Opening the book was a tense thing. He felt that he wasn’t supposed to do it, but something inside of him desired---required it. He grabbed the cover, a thick black substance which felt much like metal but with a cringe-inducing touch, like dry wood. His eyes immediately shot to the lines of text, analyzing them and taking in all of the knowledge, despite not understanding the knowledge. He felt it take a spot in his mind its own little bubble of knowledge.

He wondered why this book had been left behind. Every other book here had been taken or ruined, but here this one was, abandoned. Had it not appealed to others as it did to him? Or was it something else? Perhaps the language?

He wasn’t sure what its contents were, but he felt it was something he shouldn’t leave behind. He didn’t have anywhere to store it, though. It lasted for a presumably long time on this shelf, I might as well leave it here.

There was no use in reading a language he didn’t know. That was like looking at a headache-inducing painting. Not something William was going to do willingly. He placed the book down, although hesitantly, and then walked away.

He grabbed the red vines, hot like everything else. He could feel a liquid coursing through them. They were squishy but that only aided him in getting a good grip and climbing down. The first thing he’d met in this world that wasn’t actively trying to kill him. A good thing he supposed.

As he crawled deeper into the place, he noticed more bookshelves. All of them were empty, the plants having overrun them. This place had been a library once, and a pretty big one from the sights of it. He wasn’t sure how many bookshelves there were, but he was crawling past multiple.

Alright. So which of my options is going to prevent death for the longest time? I need some sort of base. Simply crawling through the bookshelves isn’t going to do me much good. So how do I do that?

It doesn’t necessarily mean that I have to find a base. Wherever there’s a good base there’s certainly going to be intelligent life who created it, and I doubt they’ll simply allow a stranger in there. No, I need to create my own base.

I might as well construct the base here. The closer it is to that hole, the better it’ll be. So I’ve got to bring stuff over here. Great.

I could just angle the bookshelves to form a square and have my base within it. It would provide me with some sort of privacy, and, more importantly, hide me from enemies, but it would be too weak to hold against even one of those rats,, and most of these bookshelves are riddled with holes.

I need to find something to build the walls out of. Planks or rocks. So I might as well start exploring to find those things. Staying here isn’t going to do me any good. They won’t just magically appear. Unless window?

Thought as much.

Lacking a compass, William had no clue as to what direction was which. He thought the best strategy for moving would be to do so in a straight line. That would prove difficult if he tried to move against and through the bookshelves, so he followed what he thought the old library’s path was. He dragged himself without turning.

After a few minutes, the tip-tapping approached him from the edge of his hearing. It wasn’t like the rat that usually came to eat him. These rushed at him, quickly approaching him.

William almost didn't have any time to react. Full of panic, he jerked his head towards the noise, spotting two pairs of red eyes. He swung his bat, and instead of electrocuting the rat to death, the rod smashed into its head and sent it flying.

Fortunately, the other rat stopped its charge when it saw its friend, or lover, or what the hell these were to each other, fly away. It jumped back and analyzed William, its red eyes shining still in the darkness.

“Come on,” William said, waving his head with new-found adrenaline. “I’ll take you both on. Come on!”

The rats scampered away.

At first, William was distraught at the prospect, finding that he’d lost two sources of experience, but the more he thought about it, at the moment he really could only take one enemy at a time. Especially these rats. If he were struck even once, the disease would take him, and he would be dead.

He continued to crawl, making sure to stick close to the bookshelves. He waved his rod up and down in case there was some sort of book he could read. He doubted it, but it didn’t hurt to check, Also, if there was a bookshelf that had somehow retained its quality, he could deconstruct it and use its plank to build himself durable walls.

He found neither a book nor a bookshelf not rotting, but a plant growing a radiating green in the centre of its pink flower. He peered closer at the light and found that it came from a crystal. Fine, emerald green, and it had a distinct feeling of being dangerous. The light it radiated wasn’t strong enough to light up the surroundings, but it was strong enough to catch his attention.

He wanted to snatch it, but it looked expensive, and he felt that he’d get in trouble if he’d do it. How can I get in trouble with a plant? No, perhaps the owner of this plant? But it’s not like they’re around. They won’t know that it’s me.

The second his finger touched the crystal, a cold liquid rushed through the tip of his finger, through his flesh, through his bone, and soared around his body. He felt as if he was in heaven for a few moments. He drooled and sighed in relief, all the stress in his body disappearing. He toppled down on the floor.

Shaking his head, William stood up. Wait for a second, I’m getting the feeling that something’s wrong here. He looked down. My legs… they’re whole. He immediately realized how useful the crystal could be and looked back at it, but found that its green glow had been entirely lost with a red one. He touched it, but its healing properties were gone, that and the amazing sensation.

He cursed, and his eyes immediately shot over to the rest of the plant and his surroundings for more of the crystal, but he couldn’t find any of it. He felt frustrated at the prospect, and an itching welled up around his body.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed off the annoying sensations and tried to calm himself down.

[The skill Lesser Mental Resistance has reached level 8]

He wondered for a moment if it would be worth it to take the crystal. No. Something’s telling me the crystal won’t turn green if I remove it from the plant. What a wonderful plant though. I’ll have to take one of them to my base when I’ve got the ability.

With his ability to walk back, he could traverse much faster than before. He wondered if he should simply return to the proximity of the hole and figure something else out. Wandering through the darkness wasn’t the safest thing to do, but at the same time, he wondered what else he could find. This place seemed magical. It wasn’t an ordinary library, that was for sure.

As he continued walking, he found that a row of bookshelves blocked his path. They were infested with plants, holding up their structure. William thought about turning, but in doing so, he’d risk losing himself. If he died whilst lost, then he’d lose the rod of metal, and everything he’d acquired. He wanted to play the long game, and use his ability to come back from death to his advantage.

Also, he felt the closer he was to the hole, the safer the place would be. Demarcus had said there were really dangerous creatures here, creatures even he feared, and if that were the case, then William sure as hell wouldn’t stand a chance against them.

He punched through the bookshelves. It didn’t hurt him nearly as much as he’d predicted, and the wood fell after three strikes. The endurance he’d gained made a difference. He wondered if he could handle the fall without breaking his legs now.

Just as he broke a hole wide enough for him to get through, he heard a blood-curdling screech. It had that quality of sound all far-away sounds carried. William hoped it wasn’t him breaking the wall which had created that sound. He wanted to stay as far away from that creature as possible.

He also wanted to move in a straight line, so he kept going forward. After all, he’d already broken the bookshelves, so there was no undoing that.

After wandering for some time, he found exactly what he’d wanted. It was a heap of some barrier-like structures he’d never seen before in his life. They had a plank shooting upwards, it was one meter tall, and one meter in length, but with short width. At the bottom, there was another plank with the same length but larger width and shorter tallness. William figured it was for stability.

These had kept their structure. If he could separate the different pieces, he wagered he could create some sort of barrier out of them. He just needed something to stick the pieces together next. There were about twenty of them, all laying over each other. He could carry about half. He figured he’d make a round back here.

With his hands full, he started back to his base.

He figured maybe taking this path was a risk. If the crystal he absorbed belonged to another creature, the last thing he wanted was to go through the crime scene, doubting a thing so valuable would simply be left alone. Preferably he’d take another path, but he didn’t know his surroundings well enough for that. Hoping for the best, he continued on his path.

“Psst,” A figure said from the shadows. William’s head immediately jerked in that direction to find a shadowy outline on top of the bookshelves. He almost felt his heart stop as he dropped all of the planks, and prepared for a fight. “Calm down. Not here to fight you.”

William giggled out of stress and didn’t lower his weapon. “What the hell?”

“Strange expression,” the figure noted. “But that’s not important at the moment. Listen. I’ve got the real stuff. You interested?”

“Why don’t you come down here?” William said.

“So you can smash me with that bat? No thank you,” the creature said.

He got me there.

“What do you mean by real stuff?”

“I mean power. Not the temporary bullshit everybody’s tripping about. I mean real, permanent power. I can get you that.”

Enticing.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Why don’t you just get it yourself?”

“It’s complicated, but simply put, I need power to get power. We’ll split it out later. Now, I’m not going to waste my time, are you interested, or would you like to wander through these halls for the rest of your pitiful, short life? And trust me, it’ll be short.”

“I’m interested.”

“Great, let’s start with introductions then. My name is Sthehfh Vhih.”

“I can’t pronounce that,” William said. “How about I just call you Steve? My name’s William.”

“Ahh, I’ll just call you Whihlhlhihahm.”

“Fine by me.”

“So, I’m sure you already have, but to be sure, have you heard of the map?”

“Nope.”

“You came down here naked with a rod, and you haven’t even heard of the map? Are you suicidial perchance?”

“You could call it that.”

“I’m getting lots of questions about you. Way too many to be healthy, so I’ll just ignore them. Somewhere here, there’s an indestructible list of the books and their location. Info tells me it’s on the first floor, and where it is.”

“Is there a second floor?” William said.

“You really know nothing do you? Yes of course there’s a second floor. Back to the topic, I need you to go fetch it for me.”

“Why don’t you do it?”

“Not strong enough to get past the guards.”

“Guards? How do you know I am strong enough? And what the hell would I get out of that?”

“I don’t know you’re strong enough, but I’m hoping. The map shows us where certain books are. If I can get my hands on those books we can both gain powerful techniques.”

“How do you know they haven’t left the library?”

“Each second in a conversation with you leaves me more and more astounded at your sheer stupidity. The books of this library can’t leave it! They’re somewhere here.”

“Alright… How do you know the can’t be destroyed?”

“They’ll reappear where they were originally stationed. Duh! If you’re not here for the books, then what the hell are you here for?”

William thought if he should tell his actual goal to this creature. He decided against it, his gut telling him that the creature was untrustworthy. Giving away information about his situation could come to bite him in the ass.

“Reasons.”

“Too many questions. Way too many, but here’s one, are you in?”

“I’ve got to get these back to my base, and then I might be down.”

“I’ll find you then:”

“How will you find me?” William said.

“Reasons,” the creature said and disappeared from his view.

So there’s the intelligent life Demarcus was talking about. I wonder just what type of place this is.

On his way back, he kept his heated rod close to the shelves, to see if any books had reappeared, and to his surprise, he spotted a book. It looked fresh and new. So he wasn’t lying to me. Interesting. He grabbed the book and placed it on top of the stack of wood he was carrying.

It might contain something interesting. Who knows.

For a few minutes, he was undisturbed as he made his way through the tunnel, but that didn’t last. It seemed he couldn’t catch a break on his way back.

It was the heaving he heard first. Loud, strained and rhythmic, coming from ahead of him. Is this a bear? He immediately dropped everything he’d been carrying. His rod was once again high up, illuminating the path, ready to strike down at a moment’s notice.

At first, he only noticed a figure leaning over the red crystal. He was happy that it was human and not some sort of monstrosity instead. He wasn’t as tense when he approached, but he still kept his weapon held high.

“Was it you?” The figure said. “Did you take it from me?”

He got close enough to illuminate the creature’s face and was utterly shocked. Before his torture, the sight would be enough for him to turn tail and run away as fast as he could. It was a human, or humanoid, except with black veins, that protruded out of the skin at certain points, covering every area of skin. The only part not covered was its eyes, and it glared at William with absolute hatred.

“Nope it wasn’t me,” William said, taking a step back.

“I can smell it coming from you,” the figure said, and moved towards him. Not on two legs, it moved on four and did so in an unsettling and smooth manner. William charged so much electricity through the rod that it was burning into his hand, but the adrenaline rushing through him was enough to cloud away the pain.

Of a sudden, the creature leapt towards him as he swung the rod down with full force. It connected right on top of the creature’s head, smashing it into the ground. William quickly shoved his rod down at the creature.

But it wasn’t spasming as he expected. The black veins were quickly turning ashen, but the creature’s movements weren’t being prohibited. The damn thing bit into his thigh, and he could feel something seeping into him.

Clenching the creature’s shoulder with his free hand, he decided to bash it with the rod was the best option. He struck with so much force that the bat bent. He could see the damage being inflicted, but the creature didn’t stop its assault, as if the hurt wasn’t paining it.

It ripped off a large part of his thigh, and he could feel the effects of the poison spreading through him, weakening him. He felt his blood streaming out, that part of his body a void suckíng him dry. The smell of ash hit him.

[The skill Lesser Poison Resistance has been gained.]

[It is possible to merge certain skills.

Would you like to merge the skills below?

Lesser Disease Resistance

Lesser Hemorrhage Resistance

Lesser Poison Resistance

Yes/No

]

Not now window. I’m not going to lose now. I’m going to lose. No. I won’t lose. I just won’t lose. I can’t have it.

He willed all of the electricity in his body to stream through his left arm. His body and mind put up many different warnings, strongly telling him to stop. A spike of pain shot through him. He ignored all of it and focused on shoving the electricity through him, and it did so, in a flash entering the creature.

Both his left arm and the creature exploded. Blood, bone and flesh splattered all over him. The feeling of weakness washed all over him, and he collapsed in utter exhaustion. Black spots filled his sight.

[You have gained 200xp]

[You have reached level 3]

[Please select one of these three random stats to increase by 3.

Vitality

Strength

Dexterity

]

Suddenly, he felt a hand grip his mouth and force it open. Something hard with sharp edges was forced in there. Out of pure instinct, he tried to spit it out, but his mouth was forced shot. He tried to struggle against it but found himself incapable of doing so.

A liquid streamed through his body. William immediately recognized it as the sensation he’d gotten from the crystal attached to the flower. In an instant, he felt the liquid absorb all of the pain he had around his body. The cold and unresponsive parts of his body vanished too. His sight cleared up, but he felt absolutely amazing, and instead of doing something, he relished the moment.

In the state of absolute bliss, he found himself, he couldn’t really sense anything, but some part of his subconscious knew that he was being dragged, that he heard somebody grunting.

After what felt like only a couple of seconds, the sensation of bliss vanished and was instead replaced by a horrible scratching and terrible frustration. It lasted about twenty seconds longer than it had before, and he spent his time scratching his hair and grunting, desperately sucking at the crystal in his mouth. Slowly, the frustration dissipated.

[The skill Lesser Mental Resistance has reached level 9]

“What th-”

“Shhhh,” the creature said at him, putting its finger on his lips. William grabbed its arm and tried to stream lightning into it, but nothing inside of him was responding. It seemed he’d completely emptied his reserves.

Then, he heard another voice. It came from his right, where a rotten bookshelf was hiding them. William intuitively knew he should be quiet.

“What was that noise?” A deep voice said.

“Lots of blood here,” another said, this one somehow deeper. “Seems like its bits of one of those crystal addicts. I’d wager it was a strong mage that did this. No real burn marks, so it's not a fire mage. Probably some sort of telekinesis mage, or maybe a really strong lightning mage.”

“Where do you think they went?”

“That’s the question now isn’t it? Can’t you sniff them?”

“No, only fresh blood and ash here. Nothing else. Should we pursue them?”

Suddenly, William heard the shriek once more, the one he’d heard when he broke the bookshelves and the strange plant surrounding them. It was much closer this time. Whatever it was, it was heading right in his direction.

“Looks like they pissed off that monster. They’re moving quickly. Let’s head there, we could probably catch them whilst they’re still fighting.”

“Alright, do we go for the kill?”

“No. They seem way too strong for that. We’re just going to tell them this is our area, and then we’ll report back to the master.”

William heard them walk away. His heart pounded loudly. He hadn’t sensed even an inch of kindness from their voices. They spoke in the same way Demarcus spoke, and he had a feeling they wouldn’t be on his side.

After waiting a couple of minutes in silence he spoke. “What the hell was that?”

“Whihlhlhihahm, those were some of the guards you’re going to sneak past.”

At the sound of his name, he realized who was holding him. William took a moment to inspect this creature. It was more rat than it was human. Short, furry, and hideous. Its eyes were black dots, but despite that, he had the feeling it was looking right at him. It reminded him of the rats that had attacked him. Fortunately, it wasn’t giving him a disease.

“Steve. Are you insane?”

“Partly, but anyhow, after they deal with that monster they’re going to head back this direction. I suggest we get a move on before that. I saved your life so I think you owe me one.”

“Please, you saved me out of your own selfishness.”

“Guilty as charged, now then, you said you were going to your base. If it’s in this direction then you’re on their territory, and that’s not something you can afford.”

William sighed. “So what do I do then?”

“You could tag along to my hideout.”