Daewi woke up inside a strange cave, his body half-numb from lying on the damp, cold stones.

There was an unsettling silence about this place. A soundlessness that seemed almost secretive, purposeful in its existence.

"Hm." He grunted, raising his head and looking around.

Puddles. Moss. The man saw nothing that could be considered alive. No critters. No small animals.

It was just dead silent.

Daewi felt a fierce twinge of pain then, and momentarily massaged his temples. Right, speaking of death, hadn't he died earlier? No. 12 had shot... who knows how many rounds into his skull. No. 8 didn't know for sure, since he probably ceased living somewhere between the first four bullets.

Coeus always did stick to his beliefs of checking thoroughly, or as he called it, 'double tapping'.

Whatever that was.

There was also no need to further search for injuries, considering that his blown-off face seemed to have miraculously come back.

In fact, disregarding this abnormal grogginess, Daewi wondered if he had ever felt this... light.

As if the permanent weight on his shoulders was suddenly lifted.

Such an odd sensation.

Maybe he'd get a clearer perspective on the situation if he could see himself. There were obviously no mirrors present, and only minimal light, shining from this slight crack in the rigid rock walls. He would have to make do with the reflective puddles, a barely workable solution.

No. 8 could just about make out his face. Those torn features. The ripped, burnt skin. A mouth that had no lips-

His hair abruptly fell forwards onto his face, blocking part of his vision, so much so that he immediately brushed it away, before pausing in bewilderment.

Wait a minute.

He should have no hair, much less long hair. Daewi's brows slightly tightened as he viewed himself from the murky water again.

His full of head of hair. His unblemished skin. His mouth that still had lips.

No. 8 touched his face, blinking incredulously, even his blank expression exhibiting some change. He was healed. Completely healed. As if he had never taken any damage before. A perfectly pristine set of features, one that could have belonged on any normal person.

It was the 'him' from over twenty years ago.

But something remained unchanged.

A scar on his right eye; the scar that slashed through his cheek and severed his collarbone. Somehow, it alone had survived where the others vanished, taking with it Daewi's supposedly renewed vision as well. No wonder he couldn't tell if anything felt different. Everything still seemed the same for his eyes, at least.

And it wasn't difficult deducing the reason why.

So... 'that person' possessed connections to this place? With this place... probably being the infamous [Tower].

No. 8 thought his conclusion proved rather logical.

For what seemed like a cavern, its interior sounded way too quiet. There were zero signs of life, even in an environment that was conducive to it, which caused that strange feeling of contrast he'd been experiencing since the moment he awakened here. A disturbing sense of absurdity.

Moreover, Daewi had never sensed danger from a cave before.

Dangerous creatures. Dangerous people. But never a dangerous 'place'.

Yet the wide, stretching corridor of stone and moss sitting in front of him, was currently ringing every alarm bell inside his head.

Thus, he immediately remembered the [Tower]. The place where even your own thoughts could eat you alive. Or so they said.

A terrible graveyard for souls. A horrifying den of monsters.

The most feared location in the world.

No. 8 got to his feet then, stretching his limbs, trying to brush off that uncharacteristic grogginess.

Fearing anything at all was useless, much less something as mundane as the unknown. Of the many emotions he had seen in his life, he found 'fear' to be the most inconceivable, and the most unobtainable. It was a ridiculous farce that ran contrary to his very being.

Fear existed due to danger. However, what if one could sense danger without fear?

Wouldn't it only hold oneself back at that point? Fear preceded hesitation, and hesitation preceded mistakes, which death usually follows.

Yet there were those who claimed fear beneficial. Claimed it could cheat death, or at least warn against it.

Such a contradictory matter.

Daewi observed the walls behind the corridor closely. Was this an entrance, blocked off by stone? There seemed to be a light source coming from somewhere, seeping through the cracks and seams. His left hand immediately curled into a fist, before viciously slamming against the stone bricks, hoping to collapse them in one go using his full strength.

Crack!

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

But the rocks simply crumbled a tiny, tiny bit.

While his knuckles completely shattered.

"Huh..." No. 8 glanced at his broken hand distastefully. Unfortunately, it seemed that alongside his renewed vigor, came another, more pressing issue.

The 'Mercy' in his system had vanished.

Grogginess. Weakness. So the drug's effects on his body were reversed in full. Not just simple a regeneration, but an absolute rewrite. Because 'Mercy' wasn't your average drug. It was especially designed to be as addictive as possible, utilizing deliberately cruel withdrawal symptoms, yet retaining the victim's psyche, since there was no meaning in giving a mindless puppet matchless strength.

Even if you could withstand the agonizing pain, its debilitating pangs followed you till your dying breath. He had experienced that personally.

In short, it was a drug that, once consumed, would haunt you forever.

To be rid of it meant Daewi's body had been fully reborn. Built back from scratch.

And that he was now much weaker than before.

"Chiek! Kiek!!" As No. 8 cradled his arm, he suddenly heard a piercing screech, unlike any noise he'd ever heard before, "Keke, Khiek!"

The shrill cackle was followed by a sizable stone, whizzing past his ear as Daewi titled his head sideways.

He recovered his wandering thoughts. There would be time for pondering later.

For now, he had to survive.

No. 8 laid eyes on the strange creature in front of him, staring at its mottled green skin and enormous, clubbed nose. He recognized it as an 'entity'. A creature of the [Tower], but not similar to the ones he had seen and fought against.

This one was much smaller. It had much less presence.

In fact, if it hadn't screamed directly at him, Daewi would've likely missed its approach entirely.

That was rather concerning. He wasn't as strong as he used to be, after all.

"Some fine tuning is necessary." No. 8 muttered under his breath, waiting for the creature's next move.

The mottled green thing stopped for a moment at his inactivity. It banged its clawed feet on the floor, waving its limber arms wildly, mouth stretched thin in what he presumed was a smirk? Seems it took his curiosity as weakness, and was now mocking him? Hm. This felt familiar.

Being looked down upon by a creature that barely stood at the height of his thigh... what an odd feeling.

The green, hairless gerbil unceremoniously charged at him, swinging another rock fragment. It swung with no technique, only pure ferocity. And yet, it didn't do so on instinct. That much was evident by just how sloppy the strikes were. However, there was intent present. Amateurish, of course, but present indeed.

It had aimed for the meat of his thigh. Slashed right at the femoral.

Clearly, the thing had already killed humans before.

Daewi stepped away and threw a swift teep. Thud. The creature yelped, and immediately flew backwards, rolling messily onto the mossy stone floor.

He... had not placed a lot of power inside that kick. Although No. 8 felt some resistance, it was nowhere near what he initially expected.

Didn't it seem rather weak for an entity of the [Tower]?

"Kiki, Kah! Chiek!" The mottled green lifeform staggered as it got back to its feet, confusion visibly written on its face, before immediately turning into a raging fury, pointing the rock shard threateningly at him. "Chiekkkk!!!" Could a simple creature also feel anger?

Oh. It charged again.

But Daewi was no longer probing for information.

He advanced as well, meeting the green entity at the focal point of collision, his profile shooting low against the ground.

A straightforward, aggressive tackle.

Normally, it would be used for gaining limb control, into a single or double leg takedown, mount position and assault. Unfortunately, the creature's legs reached roughly level against his ankles, so that was impossible. He needed to get a bit creative.

Blocking its dominant hand with his left elbow, No. 8 grabbed the creature's rough, textured head using his right hand.

Thump.

He slammed it onto the floor, grinding the back of its skull against the solid stones, skidding a trail of blood across them.

Then he reversed, feeling its bulbous nose burst as he smashed its face into the blunt rocks that he tried prying open earlier.

No damage. The crack in the wall didn't get wider. The light didn't even get bigger.

Let's try again.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Meaty, fleshy thumps echoed throughout the dark corridor. If there were any others lurking in the shadows, his actions here had definitely alerted them, though Daewi didn't really seem to care. The more of them there were... the more opportunities he would get.

Yet in the end, nothing appeared.

And those terrible, disgusting thumps merely continued, flesh against stone against flesh against stone against flesh-

Pop.

The creature's skull crumbled in his hand. A deflated balloon.

No. 8 sighed, inspecting the rock covering the light. No damage. Not even a single loose stone this time.

He threw out the goblin's crumpled head, severing it cleanly from the body, which he still had uses for.

Daewi then checked the strange [message] he'd received sometime during his 'experiment'.

[Ding! Lvl 1 Goblin slain, +5 exp. Of the current Batch, you are the first to slay a Goblin! Additional rewards gained! Added to player profile- error.]

The starting contents were understandable enough for him, but quickly devolved into:

[Player profile unsynchronized. {Blank} detected. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Activating temporary privileges.]

[Congratulations! You have slain a Goblin, +5 exp, +1 karma.]

Somehow, No. 8 could sense that this was a [system message]. Moreover, he could also logically deduce that it probably shouldn't be shouting errors at him, though he wondered if this meant it would break or shut off soon. Having a voice speaking inside his head could prove irritating, if not outright dangerous.

However, Daewi did find that his hand had substantially healed after receiving the message, and he weirdly felt physically stronger too.

What exp. What karma. He understood none of it. He only knew the things he saw for himself.

Did killing entities of the [Tower] grant one strength?

That might be an interesting 'test'.

He tucked the Goblin's corpse underneath his armpit, totting it like a purse down the only path forwards: the long corridor.

But No. 8 halted upon reaching a certain position, and stretched his hand out, slowly but surely. Stretching, further and further, until it suddenly stopped moving too, fingers flattening out evenly as if pressed against some invisible barrier.

His instinct shimmered. It told him that proceeded any further would be dangerous.

Not life threatening, just dangerous. A possible threat.

"Your turn." Daewi spoke gently to the beheaded carcass, before throwing it directly into the perceived 'danger'.

Click.

For a moment, it sounded like a mechanism had activated, and then a massive, bladed axe swung from the walls towards the Goblin.

Snip. The edge easily chopped its corpse into two halves, before continuing to swing for a while more.

"Wow." No. 8 exclaimed in a dead-pan manner. That axe had been quite slow, but exceptionally well-hidden. Even when realizing the presence of danger, the swinging blade's entry and exit points were still a complete mystery to him, with it seemingly having come and left from thin air.

Only as Daewi bent forwards to retrieve the Goblin halves, did he accidentally chance upon the slim, almost imperceptible slits in the surrounding walls.

And once he saw one. He saw many.

A nick here. An indent there.

A suspicious, bullet shaped hole, blending into the grey and black.

Different sized slits for different traps. No. 8 counted nearly fifteen possible oddities in the cramped area, so there must be even more than that.

Nonetheless, it seemed the [Tower] didn't like slow progress.

For when the bladed axe finally vanished, returning to the wall, it revealed another goblin as well, standing directly behind it.

Holding a razor-sharp rock.

"Oh, boy."

Daewi smiled again his hollow grin.

He knew there would be much to do here.