The man appeared young and transparent.

He had short hair, big eyes, and no beard, his clothes resembled mine. But everything about him was of a transparent gray color.

I felt like I was hallucinating. And he asked me something - to 'haunt' me?

I said no, almost reflexively.

Never accept anything from a transparent gray guy, deep in a hostile dungeon.

In fact, never accept anything from a stranger, period.

I asked him what he was, as I got up.

Instead of answering, he said: "Oko… Okovani! Is that it? You also have a secret class?"

Why ask such a question? I didn't have time for that.

"Me too! I have a secret class, check it out!" he said.

I turned around, there was nobody. I opened my screen and looked.

"YAV ZRITEL — LVL 10 – 0/0"

This was the shortest and most incomprehensible profile I had seen so far.

His name was displayed instead of a number, and his class was not specified. So this was what a secret class profile looked like.

He was the same level as me, but had no HP, was he dead? No time to ask questions about that.

"Can you help me?" I asked.

His eyes widened, he seemed happy to hear this question.

"YES! I know this dungeon well!" he said.

"Then guide me." I asked.

He seemed hesitant before speaking.

"Yes… But first I have to haunt you, otherwise I can't move from here." he said.

"What do you mean you can't move?" I asked.

"It's one of the conditions of my class, I can only move around the person I haunt." he said.

I didn't like his story, it sounded like a scam.

"I can handle myself." I told him, moving forward. I moved forward and passed through him.

I just wanted to brush his shoulder, but I had indeed passed through him.

"What the hell is this?" I blurted out loud.

He looked at me surprised, as if everything was normal.

"I died in this dungeon, I can assure you that if you continue alone, you will also die. There are Drifters lurking." he said with a serious look.

Was he lying? No, it didn't surprise me that a Merchant would use Drifters as a trap.

That even explained why the trapped Drifter had disappeared. And what was this story about being dead? Was he indeed a ghost?

Yav then pointed to the ground with his finger.

"I've already saved your life." he said.

I looked at the ground, I saw nothing.

"There's a trap there, barbed wire comes out of the ground and tears your legs apart. It's because of this trap that I died." he explained.

Was this a bluff? I had to check.

I looked at him as I moved the tip of my stick towards the flat stone he had pointed at.

He watched me do it, without stopping me.

I pressed and suddenly, two small traps on each side of the wall opened and metal rods bristling with spikes appeared.

He hadn't lied, if I had fallen into this trap, I would have been done for.

I swallowed, a worried expression on my face.

I had no chance of getting out without help.

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"What's this story about letting you haunt me?" I asked.

His face, a moment ago closed and serious, brightened.

"It's simple, instead of staying here, I'll follow you wherever you go. You won't have any negative effects, just you'll always see me near you." he explained.

It seemed like a good old lie to me. I asked the screen for more information about being haunted, but of course nothing displayed.

"Never there when you need it..." I thought.

I didn't have time to waste, I had to make a decision.

I looked up at the gray man again.

"I need proof that you're not going to take control of my body, or something like that." I asked.

Of course, I didn't actually expect him to prove it; it was more of a desperate request.

I knew I had to accept his proposal, it was that or die in this dungeon.

When I asked my question, he seemed to think.

"Do you know how trades work in Hell?" he asked, somewhat out of the blue.

I shook my head.

"One player gives an item to another, then it's the other player's turn to give an item or points in return. There's no real way to make sure the player you're trading with isn't scamming you." he explained.

"Ok, so what?" I said.

I wanted to know where he was going with this.

"The system could easily act as an arbiter and ensure that trades are reliable and secure. But no, it doesn't. Do you know why?" he asked.

I shrugged, looking back nervously. Time was pressing.

"Hell wants to sow doubt, it feeds on our differences and conflicts. Your screen didn't give you any information about my proposal, I guess? And if it had told you that everything was as I said, would you have believed it? Would you have trusted?" he asked.

"No, I wouldn't have." I replied.

I knew the system could omit important information.

"We agree, if my proposal was bad, the system would have pushed you to accept by giving you just enough information to think it's a good deal, right?" he asked, insistently.

He wasn't wrong. The system seemed to enjoy tricking players.

But the silence of my screen wasn't really proof that being haunted was a good thing.

On the other hand, I had been standing there for a few minutes and the Assassin hadn't caught up with me yet.

If he had taken the wrong path in the dungeon, he might have gotten lost. Or maybe he didn't even follow me, thinking I would die, and in that case, I could just turn back and leave.

That might have been the least risky solution. That is, until I heard a metallic sound getting closer, followed by a light on the wall behind me.

Something heavy was approaching.

"Quick! You have to make a decision, the Drifter approaching will not give you a single chance. Accept me and I will get you out of here in one piece!" Yav said, panic showing on his face.

I must have been his only chance to get out. He needed me as much as I needed him.

I turned my head back once more.

The light was getting closer.

I could even see the tip of a large metal boot. That was not a good sign.

I turned back to Yav.

"Damn... Ok... I accept that you haunt me..." I said, in a hesitant voice.

Suddenly he disappeared. I looked at my hands, curious. Was I still myself?

"Yo!" he said, Yav was to my left with two fingers raised.

I jumped.

"Now run and take the next hallway on the left. Quick!" he said.

I started running without thinking, not daring to turn back to glance at the Drifter. I still had the orb in my hand that was lighting the passage.

I took a quick glance to the side and saw Yav floating above the ground. He was actually following me. Had he not lied? I ran and turned left.

He then pointed for me to keep going straight and turn right. He seemed to know what he was doing, it was reassuring.

Reassuring, until I heard a small click under my right foot. I was running fast, but I had time to understand that I had taken a misstep.

The next moment, small cannons emerged from the walls on each side, for several meters.

I kept running, my momentum pushing me forward, I couldn't go back.

I turned my head to Yav, his face looked embarrassed and worried.

Suddenly the cannons spat fire.

For several meters both in front and behind me, everything was aflame.

An unbearable heat fell on me, in an instant it went from heat to burning, then to pain.

Just pain, sharp pain, like thousands of small bites all over my skin, no molecule was spared.

The idea of dying by burning suddenly seemed ridiculous now that I felt this pain.

"It wasn't a peaceful death; it was a fight against madness.

Losing one's mind was the only escape from this feeling of being devoured alive by flames.

I wanted to stop running to rip off my flesh. But it was Yav's distant voice that allowed me to keep my sanity and continue to hope.

"You can do it!" he was shouting.

"Well, no." I thought to myself, as an obvious fact.

Why live if everything was so painful and difficult.

Were all these problems worth facing, to resurrect?

Did I even really want to come back to life, on Earth?

What was waiting for me there?

Hell could have left us some memories, at least, to make us want to live.

I couldn't understand why Yav hadn't already given up. Staying alone in a dark dungeon for such a long time, waiting.

Why did he want to live so badly?

Hey, I wanted to know.

I wanted to have that spark in my eyes too, the one that drives you to face everything to see the sunlight again, to hear the birds singing, to feel the water on your body and the taste of fish.

"Okay, why not..." I thought, almost unconscious, totally stunned by the pain.

I continued to run despite my charred flesh. It was a miracle that I was still alive.

I ran the last few meters to get out of the flaming area, then I collapsed on the stone floor.

Fortunately, I still had a trump card in my hand.

"I... Level... Up..." I whispered, without any strength.

I saw a very faint glow under my skin, then all the pain and fatigue disappeared.

I got up and turned around to watch the flamethrowers continue to spew their deadly heat.

The amber color reflected on my skin. My clothes were in shreds.

I felt like I had been through Hell.

I could do it again. I could get out of there.