown fireflies Hours of running through the forest, stopping only long enough to catch my breath, leave me exhausted. I can¡¯t afford long breaks¡ªnot when it¡¯s that cold, even steam is coming out of my mouth. Back on old Earth it was only spring, nights were still cold. System hasn¡¯t changed that. It¡¯s still cold out there after sunset and I¡¯m not eager to find out what hypothermia feels like, even with upgraded physique from level ups. It¡¯s exhausting ¨C wandering, sometimes running through forest. Fighting goblin and wolves. Comprehending the integration of the System... Those things aren''t easy on one''s mind. I am just a boy, you know. So yes. I almost missed it at first. But only almost. I was somewhere else in my mind ¨C a little bit off. Flashes of light in the distance between the trees were therefore written off as "just" overgrown fireflies. My abnormally intelligent head didn¡¯t even dwelled on the word overgrown. How weird. What saved me was nothing else than extreme boredom. Not sure what about others, but I hate being bored. It¡¯s the worst! So I stop, turn around, and head back toward the lights, to see overgrown fireflies. Fireflies or not, at least it¡¯s something.... I mean, could they make me more bored? I don¡¯t think so! It, of course, wasn''t fireflies. Any kind. Overgrown or not. It wasn¡¯t them. *** So now, I am standing here, in front of medieval - looking wooden door with an artistically hammered skull emblem in the centre, placed in a moss-covered black stone arch. Two torches, each on one side of the door, set in the stone arch burning with dark purple flame. ¡°Hah, overgrown fireflies my ass.¡± Dungeon Door I am glad they actually exist and that I had enough luck to find one, even though I did not expect to find a dungeon in this form... I¡¯ve expected something more like a castle, cave or even just a big ass tree... Not just a door, although they are called Door with big D. I wonder for what level is this dungeon made... Not like I care too much. I am cold and I have no other option, even without my balls freezing I would go in without much consideration. I try the handle. The door sit still, not moving by even an millimetre. Using more strength does not work either. So obviously, when more strength doesn¡¯t work, you need to find another solution... Maybe if I use more strength, they will eventually open? Good idea, in my opinion. I put my legs on the stone arch and pull with all my strength. The door eventually submits, and I fall on my butt. Now sitting on my butt in front, Door wide open, revealing a magic view. A view of the Sea of Stars. No other name fits. It looks beautiful, one little light next to another little light next to another little light and so on. Thousands of little stars-like lights ripple and flow, just like a living ocean, stretching endlessly in all directions. They¡¯re mesmerizing ¨C one light blending into another, shimmering with a faint glow as waves of magenta mist weave between them. It truly looks surreal. ... Not me expecting purple, half see through the spinning spiral... Heh. I get up, seized by the, what I suppose is, portal. Like it could be anything else, dumbass. Not waiting for anything, I step in. At that right moment when my feet should have reached the ground, my vision begin to be filled with the Sea of Stars, literally... and for my step - it never lands. A glimpse of the feeling of falling fills my mind, but then I start floating, surrounded by a million little lights, a magenta mist creeping between them, making it look even more fascinating, like a dream ¨C truly, the Sea of Stars. To my disappointment, but also relief, it vanished as quickly as it appeared, making it last just a few seconds. My vision darkens. At one point, I¡¯m floating in space, and in the next one, I¡¯m standing on the ground again. The teleportation itself is unnoticeable, I¡¯ve been there and now I¡¯m here, that¡¯s it. At these terms, I flip out of the darkness. I find myself teleported into the old looking hall. Vaulted ceilings and long, ornate pillars, all made from stone and carved to the smallest details and everything here seems huge. Wow, this really looks like a proper dungeon... Maybe some type of castle or fortress? Or even catacombs? My mind is overflowed with excitement There is a slowly fading glow under my feet, from, what I suppose is a teleportation runic circle. Two big knights, or at least their armours, stand on the sides of the corridor as if on guard, their helmets empty. I¡¯m not even surprised anymore ¨C they¡¯re at least half the size bigger than a normal human... and the swords? Nearly as big as me! Their armour is not shiny nor very ornate, it more looks like to be created with mainly functionality in mind. Only someone, who wears armour solely for its protection capabilities and not looking at prestige through. Probably a race full of true battle euthanizes. I can respect that. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Dark purple flames blaze from the torches lining the walls, dimly lighting the corridor and creating deep shadows. Whole place does have this ¡°scary¡± aura and I can¡¯t wait what the dungeon is hiding for me... because this place smells like fun! There is no point in standing and admiring the beauties of the dungeon so I step forward to the end of the corridor. Door, with the same, just much simpler, skull emblem as was on the dungeon Door, sits at the end of the hallway. It leads to what seems like a guardroom. Its empty at first glance. I step into the guardhouse, all my senses awake, ready for any surprise. The moment I do, I can hear the eerie sound of bones rattling from the left side of the room, which is hidden by some old weapon stands. I rush nowhere. Patiently waiting for the thing to show. I already know that I won¡¯t like what I¡¯ll see. A skeleton emerges from behind the weapon stand. Skeleton ¨C lvl 5 A rusty helmet on head and even more rusty sword in its hand. I start to back away, my mind calmly analysing the situation - mainly how, half naked and armed with nothing but a dagger, can I defeat him. I am very unsure how to actually kill him... He obviously doesn''t have a heart nor a brain that I can strike so my only idea is to just scatter his bones all over this room. Right, the best plan is the simplest one. The dagger clanks upon reaching the ground. At that moment, he¡¯s already uncomfortably close to me, swinging his sword widely ¨C exactly what I¡¯ve been expecting and waiting for. I use it to my advantage, ducking low and lunging forward, knocking him down and making us both fall. I end on top of him, quickly recover and grab him by the arms, before he can give me a fucking tetanus from his rusty ass sword. I brace my legs under his skull and start pushing till... Well, at least I planned it till his head flies off, his forearms unfortunately give up first. I roll backwards, hitting my head on the ground. Meanwhile, that useless pile of bones is trying to get up off the ground. My eyes meet his eye holes and his mouth open wide as he silently screams at me. My vision is still filled with stars, nonetheless I jump at him again, getting a head hit from what remains of his right arm. I completely don¡¯t give a fuck, grabbing him this time by the shoulders, my legs go under his screaming skull. I push. The skeleton won¡¯t let it, thrashing around like an eel and making it hard for me. My feet are slipping from under his chin. When I finally manage to get a good grip, I find out another surprise ¨C his bones are held together more tightly than one would expect. Someone might find themselves panicking, but that''s no use for me. I don¡¯t panic. It¡¯s not my style. I just simply put more strength into it. His neck is really stubborn, not letting go of his head. My muscles are nearly on its limits. Shaking and burning in pain. It kind of reminds me of the start of my day - on the toilet, fighting a very different kind of battle. ¡°C¡¯mon, let go, bastard!¡± I growl. Finally, the satisfying sound of cracking vertebrae is music to my ears. A twisted, bone-crunching symphony... Simply lovely. With a final push, the skull snaps free, flying across the room and slamming into the wall with a hollow clunk. It tumbles to the ground, rolling a few feet before coming to a stop. LEVEL UP All the remaining bones of the, now headless, skeleton stop being magically held together, disconnect and spread around. I pick myself up, brushing dust off my knees. Honestly, I''m a bit disappointed how easy the fight was. I expected more. His fighting skills were on the toddler level, at best, to be honest. Not that I¡¯m complaining ¨C if he¡¯d been competent, I might be already dead. One would think that fighting a skeleton with only a dagger could be challenging... apparently not true. Hmm... Makes sense. He doesn¡¯t have a brain, tho. I retrieve the dagger I dropped earlier, when jumping on our bony... I think he lost a head because of me. I throw a quick look at his sword, already knowing it¡¯s junk. Short Sword [ common ] ¡°[ common ]? Hmm... I am surprised it¡¯s not called [ garbage ]¡° I throw a smirk at that rusty piece of junk and go to check the rest of this guard room, hoping for something more than trash. *** Calling this place a ¡°guardroom¡± feels generous. It¡¯s more like a fucking trash yard. Like common, where are all the weapons, all the loot? I feel like crying. Not a single piece of gear here is usable. All rusty garbage. ¡°What the hell am I supposed to do if there will be more than one skele... WAIT!¡± Enlightenment struck me. I rush back into the teleportation room with the greatest idea I could ever think of. *** Colossus Sword [ common ] A well crafted sword made for regular Colossan soldiers. Victory! I¡¯ve acquired a new weapon. It really wasn¡¯t easy, though. For one, it¡¯s massive ¨C easily as tall as I am. Secondly, the armour holding it had a grip like iron. If it weren¡¯t for my increased stats from level ups, I wouldn¡¯t be able to get it. I hope that no one will come into this dungeon for a long time, to see this mess... As I said, it wasn¡¯t easy. I had to pull it out of its hands. I¡¯ve used all of my strength and unfortunately, the whole armour fell apart... But hey, I¡¯ve got my sword, that¡¯s what matters! So only gear, that is not complete garbage, will get a description? Hmm... Actually, if you think about it, it makes sense. Like what would you write as a description for the piece of junk in the guard/trash room. Also, it is weird when you think about it. For this, I would say well made, sword to be the same quality as all the rusty shit in the next room. Maybe it needs some magic or enchantment to be [ uncommon ] or even [ rare ]... who knows. I have to drag the sword behind me, it is too big and heavy for me to wield it normally. I¡¯ll have to use heavy swings since only one even small swing turns me around, so I will have to acquire one swing one kill. That means, swinging with every ounce of power that I have. Seems possible, even when considering the strength that holds skeletons bones together, which is surprisingly very strong, so it should be doable. *** Earlier, during my previous trash yard tour, I discovered an archway leading to the next room. Dragging my lovely sword behind me, the dagger at my waist, held by the remains of my pyjama top. My next destination is clear. I walk through a short corridor and stand before a door. Same look as both doors from before. I''m a little worried about what might be on the other side of the door, but I have nowhere else to go anyway, so fuck it. I open them... And close immediately. Now I¡¯m mad. I like surprises, really... but not the ones like this. 4 | Princess tower He is big, his armour is black, his bones are yellowed and his presence just a few meters in front of the door is not welcomed. Skeleton Knight lvl 14 You know, I liked skelly from the guardroom. He was such an easy going guy. I¡¯ve had a great time with him, although he, from my arguments, lost his head. I had a great time with him. I liked him and would love to talk to him, or his like-minded friends again... ...sigh... I step out of the doorway. Being caught in a place, where I can¡¯t swing my big Thing, isn¡¯t something I want . This is gonna be hard. If this thing catches a pace, I¡¯m dead. I have to attack first. ¡°Let¡¯s fuck you up!¡± I pull the sword behind me, tighten my grip, gather all my strength. Aiming for one fatal blow, my feet dig into the ground and with a deep growl I unleash a huge swing. It makes a very deep ¡°swoosh¡±. I have to focus all my strength to hold it. The force required to swing this thing in a controlled manner is enormous. I am just lucky enough that it doesn¡¯t fly off my hands while swinging it in the correct direction. It¡¯s a hit! *Clang!* Luckily, this skeleton isn¡¯t much smarter than- The impact is enormous. Even for him. We both bounce away, trying to catch stability. I feel the impact more. I actually feel it a lot more. More, like through my whole body. He blocked it?! HOW?! How could someone possibly block that thing?! The shock is so strong that I even forget to swear. The tingling in my arms is paralyzing. The impact went through my whole body, it¡¯s like a shock. If I let go of the sword, the aftereffects wouldn¡¯t be so devastating, but my grip on the sword hasn''t eased. Without weapon, I¡¯m as good as dead. There¡¯s no time to recover before he gets back to me. I swing again, this time I actually aim - to lead the blow from below, from an angle where he doesn¡¯t have the leverage to block. But he doesn¡¯t try to block it. Instead, he reaches out and stabs me in the right shoulder. At least, he tried. Fortunately, my sword hit him first, slamming him away, my shoulder sparred. I still got hit a little, but the shoulder stays functional ¨C just a little scratch. His armour is dented as fuck. My heavy ass sword did its job. As my strike threw him away, he doesn¡¯t look like standing up again, but he is still alive¡­ Well, not alive, but undead for sure. He¡¯s still moving, probably trying to get off the ground. It seems like I may have broken his spine, the armour is dented enough for it to be possible. Just as I¡¯m about to finish him off, a double rattle echoes behind me. I¡®ve been so focused on this fight, that I completely forgot about my surroundings. Such an amateur move... Not like two skellies should make any kind of trouble, but still. Okay, maybe they can. They are close to each other - too close. I won¡¯t have time to swing twice... No major problem on my side though. I grip the Colossus sword, and start a massive swing. It¡¯s weight straining my already burning arms. The blade cleanly splits the first skeleton in half. The momentum carries me into a full spin and halves the other skeleton just as easily. LEVEL UP I stagger to stop, panting, Although I am topless. I sweat like hell, it drips down my face and chest. This sword is no joke ¨C the impacts are like hammer blows. And my shoulder? It hurts like hell! It¡¯s the same one the wolf bit into. Surprisingly, I can¡¯t find, nor feel anything else than scabs. So even the stab should be ok in no time, it¡¯s more just like a scratch. Nothing big. After dealing with those two weaklings, I get back to the knight skelly. Just standing there, leaning on the sword, resting and gathering strength for the final blow. I have time this time, he¡¯s not gonna go anywhere. *** LEVEL UP No consideration needed, I devastated his armour too much, it doesn¡¯t even show the information window. I wouldn¡¯t take it anyway though. It would just slow me down. I don¡¯t need it. I don¡¯t want it. I¡¯m also sure that I wouldn¡¯t beat his ass if I had on heavy ass armour. That said, I leave his bones behind and after observing the room a bit, my eyes start to shine, like a little child¡¯s on Christmas. Loot box! ...Okay maybe not a loot box, but a chest for sure! The System one. It clearly has been put in its place by the System... I am no Sherlock, but in an old, corrupted dungeon shouldn¡¯t be non-rusty and shining with newness wooden chest. It lays on the pedestal at the far end of the room. Illuminated with purple light from the torches, creepy aura around it. It would be pretty fucked up, if this is the monster chest¡­ And if it would try to eat me the second I try to open it¡­ ¡­I have absolutely no idea how I would fight it... Hmmm... No, absolutely no idea, it would probably devour me in a few seconds. I hate my thoughts, now I¡¯m actually scared of the chest. The fuck should I do now? Open it? Or let it be, continue exploring and probably leave there a lot of good loot? Yeah, no shot. There¡¯s no way I would leave some loot untouched behind me. Even if it means being potentially devoured by some monster chest! It¡¯s no use for hesitation, let¡¯s look at the loot. ¡°There will for sure be good loot and no monster chest. I¡¯m sure, there actually are no monster chests, they just don¡¯t exist, it would be too mean to have them.¡± I¡¯m manifesting my thoughts while getting closer to the pedestal. Dim, purple light of the torches illuminating the chest, absolute silence disrupted only by crackling torches. The scary atmosphere utterly challenges my imaginations to become true and the chest to eat me. I don¡¯t like it, and like it ,at the same time. I grab the Colossus sword with both hands, cover in fear of being devoured and nudge the chest with a tip of the sword. I immediately bounce back, expecting the chest to open, the inside full of sharp teeth, long tongue and plenty of tentacles trying to catch me... None of this is happening. The chest sits still, without any change. Frown appears on my face. Okay. Maybe, but just maybe, I¡¯m overplayin¡¯. Although I''m still cautious , I step up to the chest again, this time without fear. The chest is made to blend in with the surrounding dungeon ¨C black metal, dark wood and a skull emblem decorating it. Stolen story; please report. There¡¯s no lock, no key needed. Good thing for me, I suppose, when not having the key. Heh. I just grab it by the lid and open it wide. No evil devourer in there for me. What a pity. Well... I shouldn¡¯t say that it¡¯s a pity. After all, there''s loot! I eagerly lean over the open chest. Two items are laying in there, and I couldn¡¯t be more happy with them. A coat and boots! Dear System, thank you for your gifts¡­ I can¡¯t wait furthermore, so I pick up the coat and look at its description. Traveler¡¯s Mantle (Rare) A thick, battle-worn coat crafted from reinforced beast-hide, built for endurance and utility. Its many deep pockets offer ample storage, making it a favored garment for explorers and warriors alike. Enchantments: Stonehide Weave ¨C Reduces damage from slashes and piercing attacks, dulling the force of incoming strikes. Selfrepair ¨C Slowly repairs minor tears and punctures over time, by taking mana from the world around. The repairing speed can be boosted by infusing more mana. ¡°Damn, this looks sick. I like it!¡± It is basically a long, quite worn out coat. It will suit me well, covering me from shoulders, whole way down to ankles. I immediately put it on my half naked body and melt down under the wave of satisfaction¡­ ¡­It¡¯s so warm! I¡¯ll finally not be running around and fighting skeletons half naked, just in my pyjama shorts and even get some protection. ¡°Simply lovely!¡± Now let¡¯s check the boots. Another thing that is extremely uncomfortable - running around barefooted. I would even give my huge ass sword, for some garbage pair of boots¡­ and these are not even garbage! Reinforced Wayfarer¡¯s Boots (Uncommon) Sturdy leather boots with light metal plating, offering protection without hindering movement. Enchantments: Selfrepair - ¡­not gonna read it again, I bet it¡¯s word to word the same. I couldn¡¯t be happier with this loot, truly. Looks matter, they said back on old earth¡­ What would they think about me now then? On top of my pyjama shorts and on my otherwise naked body the long and thick Traveler¡¯s mantle and on my feet robust Reinforced boots. On top of that, the colossus sword laying on my shoulder - I must look absolutely badass. No doubts. Where are all the girls now, huh?! I have also finally found time to look around and¡­ yeah, I should have registered sooner, but to be fair I was distracted by the skellies. I¡¯m in a church. Yes, big old church, or actually, it might be more like a cathedral. High vaulted ceilings, with mosaics of unknown (to me) gods. There are also those big and long windows, but no sun shines through them, only dungeon black. Pitch black. I am standing in the front of the cathedral, and where should be the altar, is sitting my chest. Also, He is not hanging there - no cross is in sight. The symbol they use instead is more like¡­ I don¡¯t know how to describe it, it¡¯s too complicated and weird¡­ It looks like a colossus sword, double edged axe and a hammer in one. It¡¯s pretty weird when I look at it as a whole. There are no benches either, so the cathedral looks a bit empty, but whatever. I came from a side entrance on the right side, which leaves my only way out in the hands of the main entrance to the (or out of the?) cathedral and another side entrance on the opposite side. ¡°They will be locked, right?¡± I murmur as I come closer to the main entrance. Did I mention how huge everything is there? Those guys living there before the System had to be really huge, I wouldn¡¯t want to meet one, tho. It actually makes me wonder why all the skeletons I fought were all just a human size - I don¡¯t complain, really. It just doesn¡¯t make much sense. The door I was getting to while thinking - the main entrance door, are of course locked, or I¡¯m just unable to move with them, even a bit. They do not move at all. That leaves me with only one other option. Side door. It is not locked and as I¡¯m opening them, one particular thought fills my head. Please don¡¯t let there be more than one armoured skeleton. ¡­ There is none. Instead, an enormous library takes place here. The bookshelves are everywhere - on the walkside, on every place they fit and even hanging from the ceiling, full of books. I can hear the rattling of some skeletons between the shelves, but they haven¡¯t noticed me yet, so there¡¯s no rush. The books are old, and I mean really old - the layer of dust on them might as well be mistaken as a protective spell or something. I wipe the dust of a book laying on, what I would call a receptionist table and read the heading. Tales of a brave soldier Sandrick It¡¯s a fucking fairy tale. Not to be superficial, I rather open the book and read a few lines on the first page, but it only strengthens my conclusion¡­ ¡­¡±Once upon a time, beyond seven mountains and seven rivers¡±... I probably shouldn''t read it aloud as the rattling of the skeletons starts moving closer to me. Whatever. It¡¯s also interesting that the multi language skill works on writings, it must be quality skill. I wouldn¡¯t expect to get something of that quality from the start tho. Instead of waiting for the skeletons, I go between the shelves and look for them by the rattling sounds - hunting them one by one. A single smash usually sends their bones flying across the library. Also, did I mention that the aisles between bookshelves are big enough for me to perform a full swing with my massive sword? No? Well, now I did. The dust here is so heavy, that even the swings don''t send it flying (unlike the skeletons). I tried to open a few more books, but I couldn''t find anything useful - only a lot of stories, tales and other non-helpful bullshit. I think that in the process of finding books, I had killed all of the skeletons here. I can''t hear any more rattling around, but I am still cautious. If I remember right, there were six skeletons¡­ no problem, if they come one by one. Unfortunately I didn''t get a level up from them, but they kept me warmed up. Maaan, this new world is really made for me¡­ unless the old one. *** I''ve been wandering between the shelves full of fairy tale books for a while now (definitely not lost), until I finally found it (yes, I''ve been looking for that the whole time - not lost!). History section. It''s away from other books, clearly separated - like something that''s not very popular. The layer of dust is also thicker than in other sections of the library. My nose, who¡¯s been itching the whole time here, starts itching exponentially more in this history section - the scent of¡­ I don¡¯t even know of what, is unbearable. *** I found the cause of the smell. For clarification - it''s the smell of a corpse. A gigantic one. It¡¯s lying in the history section, behind the first few bookshelves. It was already pretty damn clear that this place was, before it became a dungeon, belonging to some big type of race, but now it¡¯s crystal clear. On the floor there lies what remained of, I guess, a librarian. He already began to rot, so it¡¯s hard to tell the cause of death, but if I have to assume¡­ he was desintegrated? There are places of his body that are completely missing - not cut away, not torn apart, just missing and under those parts are scoops of gray powder. I saw this powder earlier, in the cathedral and even under the armour that I- ¡­ That fell. Yeah, it fell¡­ by itself. Yes. And I bet I would find it in the other armour and if I look carefully, in the other places also. All of those giants that were there just turned into ash. Why? And why this one did not? This specimen I found is nearly double the height I am, muscular and by the remains of his cloak I would bet my new boots that he got some kind of magic¡­ ¡­ from when do I take magic as something normal??! Sheesh, I just hope that whatever killed him isn¡¯t in this dungeon anymore. I leave him there to his rotting, and get back to the books- the main reason why I even bothered to withstand this increased scent of rotting. It takes me some time, but I manage to find something like the history of this race. The Greatest Kings Of All Time *** This is¡­ not what I exactly wanted, but there is unfortunately nothing better. All other books in the history section are about mostly leaders of this race and their battles, or about their castles. This book is no different, it¡¯s about leaders of colossans¡­ and their battles and castles. There are just more of them - that¡¯s why the book is thicker than others. Fucking battle maniacs, I like it. So although I got a lot of info on this particular race called colossans, I couldn¡¯t find anything about what might happen here. It¡¯s kind of surprising, but as much as they loved battles, they had no historical enemies - their wars were only between them and no one else. Colossians were a race full of warriors, they worshipped physical strength and one''s battle spirit; I didn¡¯t find anything about their religion, but it sounds like strength and battle spirit were way more important for them than any god. Time after time, there always appeared some extremely strong and talented individual, and he usually became a king of the whole race for a brief time¡­ but only after killing every other leader, until others recognized him as the strongest one. Aaaand¡­ that¡¯s basically all about this race, they were decent blacksmiths, had some magicians (no one liked them) and battles were their drugs, if I have to summarize it. One more interesting thing - thanks to their endless warfare, they were excellent strategists, who were often hired as generals of armies by other races. *** There is no point taking the book with me, so I leave it there. Of course I put it back in the bookshelf and I go to find a way out of this maze. It takes me a lot of time, but I finally get, at least, back to the place where I got in. You have to be kidding me! No way! There¡¯s no way I missed that. ¡­There is something like a hallway between the shelves, leading along the edge of the library¡­ And I, instead of noticing it, went straight into the book shelf maze, that¡¯s so fucked up¡­ although I wouldn¡¯t have found the history section, I also wouldn¡¯t have to be in this damn maze for several hours! Yeah, I am quite hungry and it¡¯s getting on my nerves. The higher level helps with that as well as with tiredness, but it¡¯s not on that level (more like I am not) to let me live completely without it. *** There are main doors at the end of the hallway, but I stopped approximately in the middle, and now I¡¯m standing in front of another, smaller door (smaller, but still big). Old stone staircase is waiting for me to discover it, probably, by its look, leading to a tower. I just hope there won¡¯t be a princes. 5 | The dead should stay dead The stairs are made clockwise - that¡¯s if the castle is under attack and the attackers want to get into the tower, they wouldn''t have enough space on the stairs to swing a sword. But if you are defending, nothing prevents you from doing so. Or if you¡¯re not as big as those guys were. I have to be squeezed to the left side of the stairs to be able to launch a proper swing, but in necessity, I can. Hm, can¡¯t wait until their size will be against me. ¡­little do I know how soon my stupid wish will be fulfilled¡­ *** Another closed door on the top, luckily not locked. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯ve expected, honestly, but the alchemist laboratory was not it. Yes, now it makes complete sense - if it blows up, it won''t hurt anyone up here, but who would have guessed it at first. The room itself is rounded, its walls lined up with tables, alchemical tools on them. The princess is lying on one of them. Yes, there actually is a princess¡­ somehow. On the table right in front of the door is lying another colossan, alchemist I guess. His body is missing a few parts, but otherwise his corpse looks whole. Now, I really hate that undead theme of the dungeon. I can bet he will become reanimated the second I step inside. But ain¡¯t no way I would leave all the loot here. That¡¯s not happening. I can feel my mouth stretching into a happy grin full of expectation for this upcoming fight. So I step in¡­ and nothing. He doesn¡¯t move. Well, that¡¯s actually very disappointing. The tables are full of alchemist equipment, but there are very few potions, at least according to what I see. Table with parchments is the one I¡¯m looking for. It¡¯s on the left side of the tower. He is still there, dead and unalive. The parchments are blank - all of them. That¡¯s unfortunate, I hoped that maybe, I could learn some alchemy. Why would anyone leave blank papers out, like that? It doesn¡¯t make sense. I take one of the papers in my hands, but it seems pretty normal. It is a very old piece and this environment doesn¡¯t help either. Retentive parchment (Rare) Parchment used for long-term storage of spells and enhanc- My instincts throw me to the left, saving me from being crushed - two huge fists destroy the table with parchments. He is not lying there anymore. Instead, his hugeness towers over me. His eyes glow dark purple, a shade darker than the torches all around there. I don¡¯t have time for further examination; he¡¯s on the move again. It¡¯s a direct punch this time. I block it with the sword. Bad idea. The impact is hurtful, one of my shoulders nearly crushed. He¡¯s strong. I¡¯m sent several meters back with just that one punch that I even managed to block. Then he blurs, disappears, and in an instant reappears right in front of my face, fist outstretched. I¡¯m sent flying this time, thrown into the wall. I''m a bit dizzy from the impact, but manage to roll away from his next attack. His fist lands at the place where I¡¯ve been just a second ago, crushing the stones there into little pieces, making a little crater. He¡¯s gonna blink again! He¡¯s too fast for me to counter him in real time - I have to predict it then. I start a heavy swing before he starts moving. He blurs. I swing. My weapon meets his fist. The punch pushed me back, but I left his fist splitted in two halves¡­ Not like he cares at all, he got a few holes in the body already, yet he¡¯s at the move again. I¡¯m still not steady on my feet - I can¡¯t dodge; I have to block. I stick the sword into the ground, and his other fist cuts itself against it. My chances are getting better. Slightly. The reanimated corpse takes a few steps backwards. It seems like he¡¯s giving me a few breaths for good¡­ Is he waiting for something?! But then he blurs again. No more time for thinking, I roll forward and slightly to the left. My opponent didn¡¯t disappoint and went for another blow, again. How predictable. The roll brings me right beside his right leg with knee completely open. I have to aim slightly above me, but one heavy swing, and he doesn¡¯t have to care about joint pain for life - I destroyed it. He drops to one knee and before I have time to react, he dashes backwards, making a space between us. I wanna chase him, but something shimmers in the air. Flask! Fuck! He¡¯s throwing alchemist flasks at me. I get into the sprint, trying to get as far away from my last position as possible, but even with both hands cutted open, his throws have power. It blow behind me. I still sprint. Quick check of my behinds - it was a freezing flask, which would have frozen me in place. Another flask shines in the air. I¡¯m still sprinting¡­ which may not be that good to be honest - he pre-aimed. I¡¯m too fast to immediately change direction, so the only thing I can do is speed up (not much, I¡¯m already at my limit) and at the last moment roll forward. ¡­Have you ever tried somerset at a high speed while carrying a big ass sword? No? ¡­I don¡¯t recommend trying it. The flask hit the ground, and I thank the System I was fast enough to dodge. The hissing and bubbling behind me suggests that the acid would eat me away in a matter of seconds... like the stone behind me. All this happened in only two seconds, but another flask is in the air. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. It¡¯s too close to dodge. I grab the sword real tight and blast that flask away - like with a baseball bat¡­ ¡­At least I try. You know, to my defense, I had no time to think it through, so I realise how bad an idea that was, only after an inferno surrounds me and roasts me alive. My hair and eyebrows burn away and my skin is in literally burning pain, but otherwise I¡¯m surprisingly okay, only my coat is smoking a little. It successfully protected me from the fire¡­ It¡¯s not rare for nothing, I guess. The fire around me disappears and I can finally see the undead bitch again. Fortunately he¡¯s not attacking right away, instead I see him chugging a flask with a green liquid. It¡¯s a regeneration potion. Double fuck! All the damage I did to him is forgotten and healed (if that¡¯s the right word for undeads). I don¡¯t have time for any more cursing. He blurs again and reappears in front of me. Unfortunately I don¡¯t have time for blocking either. Next thing I know is that I¡¯m flying and my whole body hurts as hell. I hit the wall, the impact takes my breath away and I can feel a few of my ribs being broken. Nonetheless of that, my legs brace against the wall I hit and I bounce of the wall, right at that fucker. Normally, you would expect at least bit of surprise on the enemy face, but this fucker just dodge slightly to the side, to my surprise not even using the speeding up blur. Maybe it has a cool down? A quick confusion runs through my mind. He was using it rapidly, one blur after another, why did he stop? Whatever - doesn¡¯t matter if he¡¯s dead. He may dodge the decapitation, but I still manage to cut through his right shoulder, completely destroying the joint. I land on both feets, my momentum putting me in a slight slide. ¡°No more right hooks, bastard¡± I spit out a burl of blood. It is fucking hard to fight against creature that is insensitive against any pain, because he¡¯s at attack AGAIN! How the fuck am I supposed to follow his pace?! He¡¯s back on me, right arm clinging down lifelessly¡­ bad wording again. Sight Instead, his left hand does the swing, and it¡¯s a hook again. How unexpected. I step slightly backwards, his fist missing me by just a few lengths of a fly. I have to step away a little bit more, then proceed a hand-cutting-away swing. The beast, for the first time making a sound, roars at me in anger. I won''t let that opportunity slide away, so I dash forward, missing his knee but cutting through his thigh. He drops in the knee and I don¡¯t hesitate, again, and run my sword through that said knee, using the momentum to carry the sword around my axis, proceeding to perform something like a pirouette and cutting right through his second knee. He falls on four, showing no signs of being able to fight back. My ribs hurt and burned skin on my head doesn''t help either, but I have work to finish. He can¡¯t stand up, completely movement impaired, only his head turning at me aggressively. I would love to proceed with decapitation, but he won¡¯t give me a space for that. So I just split his head. Diagonally. Bit morbid, I would say, but it¡¯ll do. Level up Level up Level up New mastery learned - [ Greatsword mastery ] Mastery upgrade - [ Movement mastery ] (basic) -> (common) Mastery upgrade - [ Greatsword mastery ] (basic) -> (common) Achievement unlocked; Reward granted ¡°Aahhhh, phew.¡± I let out an all-telling sight. The feeling of my broken ribs rubbing against each other is something I could truly live without experiencing. Not even talking about all the bruises I collected through the fight. ¡°Wow, this was¡­ intense¡± *** My passive already got rid of the physical exhaustion, but the mental one is still there. The fight put a lot of strain on me. If it wasn''t for my passive, I would be dead from exhaustion mid fight. It really gave me the edge to endure the hellish pace of that speedy bastard, recovering enough of my stamina between the slashes and dodges for more dodges and slashes. I chose well. No piercing attack, nor slightly more agility would ensure my win here. I¡¯m pretty worn out, but that doesn''t mean I¡¯m not grinning. I love this world. No matter how dangerous it is, it brings me all the things I always craved, but haven¡¯t been able to get on the old Earth. My life is not boring anymore. No more shifts and money issues. Just a pure living of this new life. I wonder what would my parents say if they were alive. How would they take that I always craved life-death situations where I have to give it my all to survive. It makes me feel alive, something I haven¡¯t been able to feel before. Mum would probably take it better from one side - I¡¯m doing what I enjoy, but she wouldn¡¯t want me to do it at the same time¡­ She would be obviously afraid of me dying. ¡°Hmm¡­ hehe, could I fight death?¡± lol And from dad, I would expect him to tell me to get a proper job. Yeah, that should be pretty accurate. Whatever, I can¡¯t lie here all day, there may somewhere be hidden those regeneration potions he used. Despite all the pain it causes me, I get up, ready to search the room and the corpse. It may be a bit reckless, but I leave the sword on the ground, not having enough strength to drag it with me. The dagger I put from my improvised belt to one of the many pockets in my coat, must be enough. I should look first for the regen potion, but since I¡¯m closest to this beast, I let my curiosity take over. Then I stop. The feeling of forgetting something important struck me with colossal force. What is it?! Since I can¡¯t tell straight away, I just stand there with an absent expression and open mouth. Then it clicks. (corpse) Colossan Alchemist - lvl 23 ¡°DAMN¡­ I¡¯m pretty good¡­ Wow¡± And a few more sounds of disbelief come out of me. He was sixteen levels above me and I still beat the shit out of him, like we were equal - which we obviously weren¡¯t. I¡¯m better. Besides the elixir bandolier, which is now empty, he got only pants, thank the System for them - I don¡¯t wanna feel inferior. There¡¯s also a tattoo on his back, lining his spine from the neck, down to¡­ I don¡¯t wanna know how much down. That tattoo doesn¡¯t look like a natural one, it¡¯s colour is too bright - not like a tattoo ink on a skin and it¡¯s partially dimly glowing. That¡¯s not normal, I bet even for a tattoo from the magic world. Or is it? To me it still seems suspicious, but whatever. It¡¯s not like I have any business with it. I got from this fight a few notifications, which I¡¯ll go through later, but otherwise I¡¯m pretty disappointed - there¡¯s not much loot. *** Regardless of that being said, I left the corpse behind and went to look for some loot, and I have to take back what I said. There may be a few things to loot, after all. Not much, but still some, and some even of a high quality, I would say. For an alchemist''s workshop, there are very few elixirs here. To be honest, I should be grateful for at least the three I found. One freezing flask ( Frost Bomb Flask (Rare) ) and two of Regeneration Potion (Rare). One of the regen ones disappears immediately, and I feel my ribs getting back in the state they should be in and all the bruises fading away. But that¡¯s not all I found. Under the potions that have been blown to that place is something¡­ something similar to what I¡¯ve already seen, but little bit forgot about. Retentive parchment (Epic) Parchment used for long-term stora- Oh fuck, I¡¯m so dumb. Of course! Even Usain Bolt wouldn''t be ashamed of that sprint back to that big ass corpse I''ve performed. I¡¯m such a retarded piece of idiot. How the fuck could an alchemist move that fast?! My stupidity sometimes surprise even myself, of course he had to have some external help to move that fast - to blur. And that¡¯s exactly what the tattoo is - external help. Parchment used for long-term storage of spells and enchantments. It has to be a body enchantment!!! There¡¯s only one problem¡­ How do I extract it from his body to the parchment? In every fantasy book with magic I¡¯ve read, you should just somehow feel the mana with your senses or some. I don¡¯t feel anything though, so for the lack of better ideas, I just slap the parchment on that tattoo. Surprisingly it seems to work. The tattoo, and even the inside of the parchment starts to glow and after a few seconds, it seems like the parchment sucks in the glow of the tattoo and the tattoo itself too. And I¡¯m left with this. Permanent Body-Enchantment Spell - Kairisurge (Epic) ¡°DAMN! How do I use it?!¡± Kairisurge is a body enhancement in the form of a tattoo, enabling the user to excessively speed up in exchange for his own stamina. ¡°Not helpful.¡± Proven methods are always good. Why try to invent a wheel when we have horses, or idk how it goes. So I just slap the parchment on my back. And die. Or at least it feels exactly how I would imagine dying to feel like. *** I have no clue how long it took, but I find myself lying on the ground, covered in sweat, and my teeth hurting from how hard I had to bite the bullet, trying not to scream. The parchment fell on the ground not far away from me, blank and more worn off than before. Retentive parchment (Rare) Why did it degrade? Is it already on me? The only place I can see, when I¡¯m trying to figure out if it worked, is my lower back, but as it seems, it¡¯s enough. There, along my spine is an abnormally black, tattoo. But how do I use it? Back on my feet, as I¡¯m thinking about it, I start walking around. Not long after I start, I also stop¡­ Involuntary of course - I am in the wall. Figuring out how my new toy works is done I guess, and it didn¡¯t even take me that long, only a bumped nose. I start blurring across the rounded room, hurting myself by running into the walls and overaly getting a grip onto it. It¡¯s actually fucking hard to control. You can¡¯t turn in the blur, so if I overshoot it and there¡¯s an obstacle in the way, I have to just bash through it. Controlling the length of the blur is also pretty hard. You have to ¡°activate¡± it just for a picosecond to blink through ¡°just¡± a two meters. I don¡¯t know if you realize it, but that¡¯s fucking hard. It¡¯s like trying to move with your ring finger, without moving with any other finger - fucking hard thing to do and needs practice. So I practice. I got a new and extremely interesting toy, so I guess I¡¯ll stay here for a while. 6 | We love mana How long has it been since the Earth got an upgrade? Day? Day and half? Maybe outside I could figure it out, but here, completely immersed into the process of learning to control my new almost-limb? Don¡¯t make me laugh. I don¡¯t even know for how long I¡¯ve been playing with this thing. All my loot, is outside of the room and I am half naked with just the sword in the middle, blurring, always just a meter, two or three, trying to get a grip on another timing-precious thing. The tables that were in the room before - the alchemist worktables, aren¡¯t with us anymore. Instead, a bunch of planks is laying around there¡­ Don¡¯t blame me, it¡¯s hard. For the first, I would say a few hours, I¡¯ve been just blurring across the room and hitting the walls, with only occasional success of shortening the time of the blur duration. Now I¡¯m able to somewhat control it. A meter is the absolute minimum that¡¯s possible, with usually blurring for two and in the worst for three meters. I had to rest a lot too. That saying of it draining one''s stamina is pretty underrated. I am not able to blur more than five times, without getting exhausted to the point where the sixth blur makes me lie on the ground, struggling to stand up¡­ The seventh one is unconsciousness - yes I¡¯ve tried. So after figuring out all those things, I started to train with the sword, to be able to perform the attacks which that huge alchemist used against me - using the speed of blur to give your attacks a huge driving force. That means you have to not only control the blur perfectly, but also time the swing perfectly. If you are too early, you just arrive from the blur with the swing not even in the half of its way, losing all the momentum from the speed of blur effect. If late, the swing is already performed and you find yourself uncovered in front of the enemy, with your sword in the position after swing. The perfect one, is when you time it the way, that you come out of the blur slightly before your sword reaches the half of the swing. Only then your sword carries the remnants of speed it had in the blur, making the swing at least three times stronger. I¡¯ve learned all those things in the hours I¡¯ve spent there and without my passive it would be impossible, but still the strain on my mind is extreme. If I have to use my brain for an another hour, I think I¡¯ll probably die. I don¡¯t like it, but there¡¯s only one way to solve it¡­ Sleep, a lot of sleep. I take my stuff back into the room, close the door, wrap myself into the coat and the second I do, I¡¯m hard asleep. *** This sleep I just had, makes me feel like I¡¯ve never slept. For real. I¡¯m fresh, unstrained and ready to take over the world¡­ or at least to get back to things I forgot about yesterday. For example, a few of the System messages. So, leaning against the wall amongst all the chopped wood, I bring my focus to the system notifications I got¡­ I¡¯ll assume yesterday. Masteries first. New mastery learned - [ Greatsword mastery ] Mastery upgrade - [ Movement mastery ] (basic) -> (common) Mastery upgrade - [ Greatsword mastery ] (basic) -> (common) I think that the greatsword mastery should have come earlier, maybe after the fight with the knight, but who am I to judge. Nonetheless, I had to be close enough to get it right at the start of the fight with the speedy pig, who¡¯s been keeping an eye on my Kairisurge. My blocking skills and overally my control over the Colossus sword improved by a huge amount through the fight, so the mastery upgrade is not much of a surprise. It is more like just confirming the theory, that masteries just extend your skills in its coverage. Same goes with the Movement mastery, where honestly, I just excel¡­ I¡¯ve always been physically talented. That should leave just the achievement and¡­ Oh wait, there¡¯s more. The three levels I gained got me to level 10. I¡¯d completely oversee the message it gave me at the time. You have reached level 10. You will get assigned your affinity, based on what suits you, now. I blink twice. Did it wait until I read it? You have an affinity to- @?#$!ERROR Errr- SYSTEM MESSAGE No affinity has been found to suit you. In reality, you have natural resistance to most of the known affinities. This is an unprecedented situation. The situation will be observed. ¡­ ¡°Well, isn¡¯t that just great?¡± I can literally hear irony dripping from my voice on the ground. ¡°Hmph! Go fuck yourself, I don¡¯t need any of your affinity shit!¡± *** When I finally stop madly walking around the room, it¡¯s mostly due to that I re-remember the last System notification. How can one even forget about getting to choose a new skill? Sometimes I don¡¯t really understand myself. Achievement unlocked; Reward granted ACHIEVEMENT - Goliath Slayer You have slain a creature ten levels above you. REWARD You can choose one of the three skills which has been chosen based on your actions, when getting the achievement. Iron Will [uncommon] [passive] Increases pain resistance and enhances mental clarity when injured, allowing the user to stay focused and act decisively even under severe damage. Retaliation Strike [uncommon] [passive] When you block a hit from an opponent, the next attack gains increased power based on the strength of the last received hit. Colossan¡¯s Grip [uncommon] [passive] Increased weapon control and grip strength of weapons. Slight resistance to disarming effects. ¡°Well well well¡­ is it the System compensating me for the affinity problem? Hmmh, it seems like that.¡± All of those skills are good. I like them all, I want them all, yet I have to choose only one. What a pity. Okay, let''s disqualify them one by one, otherwise I don''t see a way out of this. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Adrenaline is a badass thing which enables me to fight the way I fight. I may even be addicted to it at this point. It makes me unstoppable even when I¡¯m injured, thus the Iron Will seems slightly unnecessary, yet I believe it would bring me certain benefits¡­ Maybe I wouldn¡¯t look like a lunatic while fighting. Hmm, but I AM kinda lunatic, heh. A small giggle comes out of me as I think about myself when fighting. Yeah, there¡¯s no way I¡¯m gonna suddenly stop acting like a lunatic. Still, that puts the Iron Will on the second track, leaving me with the two remaining skills. I¡¯ve grown quite a liking to that big ass sword past the quite small amount of time I¡¯ve been wielding it. The only problem with it is its weight and the impossibility of delicate manipulation which make the Colossan¡¯s Grip perfect passive into my collection. But the Retaliation Strike is also great and suits my style with a massive sword very well. Just imagine, I block a punch from that huge alchemist bastard, use the momentum of the punch to do a spin to add more strength into the counter blow and on top of that activate the Retaliation Strike¡­ Maaan, that blow would be like a big boy in Japan - ¡°Ka-boom, and his body would be blown away.¡± The only problem is, how I would manage to hold the swords, if I would be blocking the way to counter attack. The thing is, as I¡¯m usually blocking now, I position the sword to be pinned to the ground, so it can¡¯t be blown away from my hands. And also, even now I have problems holding the sword mid swing, so if the swing would be even just a two times stronger, the sword would be sent flying outta my hands. It actually makes me a bit frustrated. I¡¯ve already nearly chosen this skill. Without any more thinking, I chose the Colossan¡¯s Grip, before I made a stupid decision and picked something else. This is the best I could pick now¡­ yet I feel sad for not having the overpowered counter attack. But I won''t regret my decision, that¡¯s a no no. To cheer myself up at least a bit, I take my sword to see what my new passive is capable of. The second I got the sword in my hand, I know I¡¯m not sad anymore. Where I had to use a lot of strength in my grip to hold it, now I feel no strain. I ain¡¯t wielding it like some greenhorn anymore, but like a guy who has some experience with it. It¡¯s not even about the appearance. It¡¯s about how I feel the sword in my hands. Till now I had to restrain myself to simple swings only, because I wasn''t capable of much more¡­ But now? I can almost wield it with the same finesse like a short sword. That¡¯s fucking awesome! I may not be capable of slicing up a cucumber with it yet, but what after I level it up? If I suppose it¡¯s possible to level up skills, then I bet, on a rare rarity I could be capable of something like that, with a sword nearly as big as me¡­ That¡¯s a crazy thought. I check up all my pockets, if It contains all the things it should contain and I won¡¯t forget there anything before leaving. Potions are there, dagger¡¯s there and my idiotism is in my head, so I shouldn''t be missing anything - time to leave and move on. *** Back in the library, I have no intentions to read through colossan¡¯s heroic battles again and I don¡¯t have a patience, nor interest to look for anything useful in those books¡­ That¡¯s if I suppose there IS something useful. Which I highly doubt. Yup, onwards to the exit. *** Onwards to the exit my ass. I¡¯m fucking trapped there, the double doors serving as a exit are locked. And since there is no keyhole, I fucking bet it¡¯s magicaly locked which I don¡¯t have a damn idea how to open! Breathe in, breathe out¡­ ¡­Chill. ¡°There¡¯s gonna be a way.¡± My voice sounds so determined, that it actually makes me concerned about those damned doors. My intuition is not the only thing suggesting the doors are based on magic, the runes on it are also quite telling. ¡°For fucks¡¯ sake.¡± It¡¯s kind of funny, you know. No human being - the most annoying and retarded beings, could make me so upset and annoyed like a locked door or some overtuned monster. Okay, time to get my emotions back to line. Think! *** On one hand, the magic of this new reality fascinates me and I wanna learn more about it, and on the other, I actually hate it. I can¡¯t use it. I don¡¯t know how to learn it. ¡°Hmpf.¡± Whatever. I think I managed to solve how the door''s magic works¡­ Well not quite, but I have at least an idea about it. The doors are all inscripted in some runes, but some are bit emerged from the surface. So my idea is that those emerged ones must be somehow activated in the right sequence - like a code. That means there has to be somewhere hidden a hint leading to the right combination. No one is that confident to remember it forever - everyone writes those things down, especially if it¡¯s a door code. Only thig left is to find it. *** I¡¯m done with this dungeon; fed up enough. It¡¯s not hidden anywhere in the bookshelves next to the doors. I¡¯ve been studying it and it¡¯s books for the past few hours, and you know what I found? NOTHING! There¡¯s no hint of the right sequence, no code. So after smashing the bookshelves into pieces in pure madness, I went to search for it near the entrance, mainly looking around the receptionists table. And of course, I found nothing, which to be honest I¡¯ve already expected. My last hope was the body of the dead librarian. At that point I was so desperate I¡¯d even go through his clothes, searching for¡­ something, anything, yet I ended with bare hands again. Absolutely lost, in the last tremor of hope, I rushed upstairs, where my fight with the alchemist took place. Looking through the pieces of the work tables was meaningless and the alchemist had no clothes - the only possible place were walls¡­ empty walls. I¡¯m completely mentally drained and ruined. Standing in front of the door helpless, maybe I coul- I¡¯m gonna hurt someone. I know it¡¯s my own fault, but I hope there is a boss or at least a strong foe behind those doors. I¡¯m gonna need him to cool myself down. There, right next to the doors, on the right side is the code, the sequence, minimalistically written on the stone wall. I think I¡¯m gonna lose my mind. ¡­ Actually, I may have forgotten about another problem. How do I input the code? *** Another hour comes by, and I have yet another breakdown. I can¡¯t input the sequence. Every possibility I could think of, I tried. The doors didn¡¯t even flinch about it. First of my many ideas was to simply press the runes. Simple strategies are the best, right? They can¡¯t fuck up in that many ways, you know. So this one fucked up in the basics - the runes can¡¯t obviously be pressed. Wow. I tried a few more physical related inputting of the code but, of course, none of them worked. I even tried to think the code ¡°aloud¡± and as stupid as this sound, I really thought that¡¯s gonna work¡­ To be honest I just hoped and already knew, my hope will be useless because I¡¯m always stuck with the worst option in those types of scenarios. So here I am, sitting for yet another hour trying to ¡°feel¡± the mana as I found it described in one of the,here in the library, rare books about magic. I had to be looking for at least two hours to find this highly impractical toddlers story book, which should help their parents figure out if their little monster does have magical talent. The book is enormously pissing me off. It¡¯s written in series of stories, which should inspire the micro demon to try those ¡°mana-awakening-exercises¡±, but the twist is, to actually get the whole thing, you have to read through a TWO HUNDRED pages of cringe stories for toddlers, written in small letters because the parents gonna be the ones who read it!!! *** The book looks a bit worn out¡­ ¡­MAYBE it is because an unnamed ¡°someone¡± lost it a few times while trying to learn ¡°feeling¡± the mana from studying that devil''s book. Naturally, I can¡¯t feel the mana even after several hours of trying it. Usually I¡¯m pretty good at controlling, thus suppressing, my emotions when needed. But there¡¯s no need for that now and I actually stopped controlling myself that much since the reality changed. Which leads me to tearing the book apart and then again and aging, until there are just pieces of it. Then I grab my sword and with a rageful scream attack the doors. ¡°FUUUCCKKK MANAAA!¡± I keep swinging against the doors for a few minutes, the bash in it with my shoulders, making myself a painful bruise and in the climax of my emotional unstability performance, I even attack the doors in the connection with Kairisurge, actually leaving some mentionable damage. I¡¯ve been able to cut through some of the runes, which even made the doors flinch a bit. They did not open, of course, that would be too easy, but the seam in which you weren''t able to put a paper is now big enough to put in there my pinkie. No I¡¯m not that crazy to actually try it - what if it closes again?! So instead I thrust in there a tip of my sword, widening the seam and through the gap looking right in the face of the skeleton on the other side. Actually, why are the skeletons the size of normal humans, when we¡¯re in the colossans dungeon. It doesn¡¯t make much sense, shouldn¡¯t they be skeletons of colossans and thus quite big? Well, this one, like the others I¡¯ve already encountered, is normal human size. I don¡¯t like how his empty eye sockets are gazing through my eyes into my soul¡­ or at least it feels like it. Whatever. He will be the first to go down, right after I open the damned doors. ¡°Aaarrrrggghhh!¡± I may had broke the locking mechanism, but the doors are still made of metal, thus still heavy as fuck. But I am not an ordinary human anymore¡­ I¡¯m lvl 10 human now. LoL. But hey, jokes aside, my physique got a huge buff since I got all these levels. They aren¡¯t there just for fun. So even though the doors sure weigh a lot, I break them open with only one roar and help of a laverage with the sword. Behind the now open doors is waiting for me a comando of skeletons. Two armored ones and four normal losers - lvls 14 and lvls 8. With a quick blur of Kairisurge my blow absolutely destroys the armour of the first skelly and spreads his bones on the floor. I lead the blow into a spin, using the force of my momentum to do the nearly same thing with the next armoured fella who''s right behind him, only on a bit lesser scale - his remaining halfs aren¡¯t sent flying. Finishing the unarmoured ones was like a walk through a park - pretty boring. LEVEL UP Eleventh level is down, baby. I step over the skeleton bones into a dimly lit room. This one, on the first look looks like a crossroad. Load of closed doors¡­ No, they are more like¡­ sealed? On the second look it still looks like a crossroad and on the third look it looks like a crossroad leading to a boss room. Huge double doors, normally used by humans as a castle gate, are there slightly open. They are ornamented with golden symbols and artistically decorated with paintings. A mist, colored to dark purple, by the surrounding torches, is coming out of them, leaving no room for doubts. This is a boss room. 7 | I am anti magic I have been wondering for some time already, why are all of those skeletons human sized, when this is supposed to be a colossans dungeon and before it became dungeon, maybe even a castle. Plus only one reanimated - zombie colossan and one too damaged to be reanimated and no more corpses or bones of them¡­ Did they die here or was it here empty when something that made it a dungeon came? The second option seems more accurate, because who the hell would let their castle be conquered. Especially a battle loving race, like colossans seems to be. Well, I at least found the reason for small skeletons. First reason is, of course, the lack of corpses to wake up from death. The second one is that due to the lack of corpses, the necromancer has to summon them from¡­ I dunno from where they summon them, but it makes some sense that human-like necromancers would summon human-like skeletons. He¡¯s standing there, behind an army of approximately twenty skeleton knights - the armoured ones, in his dark purple robes. Bony fingers are wrapped around metal staff with something like a crystal ball on top of it¡­ ¡­Did I mention his bony nature? Yeah, he is a skeleton. In his eye holes are burning purple flames, which is the only indication of him being more than a normal skeleton and his level is of course higher. Skeleton necromancer - lvl 30 A quite high level - 19 above me, but I highly doubt he will be stronger than the reanimated alchemist, after all he had an epic body enhancement, which, I assume, shouldn¡¯t be something common. Uhhh¡­ I just hope his staff isn¡¯t actually some epic overpowered shit¡­ because Kairisurge is perfectly balanced. The boss room looks like it''s the first half of a throne room, but the second half, where the throne should be, is in the dark, without torches. Is there a shortage of them or some? I wonder. By this time, the necro already took notice of me and his army of twenty men started walking towards. Hmm, do they lack the brain capacity to run?... Oh, wait! They don¡¯t have brains, that must be it! Enough talking time, they¡¯re finally on me - fun time starts now! I release a swing at the leading foe, expecting him to be thrown away, yet he blocks it. ¡°Huh?¡± Skeleton knight - lvl 19 Oh¡­errmm¡­ whatever. A quick thought process of surprise and amusement runs through my mind as he is thrown away, regardless of his blocking effort. They should get some muscles on those bones. The next in-useless-steel-buried skelly is a few meters away, perfect for a quick surge. I hit him, but also register a light coming out of the necros staff, right in time to dodge it. A quick gray-green projectile flies past me. It hits one of the skeletons behind me, making his armour rusting in a small, very effective, area. Please don¡¯t hit me. I¡¯m surging and jumping between the skeletons, usually, with some exceptions, one-shotting them. Unfortunately mostly not killing them, just leaving the crippled on the ground, but that¡¯s enough. They are pretty fragile, but not as much as the level 14 ones, plus their armour is upgraded and helps them a lot, too. Not like I care too much. These are just small things I notice along the fight. I dodge the gray-green spell, kill skeletons and shit, but they still keep coming. It¡¯s pretty annoying. Shouldn''t there be like only twenty?! My eyes fall on the necro and it¡¯s all clear¡­ of course, he is a necromancer, he will be summoning more skeletons. Fortunately for me, it seems like he can¡¯t really summon more than twenty of them. Still, there is a portal next to him, from which, every time I defeat one skeleton, another comes out of it. Okay, this is frustrating, let¡¯s get serious. ¡°Playtime is over, baby.¡± I defeat the skeleton in front of me and surge right towards the necromancer. Fuck you dickhead, you¡¯re dead! My sword is about to hit his staff, but it disappears, and the blade continues through the robes, ribs and spine, out of his body. Huh¡­ Is he dea-? Something hits me from behind, getting through my coat causing an immense pain on my back. I stumble forward, grinding a cry of pain between my teeth. Every movement of my back muscles invokes my little personal hell, yet there is only path forward. One step after another on the path. One skeleton from the right. I cover under his blow, and return it with mine¡­ mine hits and he dies. Another one from the left. Dodge the pain projectile, ignore the hell on your back. Right now, I am running in pure instinctional mode, otherwise I would be laying in pain on the floor. Oh man, why didn¡¯t I take the Iron Will passive. I block the second skeleton¡¯s strike, drive my sword into the ground, and use it as a vaulting pole to kick off that bastard''s head. Another surge towards the necro. A skeleton tries to step in my way, but I bash right through him, aiming for the head with glowing eyes. I¡¯m late again, slaying only a normal skeleton. This shitty ability can¡¯t be without cooldown! This time I ignore the skellies, ducking under the slash of one and jumping over another. My way to the necro is clear. Using Kairisurge that much is straining, yet there is no other way. I surge again, reappearing right in front of him. My sword on it¡¯s way for his neck. The glow in his eyes still there. This is it! Then a train hits me. Or something very similar. I¡¯m sent flying back, towards the doors, the impact taking my breath away. As I¡¯m sliding down from the doors, my eyes become clear for a moment. What I see wakes me immediately up from the near unconsciousness I was in. There¡¯s a huge colossal warrior encased in steel. He must be the train and the necro must have him hidden in that portal of his¡­ And he¡¯s charging right at me. Still a bit dizzy, I got up as fast as possible. The sword remained in my hand not by a miracle, but thanks to the Colossan grip instead. When he nearly reaches me, I jump sideways, avoiding being crushed between him and the doors. He bash through, destroying the doors and falling on the ground, but he¡¯s back on his feets right after. That¡¯s when the necro uses the distraction made by the reanimated colossal and shoots another gray-green projectile at me. Unfortunately, still dizzy as I¡¯m, I failed to register it and it hit my back again, this time from the other side. The wave of pain takes me unprepared and I fall on the ground - the pain is paralysing, yet I have to immediately get up. The reanimated big guy is back on his legs, and on his way to crush me. Ain¡¯t no way I¡¯m letting him do that. I can¡¯t ever remember standing up being this hard, my knees are shaking and I¡¯m all wobbly. This is bad. I have to get myself together now!... maybe it can wait, I''d rather first dodge the skull crusher of this big guy. I wobble a few steps sideways, a huge axe landing where I was just a few seconds ago. If that hit, I wouldn¡¯t have to care about immerse-pain making rotting meat on my back. It hurts like hell!!! I can feel the tooth chips in my mouth from clenching the teeth too hard¡­ better than a whole tooth, right? Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Enough crying! I brace myself up and get moving again; standing still, I am as good as death already. The colossan first. As I¡¯m looking at him, there are only a few places where I can hit him, which is mostly where his joints are, thus where his armour isn¡¯t that thick. Or neck, but that¡¯s fucking high. I think I¡¯m slowly getting good at getting those guys. So no big deal for me to get rid of another one. Dodging his swings of that double edged axe is not actually as hard as it sounds¡­ it¡¯s more or less like fighting a souls boss. The only difference is the need to also be dodging these magic bolts that make my meat rotting on my back. I fear them as fuck, not gonna lie. Ducking low under one of his horizontal swings, I thrust myself forward - under him, his kneecaps wide open for me. The armour there is just for the look - my sword coming clean through it, strucking deep and sending him on one knee¡­ is history repeating itself? He supports his dysfunctional knee with the axe, which takes away all the danger he opposed to me. I start to realize that those guys are just big and not exactly lethal. Dangerous? Sure, but not that hard to defeat, when they don¡¯t have enhancements. Still, I have to get rid of him. I ain¡¯t leaving any danger behind me. As he drops to the knee, I jump on his back with a clear plan to cut his head off, but when I¡¯m reaching out to strike, he swings his hand back and throws me off. For fucks sake! Enough flying for today, please! I land on the rotten back which makes me scream in enormous pain. I think some flesh might even fall from me. Nonetheless, I get up again and rush towards the colossan. I am late. He¡¯s still one one knee, but prepares to release a swing with his massive axe. Then a saviour thought pops in my mind - can I surge into the air? I know, I said enough flying, but¡­ I prepare to swing from below, jump forward and¡­ successfully surge. Yes! Before he has time to release that swing, his head decides otherwise¡­ to fly off. Maybe, but just maybe, I helped his head to make that decision. I cut it clean, not even the spine stopping the power behind my sword, built up by the momentum Kairisurge made. As his head hits the ground, the portal leading to what I would call the necros corpse inventory summons five skeletons at once. No time to catch a breath for me, I guess. This constant summoning is pretty annoying and it really frustrates me. What about fighting me like a man, bitch. I address a quick thought towards the necromancer. As soon as I get rid of the first skeleton, another comes out of the portal behind me. You unfairly playing bastard! I slay him from a spin, killing three skeletons at once. The whole time I¡¯m on a lookout for the necrotic projectiles, time by time dodging some of them, because I don¡¯t really wanna block them with the sword, after seeing what happened to the armour of one of the skeletons. At least, he can¡¯t shoot that much since there are a lot of his own skeletons around me. Did I already say how frustrating magic is? I think I hate it. I have no way of getting to the necro, and it looks like he has an infinite amount of skeletons in his pocket corpse inventory dimension, or what it is. I¡¯ve already destroyed so many armoured skeletons that now mostly the basic - the unarmoured ones are appearing. Slightly distracted by my frustration, I let one of them get a little bit too close. When I notice him, he¡¯s already too close for me to use my sword, so I just kick him away, putting a lot of my frustration in the kick¡­ Maybe too much, since his spine gets detached from the rest of his body. ¡­ Just joking! Nothing is too much if it kills the enemy. Unfortunately my slowly building up frustration, unlike the skeleton spine, stays with me. It can¡¯t go like that forever. After like another minute, it finally reaches the ceiling. Usually, when I¡¯m annoyed, frustrated or angry, I do stupid things¡­ I won¡¯t disappoint this time either. Sooo¡­ what if I jump into one of those summoning portals? I mean, there will be for sure a lot more skeletons which aren¡¯t a problem to defeat anymore, but at least, that eely bastart wouldn¡¯t be able to shoot the fucking rotting bolts at me. It¡¯s decided then. I break away from the encirclement of skeletons and make a run for the portal just appearing nearby. Your affi- Fuck off now. I have to dodge the gray-green bolt as I¡¯m sprinting towards the blue circle. My sword behind me, ready to be unleashed in a powerful blow. I get there right in time, before it should close - at least according to what I observed, but¡­ it doesn''t? It¡¯s getting bigger?! Before I could think of a reason why, a big undeadly white hand appears, while the portal is still getting bigger. I don''t like it. If that¡¯s a colossan, then it¡¯s extremely enormously huge in comparison to the other two I¡¯ve already fought. It pisses me off. Ain¡¯t no fucking bloody way. I¡¯m not letting you summon that thing! He¡¯s sitting behind the whole time, shooting his shits towards me, summoning big bastards and thinks it¡¯s gonna be okay??!! No it¡¯s not gonna be fucking okay! I don¡¯t wanna play this game anymore! Rather than being just internally pissed off, I put all this frustration into my sword and through it into the blow. I can physically feel the frustration leaving my body and energy going from me to the sword which¡­ starts to glow greyish? No time to observe further, since the hand is halfway out of the portal and I don¡¯t wanna know what exactly is that thing. Seeing the hand is enough for me. I unleash the swing, full of my frustration from this fight, my glowing sword going straight for the elbow of the hand. I can imagine it cutting clean through and- My expression changes super quickly from frustrated and angry to hella confused and surprised. The swing is finished, arm cutted clean¡­ and the portal itself too? WHAT THE HELL?! I did not only take his hand under elbow away, but there¡¯s a piece of his arm ABOVE elbow on the ground with the cleanest cut I¡¯ve ever seen. So¡­ Since everybody knows that when you close a portal and something is coming through, it¡¯ll get cleanly separated¡­ Does it mean, I¡¯ve just closed a damn portal? With a sword?... Cool! Right at the time, the necro shoots the bolt at me. No dodging this time. I¡¯m gonna cut through it. And as I say, I do. It just does not go how I thought it would. There¡¯s no clean cut like with the portal. It makes the area of contact rusty and the rest of the bolt spreads like a shotgun slugs. Ain¡¯t no way! I manage to react fast, yet I¡¯m not able to evade it completely, a few of the smaller leftover pieces spraying my face. ¡­ It¡¯s not that bad, really. I don¡¯t even scream anymore. That¡¯s maybe because I can¡¯t - my vocal cords must be dead by now. Yes, I screamed a little bit. But hey, it¡¯s probably better than being burned alive, or buried alive, or¡­ or¡­ Yeah, it¡¯s probably better. I¡¯m sure of that. One of my eyes got a direct hit, so I don¡¯t see on it and the second one is running only in monochrome. Sigh¡­ I already miss colors. It¡¯s time for the potion, I guess. I hoped a bit that I could save it for later, not needing it this soon. It can''t be helped. Before that scumback can shoot another hellish bolt at me. I grab the regen potion from one of my inner pockets. The coat I got from the chest is an actual live saver. Not only it mitigates damage the skeletons can make from making me bleed by deep cuts of swords, to only having bruises, which is huge. But it also kept the two potions I have, save from breaking¡­ A shiver ran down my spine. I actually never thought, having the freezing flask in my pocket through the fight might not be the best idea. Now I¡¯m curious how I didn¡¯t die already, respectively freeze to death, with all those blows and hits against the walls, floor and doors I took. The flask still survived. Must be a miracle. Something like that ran through my head in a picosecond while I was getting the regen pot. Scary thoughts. I uncork it with my teeth, chugging the potion at once. It tastes like shit, bitter and sour shit, it¡¯s disgusting. But it sure helps. I can see with both eyes and the immerse pain disappeared nearly fully too, which is an actual miracle. As I¡¯m getting myself together a bit, I have a bit of time to think about what happened. I think I have an idea how I was able to destroy the portal, but afterwards not able to destroy the bolt also. Your affinity has been assigned. Your affinity: Null It¡¯s not none anymore. Now it¡¯s Null which isn¡¯t very explaining, but I still think it¡¯s the cause of my new ¡°power¡±. And why wasn''t I able to destroy the bolt? Or should I rather say to nullify it? Yeah, I think it¡¯s clear now. I just got the best fucking affinity I could - an anti magic one. I wasn¡¯t able to destroy the bolt because, when I was cutting the portal, I infused my sword with what I called frustration, but it must have been this Null energy instead. The thing is, I didn¡¯t infuse it while trying to cut through the bolt, which must be the reason for what happened. The necros bolt seemingly cooled down and another gray-green shit is flying towards me. Oh System thank you that the bolts are actually flying slow. Thus I have no problem evading it. Now it¡¯s time to strike back. Refreshed by the disgusting crap I just drank, and thus can use Kairisurge again, a plan starts to form in my head. I kill the two skeletons trying to ¡°sneak¡± up on me from behind¡­ Saying skeletons and sneaking up in one sentence is pretty weird, since I can hear their bones rattling from a mile away, tho¡­ And immediately surge towards the portal which appeared to summon new skeletons for the ones I killed. I streamline the weird power into my sword again and successfully destroy the portal. Oh yeaah baby, it¡¯s time to dance. The portal must have some cooldown when destroyed, since it doesn¡¯t reappear right away. Which is perfect - it gives me time to kill the rest of the skeletons. Pretty easy task in those conditions, even with the need of dodging the bolts. The skeletons may be level 19, yet it doesn¡¯t show on their overall intelligence nor their battle iq¡­ hmm, is it because they¡¯re summoned? Or maybe it¡¯s just because skeletons shouldn¡¯t be naturally intelligent? ¡­I would guess it''s kind of both¡­ I disperse the rest of walking bones, occasionally ¡°closing¡± the portal which seems to have cooldown around fifteen seconds. That¡¯s enough time for me to laxly finish my job. Only one skeleton remains. The whole time of cleaning the bones I¡¯ve been thinking how I¡¯ll kill the necro. He won¡¯t be able to body swap anymore and I bet he got no more surprises up his sleeves. Why would he then let me masacre all of his summons and cancel his portal? No, he''s definitely done this time. I walk towards him with a calm steady pace. He shoots a few shitty bolts at me, but a few moves of my sword infused with that Null power destroys them. His end is nearing, yet he seems unbothered by that fact. Is he too dumb to understand? It¡¯s weird. After all, he is still a dungeon boss - he should have some kind of, at least, battle intelligence. However, he feels¡­ dull? If that¡¯s the right word. It bothers me, because there¡¯s something unknown to it and I feel like it might bite me in my precious ass. It¡¯s just a feeling though, but I would rather not underestimate it. It¡¯ll be almost fifteen seconds from the end of last portal and I don¡¯t wanna be surging again - I¡¯m exhausted, not only physically, but mentally also, so I just quickly walk towards him. I cut through one last projectile and stood in front of him. He doesn¡¯t run, he doesn¡¯t fight, he¡¯s just waiting to send another bolt after it cools down. No one acts like that when facing death - something there stinks so fucking much. One wave of the hand, one cut with the sword. That¡¯s all it takes to defeat him. On one side, he wasn¡¯t an easy opponent and there were a lot of challenges while defeating him, but on the other hand¡­ It just wasn''t it. I haven¡¯t felt that much alive as I felt when fighting the alchemist, and he was even at a lover level. My life wasn¡¯t in enough danger. LEVEL UP LEVEL UP LEVEL UP No special messages this time, huh? SYSTEM MESSAGE You have successfully cleared the dungeon, a teleporter door has been activated. You¡¯ve been granted a reward for clearing the dungeon. Your reward has been further upgraded for the solo clear. Okayyy¡­ there¡¯s the additional message I¡¯ve been missing. Who doesn¡¯t like rewards for their efforts, right? A blue light starts to form in front of me, but what mainly catches my interest is what happened behind. Something just went outside of the necro? Like a shadow that has been sucked out of him. I got just a glimpse of it but it was there for sure. What the fuck is happening there?! Did just something sucked out his soul or what?!!! That¡¯s when the blue light in front of me - the System reward finally forms. To be honest, at first I expected another skill choice, but it seems that System thinks I have enough skills for now¡­ which I can¡¯t agree with, since there¡¯s never enough passive skills. I catch the reward, which is actually a cool looking dagger, before it falls on the ground. It¡¯s a bone dagger, with a mild gray-green glow lining the center of the surprisingly long blade. Yeah, I know exactly what effect it will have. I don¡¯t envy my enemies. But before I¡¯m able to look at the descriptions of the dagger, an extremely powerful aura rises over me, its heavy presence leaving me gasping for breath for a moment. I wouldn''t say it scares or horrifies me, but it definitely makes me want to be somewhere else than there. There¡¯s no way I could possibly fight whatever it is. So I turn around and sprint as fast as I can towards the teleport door behind me, eventually even remembering that I can surge towards it if really needed. ¡­I should have surged¡­ Behind the door is the already known sea of stars. Relief wash over me as I step into the stars¡­ only to smash my nose against a stone wall. The portal disappeared. 8 | The Reapshade - lvl ? ATTENTION A significant signature has been detected. The dungeon hasn¡¯t been cleared. Difficulty has exponentially raised up. Better rewards granted. I think I would stand there and stare at the empty door frame for at least a few moments if not for the sound of steel scraping against a stone coming from behind me. There is a part of the room on the left side of the entrance doors, which was for the whole time in dark, the light of torches not reaching there. The whole time, I thought there¡¯s nothing more in there, making the teleportation door the only way out¡­ how dumb I was. It¡¯s not just a badly lit another half of the room¡­ there''s a whole fucking room triple the size of I thought it was! That space just slowly lit up, the torches began to light up and surprisingly, most of them are of normal colour, instead of the terrific purple. And the scraping of some weapon against the ground continues, sending a shiver down my spine. When the torches light up enough, a rough silhouette starts appearing in the middle, walking towards me. Raging cloak torn apart, its body made from darkness and drags a scythe along the ground. Oh, well if nothing else, then now I know the source of the scramping. Reapshade - lvl ? I¡¯m actually kind of glad now, for not eating for a few days¡­ otherwise a brown catastrophe might have happened in my pants. Still I wouldn¡¯t call myself scared; Totally fucked up? Yes, but not scared. Actually¡­ Why am I walking towards it? It¡¯s quite ironic - I don¡¯t wanna be here, yet I feel a weird sensation running through my whole body, but¡­ ¡­Do I really don¡¯t wanna be there? Isn¡¯t this something I¡¯ve been craving my whole life? A challenge where I have to put out everything I have, break every restriction I put on myself through the years of life and push way above my limits. And that¡¯s now standing in front of me. ¡­ How the hell could I not be excited about it?! Oh maaan, I¡¯ve been asleep for so long. If I dive deep into my feelings and long-buried needs, this is exactly something that makes me feel truly alive. The corners of my mouth lifting into a mad happy grin as I walk further, readying myself; unleashing all the restrictions I gave myself in the old world. Here and now, no one cares how crazy I am, no one will judge me anymore for enjoying danger and adrenalin, and potentially facing death. I might die here, but for sure I¡¯m not gonna go down easily, I¡¯m gonna give this fucker the hardest time in his lifetime. That¡¯s when I fully grin like an absolute lunatick, all happy. Something inside me, long chained, has broken free and it feels fucking awesome¡­ It''s like finding a long lost brother, but better. Like to find myself. Unique personal trait unlocked: Lunatic¡¯s Exaltation (Unique) Madness is not a flaw, but a fire. The more it burns, the brighter the warrior shines. The battlelust of the exalted knows no bounds, and neither does his strength. The deeper he throws himself into the fray, the more his body surpasses its limits, fueled by sheer will, joy and exhilaration. Lunatic becomes one with his inner demon, exalting himself into higher highs. The pain that would cripple others only sharpens Lunatic¡¯s instincts, and exhaustion serves as nothing more than a whisper in the back of his mind. May his laughter echo through the battlefield, and his strength know no bounds. ¡°Hih¡± Yeeeahhh¡­ I might have lost it in some sense, but I¡¯m happy and only that counts. I finally feel alive. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. As the torches fully light up, everything becomes clear. I am in the main hall of what I suppose is a castle, and at the end that was in the dark until now, sits a big throne carved in stone. Also (I would almost forget), in the middle of the hall, walking¡­ hmm, rather than walking, flying towards me, is the Reapshade. He¡¯s as big as one and half colossan and his scythe is equivalent to his size. His face hidden deep in the darkness of his hood. Well, that¡¯s if I suppose he does have one. As we come closer to each other, I¡¯m able to finally recognize the half see through thing he''s been playing with on the way. It¡¯s the necro, or at least what I suppose is his soul. He decomposes the souls form into just a pure see through mass with no shape and with it, polishes the blade of his scythe, making it glow slightly purple. With no rush, he drew back his weapon, ready to strike indifferent to the distance that separates us. And there¡¯s no doubt in my mind, he¡¯s capable enough to hit me even from there. What will it be? High speed? Projectile type? Teleportation? I don¡¯t care which, just bring it on, or my body will burst out with the sensation. I breathe out. He attack. Seemingly slashing into the empty space, but the scythe leaves behind its blade a purple trail - a slash like projectile. It¡¯s fast, but not that much. I infuse my sword, rushing forward, my blade ascending towards the spell from below. For a short moment, I distrust my new nullifying power against this much stronger monster, only to find myself absurdly heretic as the sword dispel the center of the slash with ease. I close the distance, sword poised above my left shoulder. Surge forward, aiming my strike straight for his head. He intercepts with the scythe¡¯s handle, but I twist with the momentum, spinning in the opposite direction, slashing backward toward his wrist. I gave the hit, but immediately got one back with the end of the handle, sending me into the ground with brutal force, leaving a reminiscent of a small crater. Bit of blood spitted out, yet I rebound backwards, landing on one knee and having to unleash a swing with my full force just to block the incoming scythe. My sword bounce back, only redirecting the scythe a bit, but it¡¯s enough to make me see another moment, missing my head by millimeters and pushing me sliding backwards. I brace my legs and forge ahead. He follows the momentum of his scythe, spinning it in his hands and going for a descending skull, in my case whole body, crushing blow. I jump sideways to dodge it, saving some energy for a future need of surges. Only to surge right after, aiming this time not for the head but instead for his armpit. Nearly cutting in, but mid swing I notice him striking from below with the end of the handle again, so I must redirect my sword to block it. It sends me flying again, this time only to end in a ceiling. I may have blacked out for a second and now as I¡¯m falling to the ground, there¡¯s a scythe aiming for my head. I can¡¯t do anything with it mid air. Can¡¯t block it, can¡¯t dodge it, can¡¯t redire- I hate my stupid ideas. I surge forward. Yes, right into the ground. But hey, I dodged the blow, which harmlessly flew over me. Normally, I would be done just from this fall, but I just jump back on my feets right away. Am I functional because of the levels, or am I too deep in my joy, having the best time of my life? I don¡¯t care which one, I¡¯m having too much fun to wonder about useless things! No more time to think for me, as he raises his hand and the area around me starts glowing. I surge away, leaving an implosion and subsequent explosion behind me. His scythe is mid swing again. I duck low, the scythe misses by nanometers and I shoot forward, before he has time to retreat his weapon. As I¡¯m in the air, surged towards his arm, I instinctively infuse my sword with null and cut his arm under elbow. I barely get back to ground, when unreal scream fills not only my ears, but my soul too. I¡¯m suspicious that it should be paralysing, leaving me stunned, yet the only thing it does is make me bleed from all kinds of things - my nose starts bleeding, my ears are penetrated and are bleeding and even my eyes are red, blood dripping from them too. Oh, how annoying of you. The only thing it did was to fuel my drive. He may be hissing and screaming how he wants, but it won¡¯t stop me. I charge at him while he¡¯s still distracted. He notices and with one hand spin his scythe into an attack. This time I didn''t dodge, in the end, he may have the power of momentum behind his scythe, yet he is holding it in only one hand. I¡¯m gonna parry. I do as I say, leaving his scythe bounced in the air, momentarily fumble from the clash, but immediately getting the ground back and surging. Aiming for his torso, I¡¯m quite surprised when I swing through a dense black mist instead of the dark matter he¡¯s made from. It leaves me vulnerable, incapable to quickly turn around as he reappears behind me. Still I try to use the momentum I carry from the previous swing to turn myself around and capture the incoming blow into the sword. I can¡¯t make it. The scythe would dive in my heart but I manage to twist myself a bit, so it just cut off my left arm above the elbow¡­ ¡­We¡¯re even now. But this ability of his is trouble, especially if he can use it as often as the necro could body swa- He can. His body disappearing into the mist. I react instinctively, releasing a swing, letting myself be carried by it into a spin on my heel and clashing with the scythe aiming for my neck. Our weapons bounce back. We both control our weapons with one hand, yet I still manage to keep up with his strength. There¡¯s a moment of silence. Then he gets control and attacks again. Am I gonna get cutted in half?! Then I catch the ground under my feets. Too late to block, as my weapon is still uncontrolled in the air. Is this my end? Hmm¡­ Nope, I refuse. I might maybe let myself be carried away by the weight of my sword and further help it with some foot movement, but I still wouldn¡¯t manage to dodge it completely. Simple things are always best. I jump straight upwards, my feet barely not touching the blade that goes under me; then they touch the blade, and I bounce myself off it, surging at his, under the hood, hidden head and cutting through it with my sword wrapped in the weird null thing. This way, as he is mid swing, there was no time for him to react and disappear¡­ although I might have preferred it if he did. The scream of his pain torturing my ears that much, they stop working and I can feel the blood stains on my cheeks running from them. Yet the destroyed ears don''t save me from the scream reaching my soul. Oh man, this fucking hurts. I can¡¯t think straight¡­ not like I¡¯ve been thinking in this fight even once, lol. From the beautiful hole I made in his face is leaking a lot of dark mist, which together with the unbearable scream in my mind clearly indicates that I may have caused some real damage. Based on that, one could think, his fighting capabilities could lessen, right? Wrong! He goes berserk instead. 9 | Soul based battles are boring A mere, weak human, against a minor avatar of death. A battle with seemingly decided end, even before the fight even started. The human is already severely injured from the fight with the avatar''s puppet; the lesser regeneration potion he consumed doesn¡¯t change much. His exhaustion, after using such high level skills and his extremely unique - never before seen affinity, is moreover mental, rather than physical. Lesser regeneration potions can not recover that. Not to mention that such a low level guy shouldn¡¯t be able to acquire those skills, nor be this capable, especially not if he¡¯s from a newly integrated planet. Yet, when the portal closes in front of the man, he does not panic, nor does seem scared, quite the opposite - it seems like something awakened in him at that moment. As he walks towards his death, the sword, which he shouldn¡¯t be able to wield with such an ease, dragging along him, his expression starts to change. The determined, yet happy face from the enjoyment of the battle fades away. His eyes widen up, the joyful yet determined grin disappears, just to be replaced by a big toothy smile. It¡¯s not only his facial expression that changes. His whole presence undergoes a change, leaving the confident and happy stance in the dust and becoming one filled with immense thrill. But the scariest about it all is the aura he gives off. Even in his previous state, the aura he was radiating was unexpected, as it was strong and stable, clearly showing off his confidence and danger he can possess. But now? His aura surpases the Reapshade with ease, weaving with chaotic energies and giving off the impression of a lunatic demon¡­ which given the state and look of its source might not be that far away from truth. When the Reapshade uses his soul magic, which would wipe out the whole city of low leveled people, the little human breaks it apart with his unknown powers like it¡¯s nothing. Not to mention its speed, which could be comparable to that of a bullet. His instincts are razor sharp, deciding with a lightning speed if to block or dodge, whether to attack or wait¡­ yet his fighting style is not human-like. He possesses the battle intelligence of someone with hundreds of levels and battles down. That¡¯s if we can assume his actions aren¡¯t fully based on his instincts which is¡­ highly possible by the look of it. As the Reapshade deprives him of his hand in exchange, the man does not seem surprised nor rendered incapacitated. No, only his smile became broader and his eyes widened, like if he¡¯s in some kind of ecstasy. His moves sharpens and get even faster, dodging blows and making dangerous stunts, which he has to time perfectly in order to succeed, but he still doesn¡¯t hesitate to put it out. He truly looks like some lunatic demon. Especially after his successful cut into the Reapshades head and its soul attack. There are blood stains coming from his ears, nose, mouth and even from his bloodshot eyes, which further amplifies the demonic impression. With one hand left, he may have lost some finesse with the sword, but he still wields it with such an expertise, rarely seen even in the higher ranks. For a few moments, it looks like those two creatures are even, then the reapshade throws away his torn robe, going into berserk form. Would you say, the little demon cares? Not at all; he¡¯s too deep in his madness to consider such things - he just matches the freak. The minor avatar of death, against a humanoid lunatic demon singularity. One soul enchanter versus a guy whose physical capabilities on his level are impossible, the same way as the fact he can cut through magic is. The reapshade teleporting through the room, leaving behind his misty signatures. He is not able to resist the little guy with his scythe one handed, so he switches tactics, teleporting around the room, sending spells at his enemy head. Their speed is remarkable, so much so that an average level 50 person wouldn¡¯t be able to accurately track their moves as they clash around the king''s hall. Both basically flying around, sparks fly from the clash of weapons. One teleports, the second one dashes, it¡¯s seemingly an endless play of cat and mouse. But the mouse is slowly killing the cat. When even the Reapshades berserk state didn''t stop the madman, he got one last triumph in his sleeve - direct soul attack¡­ ¡­Which might not be the best idea against a lunatic human with a demon-like mind. *** His implosion-explosion spell hits me again and I¡¯m for the thousand time send into the wall. My bones are already broken in several places, especially my ribs being broken into a lot of pieces. I notice it, but it doesn¡¯t slow me down, no. It¡¯s quite the opposite - it drives me further and makes me push harder. From the point when I managed to land the head hit, his fighting style had completely changed. He backed up, turning into the mist the moment I got just a bit closer, keeping distance and using his two ranged spells to harm me. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Skill issue between us is just too big - I dodge nearly everything. Time by time, I still have to cut through some of his, with dead souls infused attacks - like the first one in our battle, but I prefer to dodge it if possible, since every time I infuse my blade with the nullifying affinity, it¡¯s a bit harder. Apparently it seems like I can¡¯t use it infinitely. Everything has its cost. The problem is that he¡¯s becoming desperate and starts to combine his two styles. Now I have to not only dodge his ranged spells, but also the scythe itself. His favourite thing to do is to leave a few soul infused attacks in the air flying at me and then appear close to me, threatening me with his scythe. This way I have to watch out for the pinky-purple soul slashes and also the Reapshade itself, separately. And I¡¯m in that situation again. Two soul attacks are flying at me from two different sides, with different timing. There¡¯s an implosion-explosion on the place I¡¯ve been standing on, till now. I cover myself with the sword, safely enduring the explosion part. Duck low for the first slash, then simultaneously to the duck, dash sideways to dodge a scythe from above. I probably shouldn¡¯t, but I surge forward to land a hit, my sword glowing only mildly from the infusion as I¡¯m not able to summon the same power as before. I manage to hit his collar bone before he disappears again - that¡¯s not enough for me, I want his head. At this point, every surge feels like putting my brain into the microwave. My body takes it better, but still, I should be already dead from overusing it¡­ ¡­Nonetheless, I use it again. As the mist starts to reform, I¡¯m already there, but somehow, he predicts that and is already mid swing. I jump over the swing, my path clear to surge for his hea- I stumble backwards, hardly catching stability with only one hand as the soul slash flies past me. How did he manage to time that?! That¡¯s impossible! It did not harm me, but it gave the reapshade space to prepare for¡­ something I prolly don¡¯t want to know closer. I want to dash forward as soon as the soul slash fly past, yet I do not. He stands there without the scythe, his hands full of pinky-purple soul magic and his glowing eyes staring right into mine. Somehow, it seems amusing to me. Like¡­ Is he going to propose? *** The two of them clashing in the kings hall, their movements untrackable as their speed is increasing as the battle goes further on. The Reapshade, unserious before, is using his full power now, but the human is somehow managing to keep up and even surpass him. They¡¯re flying in the hall, back and forward. The moment the Reapshade teleports away, the human is already there pressuring him again, and that¡¯s even without using the body enchantment of his. He¡¯s probably not able to use it anymore, since it must be draining his stamina a lot. Yet he does it again, the bleeding from his nose and ears only strengthening. He really must be a demon¡­ or have one in his head. But the Reapshade, even when taking it seriously, did not use his strongest weapon yet. Until now - he really must be desperate. Such an interesting fenomen, a mere level 14 making level 60 to show his best cards. Is he the genius of his little corner in the universe? *** His gaze went straight into my soul, causing a weird tingling in there. It¡¯s like something is trying to get a grip of my¡­ not even only my soul, but of my whole self. Obviously, I don¡¯t like it. Not at all. For the first time in our battle, we¡¯re standing still, facing each other. Our fight is taking place in another sphere. He¡¯s trying to get control of me, I suppose, but that¡¯s not gonna happen. There¡¯s no way I would let anyone control me. I would rather kill my self than allow it. The battle in our minds differs from the one in the real world. His soul is much bigger and I¡¯m not able to attack him there the same way as I can in the real world. It¡¯s more like he wants to wrap his mind around mine, but I¡¯m slick as eel, while my soul is also being strong, which makes it pretty hard for him. When we fight like that for a while, it starts to bore me - by this time he should realize, he¡¯ll not be able to take control of me, yet he doesn¡¯t stop trying. It¡¯s a weird experience - fighting in my ¡°soul space¡± instead of with my body, but it takes too much of my focus to battle on boths fronts. Still, I have to change something as we are in a stalemate basically. I am not able to harm him this way and he can¡¯t get a grip on me. I need to get the fight back into physical reality. My mind is too occupied to control the body so¡­ I know it sounds weird, but I just order my body to move. And it actually moves. Although it¡¯s not in full battle capability, I am able to raise my sword to try to get a cut in the Reapshade. The pressure on my soul lessens as he has to block my swing, but then he gets back to attacking my soul, this time not to control it. He wants to destroy it now. Ain¡¯t no way ¡®am letting you do that. I dense my soul into a small hardened almost marble, leaving my conscious mind with that manner and my physical body in the hands of the unconscious one. He either lets my soul be, or die. There¡¯s no other option for him. He may have an upperhand in the soul fight, but he¡¯s not able to face my body while also putting meaningful pressure on my soul. The soul aspect of the fight is a bit different from the physical one. There seems to be a quality and quantity aspect of it. Basically, what he is trying to do is either break into my soul, or to completely surround it with his. I would guess that if he gets his soul around mine, I would fall under his control. What happens when he breaks through should be clear enough. That won¡¯t happen though, as I turn my soul into a small dense hardened piece. Yes, it might make my soul easier to be catched into his control, yet I do not fear that. My soul in that state seems to be very elusive and nimble, thus it¡¯s relatively easy for me to escape his attempts to catch me. So the fight in my head is more like a play on mouse and cat, while the one in a physical sphere is something to keep an eye on. In this state of fighting on two fronts, none of us is able to use any skills, which makes the battle even more interesting and fun. We¡¯re both fighting with our own bodies without excessive bullshit, such as long distance slashes and teleportation. Which means I¡¯m winning. My body instinctively moves by itself so well that I can use most of my focus to keep my soul safe. Hmm, I think I got a bit of a grip on this type of battle. There¡¯s no possibility for me to harm his soul - I simply don¡¯t know how, it¡¯s not as easy as swinging a sword¡­ So I just swing the sword at him. The pressure lessens, yet it¡¯s not like I can leave it undefended. With one half of my conscious mind I¡¯m pressuring the Reapshade with the sword, while the other one is escaping his soul attacks. This is not fun! I don¡¯t like fighting with my soul - it¡¯s boring. So I simply stop doing it. Releasing my soul from the small marble I made it into. It expands into its fullest, and the Reapshade starts to scream. 10 | The fruits of impossible It feels completely normal, but when I look at it with my inner vision, it¡¯s a mess. It looks disgusting. Parts of my soul are expanding and then bursting. There¡¯s a stable centre in all of this mess, which stays stable. The crazy layer keeps the stable one safe as any attack that may come would be blown away together with part of my soul. I am blowing away parts of my soul, together with his. The concept of this is utterly mad and at the same time I utterly love it. So I just don¡¯t limit my soul anymore, seeing as it is capable more than enough to fight by itself, giving me enough space to enjoy the physical aspect of the fight. I release my madness into its fullest and attack the Reapshade with the newfound vigor. I jump around him, giving him cut after cut while he¡¯s uselessly keeping occupied himself, still trying to attack my soul. Then he abandons it and my chances narrow again. I can¡¯t surge anymore. Even in my lunatic state, I can still get a bit of grip on reality, knowing that one more surge would send me into unconsciousness as both my mind and my body are running on the last millilitres of fuel. Yet, the high efficiency motor is able to do a lot even with this small amount of fuel. Oh god, this situation gives me shivers! My lunatic state shifts into another stage. I seemingly fly around him, dodging most of his by now weaker and slower attacks, as a lot of black mist is leaking through his wounds, and the rest of the attacks are safe to block or even better to parry. Though I¡¯m in no better state than he is. My arm - well, at least the remains of my arm, is bleeding a lot. Not as much as at the start, but the loss of blood is something I should take care of as soon as possible. Not to mention all my broken bones¡­ honestly I¡¯m not quite sure how I¡¯m able to even move. Yet I¡¯m dancing around the, by now, severely injured Reapshade. He is not able to match me anymore. Though I¡¯ll have to slow down in just a moment - it¡¯s already too much strain. Our fight slowed a lot, compared to its most intense moments, but it¡¯s still fast enough to make a slightest mistake prove fatal. To each one of us. Unfortunately for me, it seems like the amount of black mist his wounds produced, allows him to use his teleportation ability in a different way. He phases, or that¡¯s at least how I would call it. He can turn parts of his body into the mist and then condense the mist back, which seems to be possible only thanks to all the mist that already escaped from his body. So instead of teleporting, he phases now. It¡¯s even more annoying than teleporting - I hate it. I¡¯ll have to gather my last strength to infuse my sword with null one last time and get a clean cut through his head, or neck. Dash away from the implosion-explosion and immediately slide under the swing of the scythe. I can¡¯t go for his head from this position so I run around him, waiting for a perfect opening. And soon I get what I need. He tries a new type of attack. He swings again, but this time it lacks the strength and speed of normal and serious attack. I¡¯m surprised by it, which is exactly what I suppose he wants. Best defense is to attack! So I ignore his new attack type and dash forward, but the scythe stops mid swing and he starts to pull it back. I stumble forward and intentionally fall, the scythe flies above my head and when he stops pulling, I know that it¡¯s my chance. I get up and jump on, for the moment a stationary scythe blade, bounce off it and fly towards his head. He starts to phase, but I infuse my sword with every last bit of the null strength I can gather, my sword glowing nearly the same as at the start of the fight. I cut through, his head separated from the rest of his bod- No! There¡¯s still a piece holding his head tied to the body. Nonetheless to the scream melting my brain, I brace myself and surge towards his head. I start to lose consciousness mid flight, but I still manage to squeeze more from me, mildly lighting up the blade with null. I even make it to start a swing¡­ and then I black out. *** The huma- no, the monstrosity with level 14 defeated the Reapshade level 60¡­ the master between the soul manipulators in lower levels. Defeated by¡­ by someone integrated into the System just a few days ago. That¡¯s ridiculous. He even knocked himself out purposely in order to land the final hit. Maybe he didn''t know the Reapshade was already done and he would bleed out? There are mostly two categories of people - the ones who would crumble under the pressure of facing someone who they have no chance to defeat and the ones that would fight till the end, knowing they will die, but still decide to fight. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. But then there are smegheads with their absolutely messed up heads and delusional belief systems, who break natural laws on a daily basis. It¡¯s intruding. *** When I finally wake up, I stand before a hard decision to make. Does my whole body hurt more than my itself-eating stomach? Oh maan, I¡¯m so fucking hungry. I haven¡¯t eaten since the integration came, not counting the few berries I ate in the forest. I was a little hungry at the start, but then I gained some levels and the hunger disappeared by itself. I guess, the overuse of skills, my lunatic state and the amount of injuries I have, was pretty hard on my body. It makes quite sense that it needs some fuel to heal. Whatever, time for the intro and retrospection will be later. Now just an inspection. My body is fucked up, that¡¯s for sure. The ribs are severely broken and every breath hurts like hell. On the severed arm has formed a scab, which must be the reason why I didn¡¯t bleed out. ¡°Wow, I must have been unconscious for some time.¡± Otherways, the scab wouldn¡¯t have time to form this fast. ¡°Damn, I wonder how long it was¡­¡± All my bruises had time to lay off, so they hurt x times more now. I don¡¯t even try to move anymore, my body is all so fucked up, it might take a long time since I¡¯ll be back to battle functionality. But it¡¯s still pretty confusing, I mean¡­ I should be prolly dead by now. Bleed out not only from outside but inside too, because I bet some of my organs have been pierced up in the fight by some broken bones¡­ My lungs should be probably severely pierced by the ribs, but here I am, relatively okay - alive. Unfortunately I don¡¯t have another regeneration potion to magically heal myself. This time, I¡¯ll have to leave it to my natural regeneration, which is luckily boosted by my levels. Wait! I think I''ve found the reason why I¡¯m still alive. ¡­ I must have gained some levels, right?... LEVEL UP LEVEL UP LEVEL UP LEVEL UP ¡­ LEVEL UP Eeeerm¡­ Did I just get eighteen levels?! But that would make me level 32!!! Kade Huxley Title: none Level 32 ¡­ ¡°Well, this is a bit crazy, isn¡¯t it?!¡± Don¡¯t get me wrong, I have nothing against gaining levels and I even find it quite fair to get a lot of levels from this fight, but dude, this is fucking lot levels! But it would explain how I survived - my natural regeneration must have been massively boosted by the levels. It also healed my eardrums, together with my before bleeding eyes, but my head is still in pain. Either from that horrible scream or from my overuse of my abilities Of course, the level up messages are not all I got and since it looks like there¡¯s no danger around, and I have some time to spare - to heal up some more, I might also go through them all right now. The dungeon has been scanned - no more enemies have been found. The dungeon has been completely cleared again, your reward will be upgraded. As soon as I¡¯m done reading the message, the weight of the new bony dagger disappears from my improvised waistband. ¡°What the fuck! You said upgrade, not steal!¡± I would go further on and vent my anger properly, if not for the blue light forming the dagger in front of me again¡­ Seems like it needed to be taken away for upgrading. It had to be at least a high rare rarity or low epic, so now it might be like high epic or even low legendary?! Still not really sure how much difference there is between rarities, since I did not see much gear yet. The dagger finally completely forms and falls in my hands. It looks nearly the same as before, made completely from bones, its length is pretty impressive to a dagger, reminding me of a viking knife sax. It¡¯s slightly curved, resembling a bowie knife, which makes an interesting combination, together with the middle of the blade being occupied by some too closely known magic¡­ Its middle is glowing with gray-turquoise colour, with after upgrade added purple. I¡¯ll have to be careful to not cut myself. Pale Reaver (Epic) Forged from the remnants of forgotten horrors, this bone-white dagger thrives on the flesh of its victims. Each strike leaves the enemy withering, their wounds resisting both natural and magical healing. The dagger¡¯s strikes tear at the soul, inflicting persistent pain that weakens the enemy¡¯s focus, leaving them vulnerable. Its hunger is eternal, drawn from the meat and marrow of those it claims. Enchantments: Withering Wounds ¨C Injuries inflicted by this blade begin to rot, resisting natural and magical healing. Reapshade¡¯s Mark ¨C The dagger¡¯s strikes fragment the enemy¡¯s focus, inflicting minor soul damage that causes intense, lingering pain, distracting and disorienting them. ¡°Wow, those are some fancy descriptions. Now I envy my enemies even less.¡± As I¡¯m laying on the ground, I get the old rusty dagger from under me and throw it away. I won¡¯t need you anymore, deathweight. I probably shouldn''t do that. My whole fucked up body reacted accurately to how fucked up body should react, which means bringing a all-encompassing pain uppon me. ¡­I could do without it¡­ When my body calms down a little, I slip the dagger into the ¡°belt¡±, taking extra care to put it there safely - to not be able to cut myself by misstake. I can¡¯t wait to use it, but more rewards are waiting for me which I also can¡¯t wait to see. Level 25 achieved, as a reward, choose one of the following skills: Adaptive Footwork [Uncommon] [passive] The user naturally adjusts their stance and movement based on terrain, balance, and combat flow. Slippery surfaces, unstable ground, and shifting environments become easier to navigate in. Tactile Memory [Rare] [active] Tactile Memory allows the user to recall and visualize past battles with exceptional clarity, making it easier to refine techniques and improve through experience. Keen Instinct [Rare] [active] Upon activation, the user experiences a brief surge of heightened awareness, sharpening their perception of danger and movement. Subtle shifts in an opponent¡¯s posture, incoming attacks, and environmental threats become more apparent, making it easier to react before they fully unfold. ¡°Wow, those are some fancy options, let¡¯s see what they¡¯re about.¡± Two rares and one uncommon, not bad in my opinion for level 25. All of them are quite good to my surprise, which shouldn¡¯t actually surprise me - there wasn¡¯t a bad skill offering so far. I feel now like I shouldn''t have said that. It¡¯s gonna bite my ass now, for sure. I bet the next skill rewards will be shit now¡­ whatever. I¡¯ll just have to live through it. By now I already know what skill to choose. I definitely don¡¯t want Keen Instinct. I don¡¯t need anything like this, plus it¡¯s not even passive. My instincts are good enough and they run all the time, not just after ¡°activation¡±. Adaptive Footwork sounds more promising. It¡¯s a passive skill and it would actually give me something that I don¡¯t possess - a right combat stance. But the one I find having the most potential of them three is, of course, Tactile Memory. As I am right now, it is not good. Untrained, led only by my talent. I can meet in the future a skilled and experienced person and I would be fucked. I have fighting in my blood for sure, but if I want to become stronger, I¡¯ll have to train, not to rely on pure talent only. Even though the skill has less text in description than I would expect from rare grade skill. Based on what I¡¯ve seen till now, it seems like the higher the grade, the higher the description¡­ which makes quite a bit of sense, because why would you need a long description to tell me that my colossus sword is just a basic big ass sword.So this ability, based on this knowledge, is quite the odd one. Still, it should allow me to train some techniques with the sword. That¡¯s why I¡¯m picking it. Which leaves only one last System message; one last, and what should be the greatest, reward. 11 | Beautiful world Achievement unlocked; Reward granted ACHIEVEMENT - Cat killing mouse You¡¯ve done the impossible - killing a creature at least 40 levels above you in a fair battle. Your reward shall be proportional to it. Yess, I thought this one should be the best one and it seems like I was right! For your spectacular achievement, a unique reward has been granted. Fragment of the colossan Body Tempering [Ancient] A piece of ancient colossan wisdom, this fragment reveals the lost art of body tempering, a grueling technique used by the colossan warriors to push their bodies beyond normal limits. The colossans believed in harnessing the strength of their bones, muscles, and skin through extreme physical stress, relying not on magic, but on sheer force and resilience. I would expect a scroll or something like that, but as soon as I read the last line of the text, something starts hurling into my head. It¡¯s the knowledge of colossan body tempering. When it stops and my head becomes clear again, I can finally go through what I got. So basically, those huge bastards had some technique of strengthening their bones, flesh and skin by using magic circles which affected their surroundings. Unfortunately, I got imprinted in my mind only one and half of the three magic circles they used. I got the one for strengthening bones, which should affect the gravity around me several times, micro-cracking my bones to make them regrow stronger and more durable. There is also a fragment of knowledge about their strength training, which includes training weapon techniques with additional weight on the weapon plus something else, which is not included in the infopack I got¡­ it¡¯s called a fragment for some reason, I guess. Still, I got full fucking mid sized magic circle imprinted in my head, which is crazy. I just hope I¡¯ll be able to activate it. *** While I¡¯ve been dealing with all the System messages, my body regenerates a bit more. Still painful to move, but I can¡¯t lay here all day. Especially when I notice the dungeon slowly, but steadily fading away - small pieces of walls disappearing, replaced by pitch black with gray¡­ grain? Or is it mist? Whatever it is, I bet it would be noxious for me to stay here longer. Getting up from the ground is the hardest and most painful part, after that it gets easier. I pick up my sword and start turning towards the teleport when I stop myself. I picked up the sword¡­ with one hand? And I am holding it straight in front of me with ease - like nothing? WTF?! If I don¡¯t count this last fight, I¡¯ve always had to hold the sword with both hands, otherwise it was too heavy for me, so it¡¯s quite surprising that I can wield it now with only one ha- ¡°Ohh! That are the levels! Right, I got eighteen levels, that should boost my stats a little.¡± It makes sense now. With those levels, I can easily wield it with one hand and not be limited by my missing hand. That¡¯s quite a relief - I won¡¯t have to change my fighting style much. But I still need to find an item or someone able to regenerate or regrow my hand¡­ I don''t like the idea of some parts of my body being missing. I drag myself towards the exit - the door with the Sea of Stars, as I named it. This time, it stayed the whole time there, allowing me to step in and once again feel the sensation of floating in there. Then suddenly, instead of the scenery changing, throwing me out of the Sea, something starts to pull me back. I start to speed up, but something else grabs me out of the pull, and I am thrown back into the normal world. When I say thrown, I mean it literally. My body doesn''t take it well - it hurts and I am the one who has to endure it, how unfair. Yet, in bad, there is always something good about it¡­ at least they say. For me it¡¯s the sky. I lie right where I¡¯ve been thrown, enjoying the gentle cooling touch of the soft grass beneath me and watching the beautiful clouds floating on the blue sky. Despite the pain and the sudden circumstances under what I¡¯ve been thrown there, I find myself quite relaxed, just absorbing the beauty of nature. I take a few minutes to just admire the view and feeling of the grass and light breeze, then I get back to thinking about more important problems. Like what the hell was that?! Why were the doors sucking me back? Did the dungeon implode or something like that? It was weird and it gave shivers down my spine - I could have been dead. Which would be okay if I died in a fight, because that would be only my own fault for being too weak and picking the wrong fight. But this way, it would be pitiful and I don¡¯t like that¡­ Fortunately it didn¡¯t happen, because I can¡¯t see a way of surviving in space, which I suppose the Sea of Stars is. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Okay, time to get up and see where I¡¯ve been thrown off. I pick up myself from the ground again and try to get some grasp of my surroundings. I am not back on the clearing with the door. Instead, I¡¯m standing on a hill, having a clear view into the distance. The forest with the door, wolves, elves and the scary¡­ Well, he wouldn¡¯t be that scary now, if he didn¡¯t level up, of course. So the said forest is far away now. Its huge trees look unnatural compared to the neighborhood''s nature. From what I can see, there are mostly hilly grasslands, with occasional grouping of trees (the normal ones). The plains stretch as far as the eye can see, only in one direction, exactly on the opposite side than the big forest is, skyscraper tops are peeking above the horizon - there is a city. I could probably go back to the forest and kill the Lunar Deer, but honestly? I wanna see the town. I assume it will be affected by the time fuck the same way as my house was. So there is basically a whole apocalyptic town waiting just for me. It¡¯s decided - I¡¯m heading to the city! *** My pace is slow, my body hurts and it¡¯s far away, but those are just minor problems. I enjoy the walk as the sun is shining at me and the summer breeze is pretty cooling¡­ and the view? Fantastic! All the colourful flowers lining the islands of bushes, the long grass giving a home to all kinds of bugs, who make a wide variety of sounds. I am only glad that I don¡¯t see them, because by the sounds and occasional movements of the grass, they are as overgrown as the fireflies. ¡°Brrrr.¡± I don¡¯t like bugs - they are disgusting. No but like for real, who would like them? Person like that must be mentally ill or something. It¡¯s not normal to like bugs. Other than bugs, in the small groups of trees which are here and there, there are living deers, rabbits and a lot more animals for sure, I just haven''t seen them yet. I haven¡¯t seen them just like the Reapshades level, which is kind of frustrating. There has to be some cap on how much above your own level you are able to see the levels of others. Wait¡­ I think I might be able to solve this mystery. The Lunar Deer was level 36 when I was somewhere around level 5, which means I¡¯m able to see levels of creatures at least 31 levels above me. If we use this knowledge, while also knowing I was level 14 while defeating the Reapshade which was at least 40 levels above me, it means that the question marks start somewhere between 32 - 40 levels above you. Thinking about this also brings me to another weird thing - the leveling. Why did I get only three levels from the necro and eighteen whole fucking levels from Reapshade? The only possibility is some type of level multiplier, which could give you more levels based on how much stronger the enemy is, but that¡¯s just a wild guess. *** The night sky is even more breathtaking than the sunbathed grasslands. The clear, cloudless weather only amplifies the effect. No lighted up sky from the huge cities - I can see a fucking ring of the galaxy! I¡¯ve never seen our Milky Way this clearly, a huge loss. I don¡¯t have enough words to describe the true beauty of this view. It¡¯s phenomenal. The night life on the changed earth seemingly did not undergo the change; judging from the peaceful walk I¡¯ve been enjoying for the past hours. I like walking. It brings me peace and time to think. And I¡¯ve been thinking a lot. Mostly about this world and my life. In my what I would call past life, I had no goal at all - I was just surviving, but now I feel alive and I''m a little lost about this. What should I do now? Before it was all about going to work, saving money, paying off my mortgage and driving a better car. That was my whole life. I think I just shouldn¡¯t overcomplicate it and go after what makes me happy - I don¡¯t need to have a house now, or need to learn how to invest. I can just walk around and fight whatever moves and is strong enough to put up a good fight. So my conclusion is pretty simple¡­ ¡­I want to be the strongest. It is as simple as that; the ultimate goal. What more could I possibly want. *** Nothing attacks me as I walk and I am truly glad for it, since I am still not in a fighting condition. I slowly heal as I walk, my broken bones grow together and the bruises steadily disappearing. This time I ponder about something else - my new so-called trait, the Lunatic''s Exaltation. If I didn¡¯t see and feel its effects, I would say it¡¯s too weird to be working and useful. Now I can¡¯t say that since I¡¯ve defeated Reapshade only thanks to it. When I¡¯ve been in this state, my whole world shrunk into the one moment, the one fight and nothing else existed for me. It was awesome. I just released all the frustration, anger and disappointment, not holding myself back anymore. Besides, why should I hold my weirdness hidden all the time? There¡¯s no one to judge me and if so, I can just punch him really hard, something I couldn¡¯t do in the past. But I¡¯m free now though. I can thrive in life-death situations as much as I want without being chained by the fear of judgement. How refreshing, truly. *** I¡¯ve managed to inspect one more thing before dawn - my new affinity. To be honest I¡¯m not really sure if I can call it affinity, although the System calls it that way. Under word affinity, I would imagine something like a fire, water, earth, death, life etc. but the ¡°null¡±? I guess it should represent nullifying the magic, but having affinity to anti-magic sounds a bit weird¡­ but it seems it works for the System, so who am I to judge though. It¡¯s quite funny, because if I think about someone with fire affinity, for example, he will probably become a fire mage¡­ Does it make me an anti-magic mage? LOL. There are probably people with affinities like fire, who aren¡¯t mages. They can be fighters, just like me and not some, on magic relying, pussies. I¡¯ve been testing the null power along the way, lighting up my sword with light gray energy. I found out I can light it up just mildly, or I can light up my surroundings with immense white light. After this finding, I passed out. I¡¯m not quite alright yet, and infusing things with my- Can I call it magic tho? Hmm¡­ yeah, why not - I¡¯ll just call it magic. After all, it¡¯s magic-cutting magic. So infusing things with my magic drains my stamina the same way as Kairisurge does. The only difference is the null power drains mental stamina, rather than the physical one. That¡¯s how I found myself yet again lying on the ground, slightly protected by the long grass. It was already after dawn. The only thing I haven¡¯t been able to solve is how I can use the magic other way, than just infusing it. Well, I can¡¯t. I had an idea about throwing the null energy at someone the same way I would with a fireball, but unfortunately it¡¯s not possible¡­ at least not yet. Yes, I know it would be too overpowered if I could just throw it at a mage and get rid of his magic. However, I¡¯ll still have to learn it. ¡°Hmm¡­ Can I infuse rocks?¡± 12 | Human city, unhuman residents ¡°Unfair bitch!¡± My frustration reaches its peak when I throw what must have been my thousandth stone. And it didn¡¯t glow with white in the air. I encountered a problem. I can infuse a rock with null energy, but as soon as I throw it, it¡¯s gone.The moment the rock leaves my hand and flies a meter or so, it turns back into normal boring stone, without glowing. It¡¯s unfair - mages can have ranged attacks, so why don¡¯t I. Even though fighting from far away is for pussies, I agree that sometimes it¡¯s needed. I want to be able to do it too. ¡°Hmpf!¡± To be honest it¡¯s not actually that bad how it sounds. I at least learned how to throw stones. I¡¯m now confident enough to kill level 3 rabbit from thirty meters away. No I haven¡¯t been killing rabbits along the way¡­ just one. For all the time I¡¯ve been doing this intro, retro and whatever else spection, my body healed a bit again. I might be able to take on some smaller fights again. By small I mean someone who is not twenty levels above me. Otherwise I should be chilling. *** This is not my hometown. I stand on a small hill above the city and enjoy the view of apocalyptic skyscrapers. There are a lot of tall buildings in the center, most of them, to my surprise, still standing without any obvious damage¡­ besides the moss, vines and general oldness. And of course they are mostly windowless, with just some leftovers of glass. It is our capital city. ¡°What the hell is it doing here?! It should be at least half thousand kilometers away from where I live.¡± It doesn¡¯t make any sense why it should be here. I would expect the Earth expanding to be somehow linear, but it seems it¡¯s not since the capital is closer than it should be. Oh man, I hate those time and space fucks. Whatever. *** I descend from the hill down to the suburbs, clearly aiming for the center - where else should I go? All the family houses around are just ruins. I don¡¯t even bother to go in - there won¡¯t be anything useful, only moss and rot. Normal apocalyptic state, nothing special. As I¡¯m walking deeper into the city, through multiple squares, around empty shops and tons of rusty cars, the atmosphere starts to affect me. The emptiness and silence around here, disturbed only by whistling of wind between the car wrecks is quite melancholic. But on the other side, it¡¯s also somehow¡­ calming? Probably only for my asocialistic ass. I like it here; this atmosphere is awesome in my opinion. *** I get further deeper in the city, already getting between the three-story houses - the ones mostly used for offices and headquarters for smaller businesses. I enter one out of curiosity. On the first floor, there are two big office rooms. Its computers and tables are fully overgrown by moss and other green crap. I go back to the ground floor and check it out too - it¡¯s 1 to 1 same view. As I¡¯m walking past one of the rarely preserved windows, I slow down and slowly turn my head towards the outside. There, right in front of the window is something small, green and pissing on the building I¡¯m in. Goblin! He notices me too. We lock eyes and he freezes for a moment, but before he is able to make any sound, I pierce my hand through the glass and grab his face by the mouth. I want to take out my new dagger with my other hand, when I realize I don¡¯t have the other hand¡­ What a pity. So I just bash his head against the corner of the window until he stops thrashing about. Goblin - lvl 16 (corpse) I quickly pull his body inside, leaving it under the window and running to the first floor, picking my dropped sword from the ground. If there¡¯s one goblin, others won¡¯t be far away. And I am right. Soon three others come around a corner. Me breaking the window must have attracted them together with looking for their dead friend. I watch them from the first floor as they approach the place where I killed the first one. There was blood on the window, so the newcomers raise their attention, readying themselves for a fight. Surprisingly, they look above them, instead of around, but luckily to me, for some reason not into the windows but on the top of other buildings. Strange. After the quick check, one of them jumps into the building and that¡¯s the moment I decide they had enough. Enough of living. I land between them, the dagger in my hand goes instantly into the head of the first one. I yank it free, mid swing changing to the backgrip, cutting through the neck of my next target and backwardly driving the blade through his head. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The other two finally realize something important is gonna happen to their lives and give me their full attention. Death is important, right? The closer one, to my surprise, manages to draw his dagger. Unfortunately for him that¡¯s where his achievements end as I drive my Pale Reaver right through his face. The last one tries to run away, but he¡¯s missing something. You can¡¯t run away from me, bitch. He¡¯s pretty fast, which combined with his apparent knowledge of the city gives him a little hope of a successful escape. Fake hope of course - I catch up to him at any given moment. However, instead, I pick up a rock¡­ Why not use what I¡¯ve learnt earlier. *** Am I the first human, who successfully completed a brain surgery without any previous experiences? ¡­Well, I should probably say amputation instead of surgery, but that¡¯s just a wordplay. Now he has a rock instead of a brain. What an upgrade. All of them have the same rusty daggers as the one who attacked me the first day and all of them are ugly as hell. I drag the body back into the building to hide it and do the same with the rest of them too. Only the Pale Reavers effect made it a bit disgusting - rotten meat awfully smells. I suppose they have to have a camp nearby, so it would be unfortunate if someone found their dead bodies and alerted the whole place¡­ Not like it would be much of a problem with their levels. At least I have a clear goal - to exterminate all the goblins here. *** With my sword back, my way deeper in the city continues, only this time I am a bit more wary, not only of goblins but also of whatever they were looking for at the top of the buildings. Getting deeper in the city means getting between the taller buildings, thus having to be more careful. By that time, the speed of my walkthrough reduced significantly as I had to check more windows and be more aware of my surroundings. The goblins may be only around level twenty, but I have no idea what else could be hiding between, or in, the buildings. And the carefulness is on spot. As another goblin squad passes me, I finally get to see what they¡¯ve been careful for. The goblins are sneaking up on the ground floor of one of the skyscrapers and if I wasn¡¯t on the first floor of another building and wary of the goblins in the town, I probably wouldn¡¯t spot them. They are actually good at sneaking. The deer coming out of the corner have zero chance to spot them, even more so he seems to be scared by something. The ¡°something¡± soon show itself too, just not from where I expected. As the deer runs down the street, the goblins prepare themselves, but their focus clearly isn¡¯t on the deer. The attack is fast and silent, so silent it scares me. A thing with a seemingly human upper body, no arms but wings and claws instead of legs, descend upon the deer. Thrusting its claws into his back, the deer tries to run but the thing pulls him down to the ground. Harpie - lvl 27 That¡¯s the moment goblins have been waiting for as all four of them jump out of their cover and swarm the much bigger harpie. To my bigger surprise, there¡¯s a fifth goblin, clearly very different from the others and not just by his level. Hobgoblin - lvl 31 Slightly bigger, browner and a lot more muscular than goblins. He had to be using some stealth skill since he came out of nowhere, seemingly appearing out of the air from under one of the buildings. I was bloody lucky, he must have been focusing on the hunt so much that he didn''t notice me. I wasn¡¯t even hiding that much, just standing behind a wall next to the window and peeking out. Luckily I haven¡¯t been noticed. The hobgoblin doesn¡¯t rush, the harpie has already her wings cut off by the goblins. She managed to tear the belly of one of them, but the other three swarmed her and are holding her while waiting for their leader. He wants the kill for himself. One of his daggers finds its way into the harpies hearth, while the other one finishes the goblin with the teared belly. Greedy bastard, he won¡¯t leave any experiences behind. The rest of the goblins start to portion the deer into bags while the hobgoblin¡­ is playing with the harpies'' breasts? What the fuck?! You disgusting piece of shit. I¡¯ve seen enough and I only need one goblin to survive. No one else. That said, I drop the colossus sword on the ground - it would only slow me down here. It¡¯s time for the Pale Reaver to shine. The level and the competence of the hobgoblin clearly shows as, on the sound of my sword dropping on the ground, he immediately turns around, ready to face me as I¡¯m already mid air, surging at him. Our daggers meet, my attempt to put a hole through his hearth failed. I quickly disengage, jumping backwards. He follows - exactly what I''ve expected. Turning around my momentum in an instant and thrusting the dagger in front of him. He, to my displeasure, just slightly turn his leg and parry with one of his daggers while attacking with the other one. Falling backwards, I amplify it with a surge, carrying myself out of his attack, but he jumps at me again and his experience in this type of combat is clearly giving him a huge advantage. It¡¯s no help - I¡¯ll have to play it slowly, gaining experiences in battle with daggers and maybe learning something useful. That¡¯s how the battle goes on. Ho pushes on me while I¡¯m dodging his attempts while here and there trying some of my own attacks when an opening arises. But he''s damn fast. Not a single drop of blood had fallen yet. I¡¯ll change that soon as an idea starts to form¡­ or maybe he manages to do it first. He pushes one me once again, but this time something strange is happening. Usually I¡¯m able to block, parry or dodge all of his attacks, my longer dagger helping a lot. This time, something is different. His daggers start to flow faster and it¡¯s way harder to track them as they also speed up, turning into blurred smudges. Must be some skill. At this point it¡¯s pointless to try to track both of the daggers, so I focus only on one, which I counter with my own weapon, while the other is left to my intuition and dodging skills. Then he adds a kick in the mix. It takes me by surprise and gives him an opening he needed to land a hit. I, of course, managed to twist my body a bit, so he only hit my already amputated arm. It still hurts. The first blood goes for him. Luckily, his skill goes on cooldown right after and we continue clashing as before. By now, the previously bystander goblins are mostly dead. I couldn¡¯t risk any of them fleeing away and potentially bringing back some reinforcements. Only one is just unconscious - I¡¯ll need him later. Me and the hobgoblin jump around until the moment comes. I just jumped on the side of a building, while he is still on the ground, but following me right away. Get fucked you ugly piece of shit! When he¡¯s mid air, thus doesn¡¯t have a chance to redirect his flight, I surge, leaving his head to fly off. Just not quite. Yeah, sure. Dodge mid air my surge, no problem at all dude. Help yourself¡­ Damn, even I am not sure if I would be able to dodge that. He may have dodged the lethal damage, but I still managed to get a cut over his body lining from shoulder to waist. A horrible-sounding scream fills the surrounding area. The cut starts to rot and probably also inflicts that painful soul damage. The whole dynamics of the fight changes; turn around. I am the one with the upper hand now as he fights with the pain. He lost all chances to win, if he ever had any. I start to get in more and more cuts on his wrists, arms and legs. With every successful cut, we are getting closer and closer to the end. His end. I love you Pale Reaver. At one point he tries to run, quickly disengaging, his stealth skill activates. Even so, I¡¯m still able to see the contours of his body. If I let him get too far away, I might lose him so I do the easiest thing - I drop kick him. The power behind my dropkick surprised even me. He¡¯s sent into the wall and I don¡¯t wait before he recovers. I surge right after him, running the dagger through his head. He had no chance to recover quick enough, with all those cuts inflicting excruciating pain as his meat rots alive. I think he may be thankful for the dagger in his head.