These golems were tough and old, their age surprising me deeply. Almost fifty thousand years old, enough to become myths, these golems of poor strength actually performed with acute precision. Maybe they were frozen beneath, but I can't feel even a slight remnant of cold air. Their bodies are neither hot nor even fresh besides the temperature of the earth itself. But a freezing feeling does exist, one that peeks at my borrowed flesh from within this temple's depths.

Finally stepping onto the open area between the first two pillars, I am greeted with ominous darkness and awe inspiring grandeur. The roof is probably kilometers above my head, each pillar thicker than a skyscraper. This place is beyond the means of humans, is what I understand from this.

That is, however, only for those I know of.

This vessel I occupy can most likely shatter boulders with a flick of its slender fingers, beheading a prehistoric reptile with a brush of air alone. Each stroke drawing devastating words, bearing truth of destruction and beauty of creation.

Looming and loitering, the suffocating eeriness from the lack of light ahead is fighting the dusk behind. My steps echo past the frigid air, awakening untold horrors beyond. I summon potential statuses everywhere, attempting to uncover any kind of trap or sneaky opponent. I don't want to get backstabbed, so each pillar I walk past, despite it taking so long, I immediately turn back around for a moment. But due to their size, even a small dragon could hide by simply matching my advance with their retreat.

After an hour, I'm finally engulfed fully by this impending, artificial night. I clench my right fist and casually send a punch forward. It lacks all kinds of martial qualities, only good for a show. But the wind pressure is tangible, forcing the robes on my body I didn't notice to stick against my skin and lean muscles. The marble flooring, smooth as can be, and dusty as it should be, summons a large burst of it. This dust smells different, almost pulling me into visions of forlorn stories.

This place reeks of distant history, obvious from the guardians already tens of thousands of years old. In novels, one would expect such an aged temple and guardians to be the peak of existence. Ten thousand years is as often used as a thousand. Both depicting peerless martial ancestors capable of upheaving the very Heavens.

But these golems were underwhelming, not because of my superior strength, but because of their lack of imposing might. Just a thousand years would be enough for Empires to rise and fall ten times over, so for forty plus of this amount to just be F-Rank, it's disappointing.

But I won't complain, all the better for me- what was that? "Hello?" I shout casually, paying close attention to the area in front. The lack of light seems really profound somehow. Like this darkness is not only a lack of light, but also artificially rough to get through. Not only so, but this body doesn't have night vision like my main one, even though I somehow believe the skill to not have the ability to make a difference. "This is weird... Hey! Helloooo~!! Someone here or what?"

Should I go back? This is creeping me out. The moment I think of retreating, a tingle on my scalp sparks me awake. A slight turn to my right and I instinctively kick the floor. The stale air is violently pushed apart, my glowing right arm and eyes illuminating my surroundings in turquoise. At the end of my predatory jump, a few hundreds of meters ahead, my right fist smashes onto the floor. My muscles tense and relax as a massive impact is transmitted to my skeleton. The loud collision is followed by the erupting marble cracking like an egg, splashing shards and debris everywhere.

What a strong punch.

But that's unfortunately not the focal point here. "Did I miss or was there nothing?" At the thought, I retract my arm and body back to a standing posture. Looking around, there's nothing still. I frown deeply. "I don't like this..."

Shrugging the silent oppression, I continue my advance.

After quite some time, I would say between half an hour to an hour and a half, I get another tingle. The flow of Qi and the glow of its manifestation pops back out, kicking the floor to my rear left. Hundreds of meters crossed in a few seconds, I jump again and again, soon landing next to a pillar. With a wild swing, my right fist once again smashes down.

Loud and crisp, the floor shatters like glass this time, my hand rebounded back where it came from. "Hard?!" I peek at my knuckles only to see them bleeding a bit. "Not just hard, sharp as well." During the cracks' formation, my fist must have been caught in between some. But it still doesn't explain why this area is tougher than the one beforehand. "A secret place maybe?" Could there be something hidden underneath? With a powerful stomp glowing bright enough to blind me, the turquoise shade is soon extinguished as the flooring is annihilated. "The fuck is this now?" I exclaim my surprise, my DT reserves already taking a big impact.

Past the marble flooring I destroyed, a mat black floor peeks its mysterious head. This clearly wasn't there before, since the place I attacked earlier had shattered with deeper cracks than this. "Make your architecture consistent dammit!"

I probe it with some light pats from the soles of my boots, confused deeply by this. Is it just a sturdier foundation? Many possibilities here, such as a secret underneath all the way to mundane restorations.

Shrugging my doubts away, I decide to ignore it. There may be better rewards or there may not be. I shouldn't concern myself with ifs. This entire temple is reeking ominous danger, and I'm not here for it. So I better clear this mess at once and be done with it. Especially when- "There's a bitch like you!!" Turning around mid-thought, it is finished orally, slicing the air with my hand. A moon of pure wind is sent but dissipates soon after. I spam the status checks but find nothing. I turn in all directions but end up losing myself stupidly. "Shit." Frowning, I end up running in circles all around to find the shattered flooring. Unfortunately, since I can't find it, my pretty bad memory doesn't help find the right way. Gambling, I decide to keep going and hours later, I'm back into the light of dusk.

"Shit!" Covering my face, my fingers almost crush my cheeks. Stomping a few times, the marble relents with wailing echoes of shattered relics. "Well, now I know which way was correct..." Shaking my head, my brows about to touch, I run back.

Having learned my lesson, this time I ignore the tingling and just run forward. Fuck this weirdo in the shadows, be it man or beast, ghost or god. Every so often, I hurl insults at it for the waste of my time. "Casper the ghost, go die you piece of shit. You're an actual waste of space, just so you know!"

"Want to trick me again? Oh! I'm a little bitch and I give a tingling to people lost in the dark! Oh I'm so quirky! Go fuck yourself!" Spitting on the ground and a few times in the tingling's direction, I keep running.

By this point, if there remained particles of light bouncing around, there isn't any left. I can't see anything, not even my nose. It's disorienting, confusing, and quite frankly, very chilling. I spam the status but find nothing.

That is until a few tens of minutes later. "It picked up on som- bro! Easy my fucking ass!" What difficulty is easy when you have this?! The system better be tricking me!!

[??? (???)]

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Age : ???

Immortal Cultivation : ???

Immortal Titles : ???, ???, ???, ???, ???... [+]

HP | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (??? / ???)

DT | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (??? / ???)

STR : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ ??

SPD : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ ??

END : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ ??

SEN : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ ??

SOUL : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ ??

WISD : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ ??

LUCK : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ ??

Skills : ???, ???, ???, ???, ???... [+]

Worse part is, this status appeared when I checked right in front! Now it's a battle with my instincts, the status and imagination! I don't know how big the opponent is, or even what it is. I don't hear anything, can't smell jack shit and barely sense the presence.

But what is left to sense is nothing short of terrifying! "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" No reason to stay silent, my running turns into a wide arc to my right. I slide at some point, closing my eyes in apprehension. I struggle to get back on my feet and almost travel the darkness on all four like a whimpering dog. I have zero dignity left, and that's perfectly fine by me!

My sprint is only aided by the turquoise lights emanated from my skin. My DT is nearly depleted, but I did gain quite the distance I believe, since the tingling- wait a second. "If that's what I felt the entire time..." I widen my eyes, my theory proven on the spot. The faint sheen of my skin provides just enough illumination to see a dark mist form claws a few meters in front. The tingling has since changed from behind to right ahead.

"This bitch can teleport!" I grimace and make another run for it. Not just because of the status, but also because the claws of darkness seem to be bigger than me!

And for the first time since entering this place, I hear the scraping of this entity easily shredding the marble at our feet, if it has any, which it didn't look like. "Easy?! Easy my ass!" I sprint faster and faster, my robust body saving my heels from shattering every impact. This is beyond scary! What's scarier is me hitting a pillar face first! I ignore my bloodied nose and keep going.

I run and run, sometimes forced to dodge the teleporting monster. Minutes feel like hours, and by now it's been an eternity. I'm gassed out, but can't stop. Adrenaline is pumping dry, tearing up as a routine had been formed since eons ago.

But suddenly, my face is crushed alongside the front side of my entire body. As I fall backward, terrified of what is following me way too close, I open my eyes expecting nothing. However, light shines through a slit ahead. The golden light goes up toward the covered sky. I'm not sure what this is, but get closer anyway and finally find hope. "Exit!" With a shout, I put my fingers into the light and pull apart the darkness. I didn't hit a force field or anything, but a pair of giant stone doors. With so much strength, and what has regenerated of my Qi, the doors creak and quake. After way too long for comfort, I squeeze through the enlarged gap and try to close the doors. But I can't!

So I run back and ignore the ancient hall I'm in now. The whole place is dusty yet illuminated with vibrant candles. "Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on!" I rub my hands and finally see the dark mist clearer. It's exactly what I saw before, and really just a bunch of dark smoke clumped up together. The claws form once again and try to open the doors. Watching this with batted breaths, I panic but find relief soon after, the doors suddenly shutting tight out of nowhere.

Right as they do, granting me peace of mind for a moment, I slump on my ass and notice my wet pants. Stopping me from paying it attention, a large message appears.