After finishing off the last mummy creature, Liam stared in confusion as their bodies withered away until only wrappings and dust remained. Perhaps the disintegration was normal for the creatures but it certainly left a bad taste in his mouth. That could always be due to the the stench of rot, though.

With combat subsided, he took the time to investigate his surroundings. The structure of the hallway basically formed a diamond shape without the pointed ends. Instead, it ended up looking like an eight-sided diamond but with two-thirds of the size allocated to the top 'two' sides. Strange etchings were carved into the floor straight down the middle of the hallway. More torch sconces lined the walls at regular intervals. Honestly, Liam had no idea what to make of the place, but he knew he could only explore further.

Right when he turned to delve into the place, a glint caught his eye among the Restless Walker remains. Due to the nature of the creatures, he hesitated to examine it, but he knew anything worth taking could help his situation. Breathing proved difficult due to the stench. However, he eventually retrieved a small purple gem. It looked like a miniature uncut amethyst. When he tossed it into inventory, the screen labeled it as a small soul gem. It certainly sounded creepy, but there was no way a soul could fit within a tiny gem, right?

In order to avoid missing out on loot, Liam kicked at the remains to see if any more gems hid within the dust. The action actually disgusted him to an extent. After all, disrespecting the dead was taboo in most cultures. However, he found six more soul gems of similar size among the remains. Perhaps they would come in handy later on. Then again, maybe not.

Without further ado, he left the Restless Walker remains behind and traveled down the hallway, this time with dagger in hand. Sheathing and unsheathing it repeatedly would be troublesome.

Before long, he discovered a doorway similar to the one at the entrance. No stone door dared block his path this time around. Well, no door existed there in the first place by the looks of it. Anyway, he stepped through and found himself on a small platform overlooking a huge cube-shaped chamber. A staircase to the right led down to another platform. The same structure repeated itself seven times all the way to the bottom of the chamber seven stories down. As before, torches lit the area, leaving no quarter for total darkness.

Unable to resist the temptation, Liam spit over the edge of the stone railing and watched it fall until he could no longer see it. Grinning with satisfaction, he descended the staircase to the next platform. Like the previous one, a doorway loomed over him. However, in contrast to the previous one, a symbol similar to the Chinese character for 'seven' with a sword behind it was etched into a square plaque above the doorway.

A quick look past the opening revealed a short hallway. Once again, several of the mummy things lurked about. Luckily, none of them huddled together this time around. That being said, he dispatched each of them individually without much trouble, receiving seven more notifications in the process. He spared no time in gathering seven more soul gems, either.

“I wonder why there are seven in each area.” Liam pondered aloud. Even if a reason existed, his actions would not change. Although the hallway dead-ended, numerous doorways on each side of the hallway gave him plenty to explore.

First, he explored one of the rooms closest to the end of the hall. Within, he discovered what looked to be a simple room at first glance. An unimposing candelabra hung from the ceiling, lighting the room better than the torches would have. The most eye-catching aspect of the room was paintings on the walls. They drew his attention long enough for him to realize it depicted the entire life of a person from infancy, to war, and all the way until death. Then, while admiring the paintings, he noticed five rectangular blocks at the far end of the room. Obviously, they were graves. Even a simpleton like Liam figured it out with a single glance.

“This is... a tomb?” Liam muttered upon realizing what kind of place he was exploring. “I guess that's why I found undead here... probably.”

Since he found nothing else of interest in the room, he moved on the next one across the hall. It looked just like the previous one, yet it differed vastly. The paintings in this room depicted a group of people, likely siblings, growing up as farmers but eventually training as soldiers. Most of them appeared to have fallen in battle. Whereas the previous room contained five graves, this room contained eleven.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Even though he found no loot, Liam moved from room to room, admiring the paintings in each one. Every single painting depicted the life of soldiers who died in battle. Looking at the paintings felt just like reading a picture book depicting true stories of real people. For some reason, he could not help but feel some sort of connection with the paintings. After all, he had lived as a soldier himself, albeit not the most respectable one.

When he realized he had run out of rooms to explore, he felt a little empty inside. He wanted more. What happened to these people? What kind of war took place to kill all of them? Why did they have a tomb dedicated to them?

“Oh, god, I'm turning into Sam now,” Liam said, chuckling at recalling his friend's excitement about such things. “I'm not actually turning homesick now, am I?”

The possibility existed that he would forever be stuck in this world. If that turned out to be true, then he would need to figure out what kind of life to live from now on.

Kind of a strange thing to think about in a tomb.

Without further ado, he descended to the next platform. A character similar to the Chinese character for 'six' with a spear behind it was etched into a plaque above the door. Once again, he found seven more Restless Walkers. While stabbing the brains out of the second to last one, the notification screen startled him due to being bigger than the others.

You have slain Restless Walker!

Earned 59 exp.

Level up!

“I guess I'll check that later,” Liam muttered to himself while dashing toward the final mummy. He grunted while stabbing into the creature's head. “Hmm... even with all the exertion, I'm not too worn out. Interesting.” With that, he opened his status.

Status

Name: Liam Foxworth

(Slayer of the Colossal)

Age: 33

Primary Class: Thief (Lv.9)

Species: Human

Lv. 9

Available Classes:

Class Description:

HP

063 / 172

Warrior

Physical melee class

MP

000 / 000

Pyromaniac

Firestarter/Arson

Strength

18(+2)

Dexterity

28

Agility

26

Intelligence

8

Wisdom

16

Charisma

3.1

Luck

2

Available Stat Points:

8

“Huh. Looks like I got some HP back somehow. Was it from sleeping?” Liam muttered. He blinked a few times, then said, “Man, I'm going to lose my sanity if I keep talking to myself. Now that I think about it, what's up with these status point things? I noticed 'em earlier, but didn't pay much attention to it.”

Would you like to use available status points?

Yes/No

“Uh, yes?”

Another screen popped up with a list of his stats with plus and minus signs next to them. Even Charisma and Luck could be increased. Liam was sorely tempted to allocate all of the points to Intelligence but changed his mind after pressing the plus sign once. Using the minus sign, he negated the change.

“I think I'll do this some other time. I don't trust myself to make the right choice right now.”

Wise decision made in spite of low Intelligence.

One point added to Wisdom.

“You've got to be kidding me...”