Chapter 3 - To Leave a Mark Behind
You have entered the beginner-level Dungeon of the Abyss.
Difficulty- Nightmare
So, this is a dungeon.
I remember creating different kinds of dungeons, but I never created one called the dungeon of the Abyss.
And what is with that difficulty?
A nightmare difficulty dungeon, how am I supposed to defeat this?
It is still a beginner-level dungeon, so it shouldn´t be too hard.
In my novel, I created different kinds of Dungeons to conquer, with each having a different difficulty.
The easiest one is a beginner-level one, with different kinds of difficulty's: challenging, Hellbound, and Nightmare.
After the Beginner Dungeons, there come Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert, with the same difficulties.
So right now, I need to beat a beginner-level Dungeon with the difficulty of Nightmare.
I mustered up my courage and took the first step towards my goal to live my second chance at life to the fullest.
The inside of this Dungeon looks exactly as I expected it to look.
An old crumbling building inside, resembling the inner of a castle.
Dirty and dusty everywhere, it looks as if nobody has ever been here.
I entered a colossal room with four massive pillars, strengthening the roof. Although the walls were crumbling, the pillars holding the roof were in good condition.
On the other side of the room, a gate is taller than me.
Is this the first room?
With this size and atmosphere of the room, I would think this is the fricking boss room.
I don´t even have a weapon; at least give me a sword or something so that I can protect myself.
Right, I almost forgot about this.
I still have these.
I looked at my arm; the 10 Rings of the Abyss stuck onto my arm.
System-
Item Information-
Name-
The 10 Rings of the Abyss.
Skills-
Devour
Energy Outburst
???
???
Bound to you for life.
As your abyssal cultivation grows, you will unlock more skills.
The use of this item will make you more likely an evil being.
These rings are my only weapon and protection at the time.
The only skills I can use right now are Devour and energy outburst.
I don´t really know about the item information that says “The use of this will make me an evil being,” but I have no other choice considering my low stats.
System-
The Gate of the Abyss opens.
A monster will cross the state of life and death and transit to your world.
Suddenly the gate on the other side of the room started to move.
It slowly opened itself.
The moment the gate fully opened, I felt a powerful energy coming from the other side; black and white lighting began flashing across the entire room.
System-
A Shadow Thunderhound crossed the sides to your world.
Displaying Level of the Monster.
Level- 1
Hp- 10
Strength- 10
Stamina- 10
Endurance- 10
Magic – 12
It looked like a black wolf.
Much bigger than an average wolf.
Almost as reaching the same height as me standing on four legs.
The moment we locked eyes with each other, it was as if I was directly looking into the Abyss itself.
His eyes shadowed like a solar eclipse, looking right back at me.
It felt as if he was looking directly into my trembling soul.
Its black fur stood even out in the darkest of rooms, its tail and chest colored white as if lightning had struck there a long time ago.
His fur began to form spikes from the electricity as it released a black and white thunder around him.
Covering his entire body like a shield, protecting it from its enemies.
My heart as if it had stopped circulating my blood; my vision went blank.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
I then noticed my body trembling in fear, my heart beating faster and faster after each second.
I was scared.
Scared that I would die; I had just been reincarnated into this world, and I am supposed to just die like this?
No….
I don´t want that...
Tears came bailing out of my eyes, my arms reaching for help.
The tears wouldn´t stop coming.
“Please somebody HEELLLPPPP me...”
“I am going to die.”
“Please help me.”
…
Until now, I have been running away from every obstacle that was too hard to cross...
I thought it would be easier that way.
But the truth is, it only made everything harder.
As I kept running away from my problems.
My heart only kept getting heavier with each false decision.
After a while, I kept on questioning myself.
Why am I like this? Am I just a human failure?
I´m just a nobody...
No, am I even worth less than that?
…
I wanted to leave behind a mark on the world; I wanted to be someone that is worth looking up to. I wanted to make them happy even if they couldn´t see my results.
I was talentless in everything.
I couldn’t produce any results.
Everywhere I went, failure would follow me close by.
But then I started writing my own novel.
It was even considered one of the best.
In the beginning, it was fun.
I thought to myself, “I finally found something I was good at; I may be able to make them proud.”
But as my illness kept on getting worse each day, so did my spirit.
Your illness doesn´t affect you as much as it does the people around you.
The people you consider close would only be hurt by being close to a dying person.
And so, I pushed everyone away.
Dying alone is better...
…
As my soul got turned apart piece by piece after each passing day, so did my ambitions to make the people close to me proud.
Because now they were gone, and I was left all alone.
In the end, I made the novel called “the shittiest “in the world.
After all, I did accomplish one of my goals of leaving a mark on the world.
But I managed to do it in the most horrible way possible.
Still….
I got…...
I got a second chance, and I’m not going to waste it.
I will live my life to the fullest and leave a mark on the world.
I am going to accomplish my goal in this world if anyone dares to step in my way.
I will kill them myself...
Be it a Monster or a Human...
Come on, fate, it doesn´t matter what you toss in my way; I will beat it to a pulp, even if it is a god.
I will destroy it...
Sigh…. I must first stabilize my breathing.
Huuuhhh..
I mustered up all my courage and began dashing towards the hound.
Clenching my fist as hard as I could, my nails began tearing into my hand.
Blood started running down my hand.
My entire body was shaking.
But it wasn´t because of my fear; it was because I felt strangely excited.
The Shadow Thunderhound began strengthening the thunder enveloping his body.
His now-electrified body builds a natural shield against his enemies.
As the wolf began howling in a deep voice, the thunder surrounding his body formed an arrow-like energy in the air.
It was as big as the wolf itself.
Just the presence of the arrow created waves of wind as strong as a hurricane.
The moment all of the thunder energy surrounding the Hounds Body got absorbed into its attack, a big shockwave caused the room to tremble.
It was fast.
The Thunderhound had blasted its attack right at me.
The Arrow was too fast to capture it with my eyes.
It was already before me, almost reaching my face.
But it strangely felt as if time had frozen.
I was only able to think of one solution, and I shouted aloud.
“DEVOUR”
The Rings of the Abyss began reacting to my call.
They began emitting black violent energy.
I hold my hands straight towards the arrow.
The black fog-like power devoured the lightning arrow of the wolf in one instance.
System-
The 10 Rings of the Abyss devoured the black and white lightning arrow.
The Abyss within you grows +1.
No more than 10 meters remain between me and the beast.
The hound began rushing towards me, bearing his claws out to slice me.
His droll covered his fangs.
The monster jumped off the ground, preparing to kill me.
His claws stretched out, and his snout opened wide, preparing to bite me.
Right before the hound was able to reach me, I started shifting my weight to my back and bent my body backwards.
My knees fell to the ground, and as I continued sliding towards the beast on the ground.
I was already in the perfect position to strike the hole from below.
With a perfect vision to strike the hounds belly.
I gathered all my strength into my fist and swung at it with all my might.
As my fist got near the body of the monster, it´s armor like thunder started enveloping his body again.
But I didn´t stop.
The lightning began striking at my fist.
It was as painful as if a million nails would start penetrating my fist.
But this was not enough to make me stop.
“ENERGY OUTBURST”
The Rings began to envelop themselves with the energy absorbed from the arrow thunder attack it had absorbed; the arrow appeared before my palm, which, after reappearing again, was now covered with the power of the abyss.
The Abyss within me had strengthened the arrow.
As I slammed my palm against the stomach of the wolf, the rings on my right hand began forming a connection; they were connecting by the abyss.
The arrow tore through the belly of the Thunderhound, tearing any flesh in the way apart, breaching through the back.
The black thunder arrow burst into the height; it busted into the roof.
The wolf is screaming in pain.
Its blood ran down my arm as I held its body into the sky.
The body of the beast began to pulverize into black ash.
I did it...
What is this?
Tears began flowing down my face.
It weren´t tears of sadness; it were tears of success.
I finally accomplished something in my life.
I did it; I didn´t back down this time.
I faced my enemy head on this time, and I didn´t run away.
My body felt sour after I landed the final hit.
I was unable to stand up for a while, and as the tears kept falling down my cheek.
I heard a sudden noise; the gate on the other side of the room started to open itself.
A while later.
The gate, now revealing the other side, brought a blast of wind with itself, filling the room.
System-
*Cultivation progress: 2%-5%
*Cleaning Impurities: 2%-5%
Meditation is now required for further improvement.
*Level up
*Level up
*Level up
*Level up
You are now able to distribute your stats.
Available stats: 16.
Hell yeah, I gained four levels.
So, one level brings me 4 stat points, which I can distribute.
Let’s see…
System-
Your HP has increased to 2-5.
Your strength has increased to 2-5.
Your stamina has increased to 2-5.
Your endurance has increased to 1-6.
Your mind has increased to 5-7.
Every muscle in my body began destroying itself and creating new muscle fibers stronger than the ones before.
Ahhgggghhhh.
That hurt; every muscle in my body started ripping apart; couldn´t you have warned me at least beforehand?
System-
And why would I do that?
I like seeing your reactions.
You are quite funny; did you know that?
…
Let’s get out of this damned place!
System-
DON´T IGNORE ME!!!
That´s the exit, right?
Finally, this nightmare ended.
System-
HEEEYYY???
At the other end of the exit.
This is a portal, right?
A purple portal appeared at the end of the dungeon.
I guess I need to walk through.
I walked into the portal, and I got transported into the middle of the forest.
It was different from before; different kinds of fauna gathered here.
I´m finally out of that gloomy place.
So, what should I do next?
The sun is almost down, so I should search for shelter for the night.
After searching for a while, I found something.
A little cave, near where I was ported out to.
If I remember right, the system said that if I wanted to increase my cultivation, I needed to mediate.
Let´s try this out.
I sat down with my legs crossed.
And started to meditate.
2 hours later
It’s been two hours, but I still don´t notice anything. Am I doing it wrong?
It´s already completely dark outside.
Suddenly the Manuel's instructions, which my system had absorbed, came to my mind.
As if it were natural, my body started collecting the energy within my body towards my Dantian, slowly creating the center of my cultivation.
Time passed by in a flash. It had been a couple of days since I started meditating, but I wasn´t feeling hungry nor thirsty.
Is this thanks to me cultivating?
The energy in my Dantian had been stabilized to a certain degree.
System-
Cultivation-Clearing State 100%
You have entered a new state.
Cultivation: The Abyssal Arts, Foundation Establishment State -1
You can now utilize your inner Qi energy to a certain degree.
Cleaning impurities: 10%
Weak body-training efficiency: -90% decreased to -80%
My cultivation increased, and I can even utilize my inner Qi now.
Let´s test it out.
I started focusing on the energy that I had stored in my Dantian.
As I released my inner Qi, I could feel my body getting stronger.
So, this is something like a buff for my strength; I may be able to find other uses too.
I stopped my medication.
“Maybe with this newfound power I have a chance.”
“I may be able to leave a mark behind.”
As I continued my search for a town, days passed by quickly.
During the search, I realized a few things.
I don´t need food and water anymore as long as I cultivate.
I also realized how bad my weak body status effect is.
It makes it 80% harder to gain stats through training.
I wandered for many days, and I only gained one stat point for my stamina after multiple miles.
System-
Stamina + 1
How many more days will it take me to reach some sort of civilization?
When I reached a hill and looked into the distance, I saw something strange.
It was a town.
Finally, I found it.
This is my only lead towards my many questions.
I can find out if this truly is my novel and where the main characters of my novel are right now.
I rushed towards the town, my legs hurting from overworking them for days, and the moment I reached it,.
I came to know the truth behind this world.
Chapter 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To be continued
Current Status window
Lv – 5
HP – 5
Strength -5
Stamina- 6
Endurance- 6
Magic – 0
Mind- 7
Unique Stat
Cultivation: Abyssal Arts-Foundation Establishment State: 1
Available Stats: 0
Abyss collected -1
Skills: Inner Qi application.
Condition Overview-
Cleaning impurities: 10%
Weak body-training efficiency: -80%
Illness: You have a serious illness.
If not treated, you could die. In your current state, there is
no cure for your illness.
Curse of the Abyss: You have been cursed by the God of the Abyss; you are more
likely to become evil.
Curse of the Dragon-???
Title: You haven´t accomplished anything yet. Try harder.
Item Information-
Name-
The 10 Rings of the Abyss.
Skills-
Devour
Energy Outburst
???
???
Bound to you for life.
As your abyssal cultivation grows, you will unlock more skills.
The use of this item will make you more likely an evil being.