Ryan tried to touch the blue box. But his hand just passed through it. It was completely two-dimensional. It just floated in space. Utterly bizarre. It was like a stat screen in a video game. What sort of afterlife was this? Was God a gamer?

It had to be a dream. He played plenty of video games in his life, so it wouldn't be too crazy for him to have a dream that involved game elements. But why did his experience feel so real? Dreams tend to feel flimsy and random. But this felt solid and detailed, as if he was wide awake. Was he in the same universe as Earth? A different dimension?

But once again, he stopped that train of thought. He was dead. Anything beyond that point was beyond his comprehension, no matter how much he wanted to fully comprehend it. He just had to roll with the punches.

But at least this blue box hinted at why he was where he was. The orb must've been what brought him to this world. The blood on the orb must've belonged to another person. And someone must've been in the cave that summoned him. But not him specifically. Who the orb summoned was completely random. What for?

And on that note, the orb's brightening and then fading glow accelerated. It turned into a flickering flash. Was it counting down towards something? Oh yeah, not only did this orb summon a 'neutral being', it also summoned a hostile monster.

The scars on his body stung as the memories of his recent death flashed through his mind. He had to get out of the pit if he didn't wanna die a second time.

Ryan turned away from the orb, and towards the ladder. He leapt onto it. He scrambled up it as fast as he could, leaping between multiple rungs at a time.

The spark of white light smothered the entire pit. Ryan glanced behind him as he clambered up the ladder. The orb stopped flashing. It lingered on a continuous bright and white light. A black dot appeared beside it. The dot expanded. It grew into the shape of a flat black disc. White dots, the shape of stars, gleamed within the blackness. The disc rose up the height of the pit until it looked like it was twenty feet in the air.

Was that the height of what it was summoning? The monster the orb was summoning?

Fear lurched in his stomach as he continued to climb. He made it halfway to the top. The exit approached closer and closer.

He heard the clattering of boots from atop the pit. Many boots. An entire group of people approached him. It sounded like the sound of metal clattering against rock. Were they wearing some kind of armour? They must be the people that summoned him and thus came to protect him. That eased his racing heart a little.

But not for long. Something thudded on the ground behind him. Rocks splashed and scattered up and around the pit. Something dropped out of the black disc.

Ryan's eyes bulged at the sight of the monstrosity. It had the shape of a bear, but it didn't have fur. Thick and shiny purple scales spread across its body. The scales thinned as they reached its chest where there were no scales, revealing bare and white smooth skin. A long and thick tail sinuously wiggled behind it.

It turned its head to Ryan. It growled.

The clattering of boots stopped, and as Ryan continued climbing up the ladder, he saw them. A group of men and women wearing steel plate armour straight from the middle ages stood atop the edge of the pit. White surcoats billowed over their armour. A yellow silhouette of a horse's head rippled on it, looking like the sigil of a mediaeval noble house. They all held sinuously carved bows in hand. They knocked arrows to bow strings.

Despite their archaic get-up, the weirdest thing about their appearances was their pointy ears.

"Climb faster, ape!" One of the elf-looking soldiers snapped down at Ryan. What a nice nickname. Getting chased by a monster and called an ape by elves was a great first impression of this world. He couldn't wait to see more of the joyous and beautiful wonders of it!

What did they want with him? They went out of their way to summon him, yet they hated him. The monster roared. Best to think about their motives later.

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The monster leapt up at Ryan. Initially, Ryan didn't think it'd be able to jump the height of the pit. He hoped at least. But it zoomed towards him, smashing his hopes. It was too fast to dodge. Were the soldiers gonna do something? It swung it's razor sharp claw covered paws at hi-

Arrows, glowing green, shot down at the monster. They didn't penetrate the scales. They just bounced off and pushed the monster away from Ryan.

But the arrows didn't knock the monster back enough. It fell away from him, but it still flailed its paws at Ryan. Its claws slashed towards him.

The pit had rough and rocky walls. So Ryan quickly scanned it for natural handholds and footholds. He leapt off the ladder. He snatched a handhold. Swinging to the side, he hung in the air.

The monster's paw smashed into the ladder, crushing it. Rocks shattered under the impact, scattering around the pit and out of it. They rattled against the armour of the soldiers atop it. One of the rocks shot at Ryan's face. It smashed into his temple and surged pain across his head. He screamed in agony.

But the stinging didn't stop him. He pulled himself up the rocky wall, one natural handhold and foothold at a time. The coarse surface scratched against his hands, arms, chest, and legs. His arms wobbled with the effort. He continuously groaned as pain ravaged every inch of his body and blood dripped down his temple.

Eventually he slapped his palm against the top of the pit. A soldier crouched down, snatched his arm, and heaved him up and out of the pit with one arm. His face didn't flinch with the exertion. Ryan wasn't a big guy or anything, but for the soldier to pull up an entire grown man like that with such ease was inhuman.

Regardless, he was grateful as the soldier pulled him out of the pit, and dropped him, letting him fall on the rocky floor atop the pit. Despite the pain of the rocks scratching his skin, and the thumping pain of his head wound, he sighed in relief. Being away from that monster and hearing it thud against the bottom of the pit pleasured him too much for some physical irritations to disturb his good feelings.

"Thanks, guys," Ryan said to the soldiers. He staggered up to his feet. They just glared at him and turned away. Not a friendly bunch. He already figured that out from when they called him a damn ape. But they did save his life so they couldn't be all bad. Right?

Who was he kidding? It probably wasn't a dream. And if it wasn't, there was no way they didn't have some grim intentions with this whole magical human and monster summoning operation.

But they were strong and at least they didn't kill him. In fact, they saved him. They must've wanted him alive. So sticking with them seemed like the best course of action if he wanted to survive. No point demanding much more than that.

Ryan approached the edge of the pit, standing next to one of the soldiers. He looked down to the bottom of it. He stared at the monster. It staggered back to its feet. Its legs wobbled a bit, but it quickly regained solid footing. It didn't seem damaged by those arrows. They didn't look like regular arrows either. They glowed. Must be some form of magic. Ryan was a bit disappointed by his own brain's lack of creativity. Couldn't his dream come up with a visual effect more interesting than just a simple green glow? That's if it was a dream. Considering the immense pain banging his head and covering his body, that became much less likely. It had to be real.

After staring down at the monster for a second, another blue box popped up.

Monster Species Expana Bear Level 100 Mana 100% Blessing ??? Blood Skill ??? Skills ??? Strength ??? Defense ??? Agility ??? Magic ???

How could he turn those question marks into actual numbers? If this was really like the game it looked like, would he have to get some sort of skill? Reach a certain level? Whilst he knew what the terms Level, Mana, Skills, Strength, Defence, Agility, and Magic probably signified, what was a Blessing or a Blood Skill? Was Blessing a skill related to your birth? Or even some sort of religion? Or was it the Blood Skill that was given to you at birth?

What were his own stats? What was his level? Probably level one because he just got there, right? He'd probably have to stare at himself for a while, just like he did with the orb and the expana bear. What level were the soldiers? Hopefully close to level 100 or above it.

But he'd have to figure that out later. The expana bear still scowled and growled up at them, seeming desperate to rip them apart and gulp them down. And it began to make its next move.