My arms fell and the bags of fruit scattered onto the ground. My hands began to tremble, my body froze with fear, and it was all because the whole area I was seeing, was now the night of the accident. In the dark pouring rain, the wrecked upside down car was right in front of me again, and just barely visible inside was Uncle’s bloodied body and head—still unconscious and needing my help. “Uncle Thal!” I shouted out, reaching my hand and moving to help.
You are now entering an Open Dungeon.
Your regeneration is now halved.
The moment the messages appeared in my face, I came back to my senses, and I found myself standing back in the clearing from before. With the jarring change of scenery, my body immediately felt uneasy and was only made worse by seeing all the blood around me, and smelling the heavy stench coming from it. I then gagged and ran straight to the tree line to throw up.
Standing behind me in concern, Mako asked “Eyes, are you okay? What happened? Was the body too much for you?” Vomiting all the fruit I ate on the way here, I just responded with an okay sign with my fingers. “Okay then, just stay here and feel better, I’ll go check out the Dwarf’s body.” Scared that something would happen to Mako, I forced myself to stop vomiting, squinted my eyes partially closed, pinched my nose with my fingers, and followed close behind her. Noticing me follow, Mako said “You don’t have to force yourself Eyes, this could be too much for you to handle.”
Feeling a little bit better because I was being underestimated, I said “Don’t worry about me Mako, I actually placed higher than you in the Rankings, and I can’t let you get that close to the entrance alone after that message we just got.” Thinking, "I can't let another person die."
“I know right, we’re technically in a Dungeon right now...wait, what do you mean you placed higher than me?” She asked, looking at me in disbelief, but she stopped when we arrived standing over the Dwarf’s bloodied body; only being 5 meters away from the cave’s entrance.
Crouching down over the body, the accident kept flashing in my mind again, but I kept myself in check with a few slaps across my face. Mako looked at me with concern, but turned her attention back to the body. The Dwarf had countless cuts and stab marks all over his body, and I knew that there was no way he was still alive. I watched Mako feel the body with her bare hand, and then turn back to me confirming my assumption, as shook her head sadly. Standing up, Mako went to wipe off the blood in her hand with some leaves, and I was about to follow but something inside of me kept me staring at the blood covered eyes of the Dwarf.
Unconsciously moving on their own, my hands reached out and grabbed the Dwarf’s head, and then suddenly brought the head towards my face. I then felt a surge of power coming from my eyes, and a second later a golden flash of light erupted from them. Appearing into my field of vision, countless golden ethereal tendrils—made of some type of magical light—were all floating towards the dead Dwarf’s eyes. Strangely never getting the feeling of needing to be afraid of the ethereal tendrils, I watched as they moved almost lifelike and wrapped themselves around the Dwarf’s eyeballs, and a moment later they began pulsating. The sensation I was feeling was almost like some type of siphoning, as I felt the Dwarf’s eyeballs partially being ripped out of their eye sockets, travel through the ethereal tendrils, and then reach my own eyeballs. The siphoning sensation only lasted for about 10 seconds, and as the ethereal tendrils retracted from the Dwarf, they came back to me and a few notifications appeared right after.
You have collected the [Eyes of a Mountain Dwarf].
Seer’s Eye Collection increased by 1 Level. Eyes Of A Seer increased by 1 Level, and you now have vision of an Npc’s Name. Seer's Visions increased by 1 Level, and now has a chance to see parts of the past from the eyes you collect.
“What an unsettling power, I didn’t even do that on purpose, it just did it on its own. I wonder if it’s always gonna be like that.” I thought, reading through the notifications, and then clicking on the last one to read the description of the eyes.
Eyes of a Mountain Dwarf: Adapted to life inside a mountain, you have gained slight darkvision and can see better in dim light.
“Eyes, what the hell was that?” Mako questioned me.
Unsure how to explain without breaking the secret pact with the Top 10, I just said “Oh that? That was just one of the Skills I learned in the Tutorial.” Mako looked like she didn't believe that for a second, but before she could question me more about it, we heard some noises coming out of the cave entrance. Panicking, we quickly darted back to the tree line together, and crouched down behind some bushes and waited for what was coming out.
You have learned the Skill: [Sneak].
Sneak: Become harder to detect, your movements are naturally quieter. Skill Level based on how well you move quietly.
Reading over the Skill quickly, I noticed that Mako looked to be doing the same thing beside me. Watching the entrance again, we saw 6 small goblins walking out of the cave, and all of them had different shades of green for names. I instantly used Eyes Of A Seer to see their Levels, and I saw: Lv.1 Goblin, Lv.2 Goblin Archer, Lv.3 Goblin Warrior, Lv.1 Goblin Archer, Lv.2 Goblin, and Lv.3 Goblin Spearman. The regular goblins wielded old and rusted shortswords, the archers held makeshift shortbows and carried patched up quivers on their backs with makeshift arrows inside; the warrior dragged a short broadsword along the ground, and the spearman gripped an old jagged spear. The goblins were basically all skinny and clothless, only wearing old and dirty rag cloths covering their groins, with the exception of the warrior and the spearman who had some parts of hide and fur armour on their shoulders and waists, and had some more muscle on their still skinny bodies.
Mako then whispered to me, “Are their names shades of green for you too?”
And I whispered back, “They're green, but they're also higher Level than us." Pointing them out specifically, "Those two are Lv.2, and those ones are Lv.3.”
“Wait, how do you know their Levels?” Mako questioned me again.
"Uhhhh..." Changing the subject, I pointed to the goblins, “Hey look, they’re doing something.” We watched the warrior and the spearman grab the Dwarf by the ankles, and begin to drag the body back into the cave, while the other 4 goblins were splitting up and beginning to scout the area. “Mako, you think you can take the 2 closest to us by yourself?” Drawing my bow from my back, and grabbing two arrows from my quiver.
“Of course I can, but remind me to look up your Ranking later." Mako said, using her left thumb to push the katana out of the sheath slightly, and her right hand readying to draw it. "Though I still can’t believe that you placed ahead of me from the way you acted when we got here.” Preparing herself to run out.
“Yeah, yeah, now let’s go.” Standing up, I drew my already nocked arrow, fired it straight at the unaware Lv.2 Goblin Archer the farthest away from us, and instantly killed it with the arrow piercing half way into the goblin’s head. At the same time, Mako ran straight towards the Lv.1 Goblin Archer, closest to us, and in a quick and fluid draw, she sliced the head of the goblin clean off.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The other 2 regular goblins both let out an unintelligible sound, “Kekh?” And when both realized what just happened, they screamed out “Keekh keekh!” And began running back towards the cave entrance.
Not giving them a chance to call reinforcements, Mako and I nodded to each other and easily out sped them, and without hesitation killed the both of them with a single arrow to the head and a slice across the neck. And as multiple new messages appeared in front of me, I felt a replenishing surge of power fill my body, and along with it a burst of golden light that quickly dissipated; and I could see that the same thing was happening to Mako.
Congratulations you have Leveled Up! All Stats have increased by 1, and you have gained 10 Available Points.
You have learned the Skill: [Ranger’s Dash].
Ranger’s Dash: Enhancing your movement for a moment, you dash a short distance in a direction. Cost 20 Mana. Dash distance increased by Skill Level and Agility.
Mako cheered, “Woohoo! I leve—”
I was able to cover her mouth before she could shout more, and I whispered to her “Shhhh! We’re right in front of the entrance, are you trying to let the goblins know we’re here?” She shyly shook her head no, and I let go.
Holding her face, she whispered “Sorry Eyes, I got too excited from leveling for the first time.”
“I know, it’s pretty exciting for me too, but remember we’re still in a Dungeon, and there’s probably a Boss waiting for us inside." Mako nodded in agreement. "So before we go inside, spend the 10 points we just got just in case.” Mako listened and walked away from the entrance to do so.
As she did that, I decided to collect all the weapons and arrows off the goblin's bodies, and cringed at the sight and smell of their blood. Putting the weapons in Infinity, I was about to walk away, when something inside me was tempting me to take all the dead goblin’s eyes. Not seeing it as a problem, I succumbed to the temptation, and the golden ethereal tendrils bursted out of my eyes again. They floated and wrapped around the closest dead goblin’s eyes, and like before the pulsating and siphoning sensation could be felt again. When it was done, the goblin's eyes were gone, a new message appeared, and the ethereal tendrils began moving towards the other dead goblins.
You have collected the [Eyes of a Goblin].
Eyes of a Goblin: Born with natural greed, your eyes are attracted to the sight of shiny things.
“That doesn't seem as useful as seeing better, like with the Elf and Dwarf eyes. I wonder if collecting the same eyes does anything.” I thought, waiting for the ethereal tendrils to take the other goblin eyes.
You have collected a pair of eyes to add to your [Eye Collection(8)]. You have collected a pair of eyes to add to your [Eye Collection(10)]. ...
“Huh, all it did was increase the number of eyes collected to 14, but I guess I should still collect all the ones I come across, since it did say the Skill Level was based on the number collected, and cause it ultimately affects the other Seer powers.” I thought to myself.
“Eyes, are you done with your weird tentacle light show?” Mako teased.
“What? They’re not tentacles, if anything they’re ethereal tendrils.” Trying to defend my Seer powers.
“Believe me, tentacles or tendrils, they’re all the same.” Mako said, walking past me and towards the cave entrance.
I laughed quietly to myself, “You wanna explain how you know that?” I teased back.
“Shut up, it was a joke.” Mako whispered, feeling a little embarrassed that she told a joke like that to me.
“I’m sure it was.” I smirked, leading the way into the cave.
Following the rails down the sloped tunnel, every so often we could see the dying light of a torch. We passed by countless blood splatters on the walls, and the long dragged blood marks on the ground. Our noses were filled with a stench of dried blood, and the natural iron smell of the mine only made the stench more metallic. All of this was getting to be too much for me, as the accident kept flashing in my mind, and I kept on almost vomiting. But I mentally tried to push through and tolerate the nauseous feeling I was getting, as I didn’t wanna let Mako go down the mine by herself.
We then arrived at a fork in the tunnel, the left being where all the dragged blood marks were headed to, and the right where a lot of loud goblin noises were coming from. Mako and I looked at each other, and without saying a word, we both nodded and snuck our way to the left tunnel. Up ahead, we could see a lit up room, and we heard loud chewing noises coming from inside. Sneaking quietly up to each side of the mined doorway, a Skill notification popped up, but I ignored it as we both peaked inside the room.
In the middle of the mined out room, 8 weaponless goblins were all gathered around a pile of about 10 bloodied corpses; each of them tearing chunks of flesh from the bodies with their sharp and jagged teeth. The sight being so sickening that even Mako had to look away, as she then tried to compose herself. But we instantly forced ourselves to look back, as we heard the shriek of some girls inside the room. Two goblins—a Lv.2 Goblin Archer and a Lv.3 Goblin Warrior—were making their way to the right corner of the room. Huddling together in the corner, 2 naked girls were covered in scratches, cuts, and bruises. They cowered in fear as the 2 goblins approached them.
Seeing the girls made Mako furious, but before she could rush in without thinking, I stopped her and whispered “I’m too nauseous to aim properly in here, take out the other goblins, I’ll cover the girls and the exit.” Mako nodded, and I stepped into the room first and casted Twin Arrow. Shooting the single arrow at the goblins near the girls, I watched as the same green magic from before caused it to double itself, and the arrows then flew at each of the unknowing goblins’ heads and dropped them dead. I then positioned myself to have a clear line of sight to the entrance and the girls.
At the same time Mako ran past me, and I heard her whisper to herself “Charge.” And suddenly a blue magic aura surrounded her body. Moving at an incredible speed, Mako rammed her shoulder straight into the closest goblin, causing it to go flying against a wall. The other goblins were slow to react to what was happening, but they slowly began panicking to grab their weapons on the sides of the room, flee to the exit, or go for the women. I could only injure and stagger the goblins trying to flee or go for the girls, not being able to aim properly without using a Skill to assist me, but that gave Mako plenty of time to use her fast movements to kill all the goblins one by one.
Untying my cloak and taking out the fruit I was able to store in my Inventory, I let Mako cover the girls up and talk to them in private. While she did that, I collected the weapons and arrows in the room, and kept an eye on the doorway, just in case more goblins came in. I then took all the goblin's eyes, and turned the corpses who already had their eyes taken. Being that close to the stench and sight of the corpses, I ran outside of the room, and threw up on the ground again.
Wiping some of the blood off of her face, Mako approached me saying, “I told them to stay here until we come back for them, and they told me that there should be 12 more goblins and a hobgoblin Boss on the other side of the mine, you think you’re up for it?” She asked, pointing at my vomit on the ground.
“I’ll be fine, I just need to get out of this mine.” I assured her. Then quickly coming up with a plan, I said “We don't know how strong the Boss is, but our best bet is to probably separate the Boss and the goblins. With that being said, do you think you can take on the Boss by yourself? Or at least last long enough until I kill all the goblins and get back to you?”
“I’m sure I can take the Boss, these goblins were nothing, and my Stats are still full except for Mana, which I don’t really need to use for my other Skills. But are you sure you can take out 12 goblins by yourself?” Mako looked worried for me.
Being underestimated made me feel better again, and I suggested to Mako “If you’re really that worried, why don’t you go look up my Ranking now, and it’ll be quicker if you start at the top.” Smirking at her.
Raising an eyebrow at me, Mako did as I suggested, and she started to mumble the names of the Top 10 who placed ahead of me. With her eyes moving down, they suddenly began to widen, but before she could shout, I covered her mouth again. Uncovering her mouth, she looked at me with disbelief again, and asked “Eyes, who are?”
“Still think I can’t take out a few goblins?” I smiled at her.
Smiling back, she punched me in the shoulder, and said “You should’ve told me sooner, I was worrying about you for nothing you jerk.” A moment of silence occurred, and suddenly we quietly laughed together.
“So you ready to clear this Dungeon?” I asked.
“Hell ye—” I covered her mouth from shouting, and removed it when she realized. “Sorry.” She whispered, as we both headed to the other side of the mine.