(Skill Rapid Healing is ranked up to C rank. Your stamina will recover faster.)

(Full Combat Mastery is ranked up to D rank. Your understanding of combat increases greatly.)

I opened my eyes from a nightmare-filled sleep. That’s it, of course, if you can call the state I was in “sleep”. Again with notifications. I was already used to it. I tried to push the ground with my arms to get up but everything felt so heavy. The blood under me was mostly dried, implying I was knocked out for some time. My head felt like a balloon about to pop. My throat was dry, so dry that it hurt. I was thirsty. I was cold, probably because of the blood I lost.

“Growl.”

My stomach made a loud noise as if to remind me it was also empty. I checked my wounds. They were still there but big scabs were formed to stop me from bleeding out. Interesting. I was sure wounds this big needed stitches but maybe Rapid Healing allowed me to at least not die.

It was all good. Except I had no food or water with me. Unlike Lupus, I don’t think I can heal without proper nutrition. I looked around.

“Weird.”

The ground beneath me was made out of black marble. Even though dungeons were weird places, I don’t think this formed naturally. I looked at the sky. Moon was still here, I think? However, it was… black? It was hard to see since the sky was also black. I could see since I had Night Vision but… Wait. I facepalmed. I was in darkness! Shadow Melt was active! Shit. This means I currently can’t be detected. While I was thankful since it was the reason why I didn’t get attacked while I was knocked out, it also made it impossible for me to get detected by my companions.

“Of course if they are still alive.”

I couldn’t see anything. As my eyes can see, it was just straight black marble. The ground was too perfect. No cracks or bumps. Too smooth. The only logical conclusion was it was made with magic.

“You know things are messed up when the logical conclusion is magic.”

I said to myself. I coughed after that. Just speaking one sentence made me feel like my throat was being ripped open. I had to find something to drink and eat. I forced my body to stand up. It protested as pain assaulted me all around my body. Despite that, I picked up my sword, hang it on my back, and moved.

3 days were enough to kill an adult male without water. Considering how much blood I lost, I didn’t even have half of that time. So, I forced myself to walk. Man. If I knew I was going to need water this desperately, I wouldn’t bitch that much when we walked in the snow.

Every step was a challenge in itself. My legs felt like logs and my back was killing me. I wanted to shout. With a place like this where no obstructions were present, my voice would surely travel far. That can help me to find my companions. The bag of holding Blanche carried had not only water and food but also healing potions. It could solve most of my problems but shouting at this void could easily gather monsters in my head too. Even though I haven’t seen one, I wasn’t ready to risk it. Even walking made me wanna die, I can’t imagine swinging my sword.

“Okay, this is extra worrying.”

Even after walking for 30 minutes in a straight line, the scenery was still the same. I also didn’t come across anything, alive or dead.

“Heyyyy.”

I called out with a low voice. No reaction.

“Anyone there? Anything?”

Braver now or maybe just wanting to meet with someone, I called out with a louder voice this time. Still no reaction.

“Where the fuck I am? In hell? Did I die again?”

Nope, this wasn’t the afterlife. I should know since I was there once. This place was weird. There was no wind and I didn’t feel any kind of airflow despite nothing being here to block any kind of wind. Thankfully, the air wasn’t stale.

“Hello?”

I shouted as loud as I could. Wait, didn’t Shadow Melt also block out noises? Goddamnit, how can I turn it off? I can’t believe my own ability is cucking me. Speaking of abilities:

Name Poyraz Karabulut Strength 27 Agility 25 Vitality 27 Mana 13 Charisma 17 Defense 19

Spark: Fallen Soldier’s Armor(Low grade, growing) *Can generate armor around the body.

*Increase all stats by 10 percent.

*Increases defense further by 10.

*Will form armor automatically in danger.

*Gives resistances:

-Darkness 13 %

-Fire 10%

-Curse 6 %

-Instant death 32 %

-Poison 4%

-Ice 3% Spark Skills Night Vision C(Passive)

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Shadow Melt C (Passive) Personal Skills

Full Combat Mastery D (Passive)

Combat Sense C(Passive)

Iron Will A(Passive)

Monstrous Strength D(Active)

Rapid Healing C (Passive)

Indomitable Marksmanship E (Passive)

Titles

The One who Have Seen The End

Locked

Hold up. Explain that.

(The One who Have Seen The End: Civilizations raised by mortals are bound to fall. However, a fallen civilization is rarely destroyed fully. It is absorbed, assimilated, and serves as a guide for later civilizations. But not yours. You saw your own civilization created by your own people’s tears and blood destroyed and didn’t go mad with grief.)

(Increases resistance against all negative status effects by 15 percent.)

(Increases resistance against all mental status effects by a further 15 percent.)

I should be happy that I was stronger now.

Or maybe I should mock and laugh at this saying: “I am not mad? Are you sure?”

Yet the only thing I could do now was grit my teeth. My jaw was locked, tight enough to make my mouth hurt. Yet, the pain of it wasn’t even comparable to the heavy feeling in my chest.

First “Fallen Soldier’s Armor” and now this. I don’t know who is giving those names and definitions but when I find them I am going to kick them in balls\ovaries. Whichever they have. Seriously! I was so angry that my pain and exhaustion paled in comparison. With the energy anger gave me, I walked forward.

As I stomped forward, I thought of the System.

Firstly, I wasn't special. Everyone has access to a status window in this world. Everyone had the same basic stats, personal skills, and titles. I wasn't really sure how it worked and I wasn't alone in that.

Both Ama and Blanche also lacked information about what System was. Considering they were the most knowledgeable people I met in this world, I can guess that this world collectively also doesn't really have a lot of information about it.

It kinda made sense. According to everything I learned about System, it existed always. It was like the Sun or air, many people accepted it as it was.

One special thing about me was this Spark thing. I asked Ama about it but she had no idea. I didn't ask Blanche, because if I did she might start getting suspicious of me.

As my train of thought ended, my anger started to fade away. I could only stay angry for so long and even the power anger gave me could only push me so far. My vision was getting blurry again. I nearly tripped over my own feet and fell down.

“I can’t stop here. I don’t think I can move again if I sit down.”

I said to myself out loud as if to convince myself. No matter how tired, hungry, or thirsty I was, stopping here was worthless.

“Umm, hello! Mister, can you help me? I am lost.”

I turned back so fast that I got dizzy. Well, dizzier. After my vision was settled, I saw a young boy, no older than 6. Two, big, brown eyes looked at me. Shy. Innocent. Sinless. I felt my jaw tighten again.

“Another hallucination.”

My voice was tired. Tired enough to surprise even me.

“I was with my mother just a second ago! Can you help me find her?”

Tears swell up in his eyes.

I turned around and started to walk away. This wasn’t the first time and I doubted it would be the last.

“Is this how you left them? You just let them die while you had fun with your “friends” out of the city?”

The same voice, sounding much more mature and angry shouted at my back. I didn’t look back even though “it” sounded the same as me. Giving them attention made them just worse. Trust me, I know.

“Years of training. Meeting with battle brothers. Does that make the pain go away? Every time you pull that trigger, you are called a hero. Do you really believe that?”

The voice got more and more mature. And angrier.

“Of course just killing those monsters wasn’t enough. It didn’t give you enough glory. It didn’t give enough satisfaction. You had to fight against humans too. Defeat them. Prove that you were better.”

It was meaningless. It was like listening to someone with dementia. My mind created them, trying to repeat what I thought back then. Basically jumping from topic to topic, it tried to do something. Maybe protect me from the isolation after everyone except me died? Or maybe punish me for my “incompetence”? Whatever it was, I didn’t like it back then and I don’t like it now. Seriously, voices in my head were enough. Why do you even go as far as to create visual hallucinations? I thought they ended when I came to this world and had meaningful interactions with other people. But they were back. I wanted to believe it was because of the blood loss.

“Look at me.”

Old and calm. Me before my death? Still, I kept moving forward without looking back.

“I said look at me.”

Nope. I gave them attention when they first appeared. Acknowledging them was… It didn’t end well.

“Very well. You made me do this.”

I suddenly felt a huge hand grab me by my neck. I was thrown to the ground. The impact caused my entire body to scream with anguish.

“Okay.”

I said, looking at the giant man wearing armor towering over me.

“This is new.”