Dexter couldn't feel his body as it floated through the infinite blackness around him. Time seemed to stretch endlessly in this place. Just like before, it was an out-of-body feeling like floating through space, no light, no sound, no feeling whatsoever until he finally did. 

Pain. A dull pain everywhere, followed by a sharp pain that radiated from his chest. The first thing he heard was a faint heartbeat. It started slowly, picking up rhythm before beating fiercely in his chest. Feeling over his limbs came next, slowly feeling like he could move his limbs. Trying to move his hands, they barely complied. His body stung like pins and needles.

Dex tried to will his eyes open. He smelled dirt, mud, and something else, something that smelled like rust. Taking a breath, he coughed. Which triggered more coughing that made his chest hurt even further. Finally gaining control over his breathing, he lifted his head. Long black hair dangled in front of his eyes. The rest was stuck to his face. 

Kneeling on the floor. Raising his hand and brushing aside the matted hair that stuck to his face. Which was crusted and matted with dirt and blood.

Looking at his hands, they were callused and torn, nails cracked and broken. They were all bitten down or simply missing completely. His skin was pale and blotches of tiny brown scales covered his hands and along his arms, disappearing under his dirty clothing. Seeing old and new scars lining his arms. Old and fresh bruising to match. Knowing it didn't cover just his arms, but his entire body. With each breath he took, he could feel a large mass of crisscrossed scars on his back. 

Looking around, spotting the bodies of others laying unmoving on the surrounding ground around him. He was in a cave or something, with dirt floors and rough stone walls. The only light source came from the top of the cave. Glowing moss illuminated the cave that grew along its surface. 

Broken spears and shields lay strewn about. Each body had a rusted metal collar around their necks. Most of the bodies looked mangled, as if an animal tore them apart. Pushing off the ground, Dexter's hand touched the cold rough metal of a collar, a collar that used to hang around his neck. Looking more closely, it was made of hardened iron covered in a thin layer of orange and red rust.

Gingerly touching his neck, he felt an old raised scar. A scar from a collar that used to be tightly around his neck. Not knowing what exactly was happening, he started to stand. When he felt pain erupt in his hand, like a fiery brand pressed against his hand. Clinching his teeth, bearing with the pain, growling as he did his best. The skin sizzled and began to glow softly. Then, as abruptly as it started, it seemed to heal before his eyes. Showing only a round, intricate black tattoo that had a zero in the center of it.

Finally standing, looking around the dimly lit cave, a shape on the far side of the cave made him pause. A large hunched-over figure sat. It looked like a man, but its skin was gray and had protrusions of what looked like gravel coating parts of his skin in patches. It was massive; it was crouched over and doing something. Even now, it touched the ceiling with its bulk. 

It slowly turned its head and noticed Dex. Their eyes locked, and he instantly broke into a cold sweat. A bloody arm hung loosely in the giant's mouth. The monster's chin was covered in blood. Shifting, the monster lounged. It was fast, for not being able to stand at its full height, but it was moving and moving towards him. 

Looking around "I need a weapon," he thought, looking around a finding a spear covered in dried blood. Picking it up, the monster was almost on him. 

The monster's open hand reached for him. Dex shifted the spear towards it and the beast impaled its palm on the spear, skewering itself. Pulling its hand back and looking at the wound. Dexter could see the wound slowly begin to heal before his eyes. But before it was completely healed, the monster turned on him and charged.

Cursing, he shouted at the beast. Resigning himself to death. He cursed his luck. The beast was coming, and he had no way to stop it. Instinctively closing his eyes for the impact.  

Power flooded out of Dexter in a torrent. The monster stopped in its tracks. Dexter could feel its hot breath on his face. He didn't know when but he had closed his eyes, Dex could tell that the giant was very close. 

Opening his eyes, he looked at the giant. It was less than a meter away. Shadows cast by the monster had formed heavy chains of shadow, which held the huge beast firmly in place. The chains creaked as it struggled. Dex staggered back, almost tripping over a corpse as he did. 

A shadow cast by the giant slowly rose, taking the form of a slender figure made of darkness. It held a simple but long spear with a broadhead head. It took no step, only raised the spear, pointing the obsidian tip at the giant's heart. Slowly, it began pushing the spear inward, penetrated the giant's chest, which let out a cry of pain and thrashed in its chains as it died.

When Dexter thought it was finally over, the shadows shifted around the figure holding the spear. Many dark spikes shot out of it, skewering the beast before exploding out its back and continuing until they hit the ceiling, causing the cave to shake from the impact. The chains along its arms and legs dissipated, and the giant fell with a thud onto the shadow figure, like it was made of smoke.

Looking around, he was still shaking. Taking some deep breaths, it took a few minutes to reorient himself.  

Going over to the massive monster and giving it a nudge, it didn't even twitch. Searching it, he found only a small dull red marble laying in a pool of blood next to it. 

Looking around the other bodies, trying not to gag from the stench. Stripping some of the other slaves and changing into something less covered in blood. While Dex was pulling off his shirt, he found a fresh scar on his chest, right where his heart was.

Rubbing the fresh and tender scar for a second. Pulling on his shirt while pocketing the marble found on the monster. Taking anything else of value, which didn't seem like much, a few coppers on the others found tucked away between folds of clothes. 

The pants he found were slightly too large for him, but he tied them at the waist. Everything else of value was just broken spears and wooden bucklers. A dull ache was settling behind his eyes. Flashes of memories and people he didn't know kept surfacing. 

He found a tunnel and followed it, hoping to find the exit. The feeling of the headache began to grow with each step. His exhaustion had kept him moving, knowing if he collapsed now, he may never wake up. After twenty minutes of stumbling along, he found an exit. 

Light streamed into the exit, and he was greeted by hundreds of voices talking and shouting all at once. Stepping out into the open, exiting the tunnel into a square of some sort. His headache became blinding. A group of people looked at Dex, and another man wearing faded white robes with a plain wooden token on his chest attached to a simple rope. 

He took a step towards Dex. "Wow, Obenn said no one survived," he said, stepping away from the stumbling man who had just came out of the dungeon. 

Stumbling past the gawking fools, Dex didn't even pay any attention as he reached a half-wall. The smell of human waste, animal droppings, and rotting food assaulted him. Leaning against the wall, he threw up. 

It took a few minutes before Dex stopped feeling queasy. Gingerly looking around, seeing most of the buildings looked medieval or gothic. Most were two stories tall, with pitched roofs of black wooden shingles. White plaster and gray stone made up most of the first floors and some of the second-floor buildings. Timber and painted wood made up the rest. 

Some had signs hanging over their door, while others looked lavish. Some taller buildings could be seen outside the square above the roofs of the buildings in the square. The headache was getting worse by the second. 

Catching sight of an inn not too far away on the other side of the courtyard. Stumbling towards it, crossing the cobblestone street. Almost being hit by a carriage drawn by four massive horses. 

Walking into the inn. Dex was immediately thrown back out into the street by the owner. "No beggars," he said before throwing him. Moaning in pain as his elbow hit the sidewalk. Getting up, and grabbing the only thing he had with him, a spear covered in dry blood. 

Picking himself up, he walked until he found the city wall. It was well over twenty feet tall and made of dull gray stone. Defensive turrets could be seen at the corners. Working his way along it, finding a building almost pressed against it. Dex leaned against it and closed his eyes.  

The pain behind his eyes felt like hot daggers were piercing through his very being. It reminded him of the shadow that killed the giant monster in the dungeon. Letting out a shiver before finally dozing off and falling asleep. Migraines had always plagued Dexter even when he was a child, so he was used to it. 

He dreamed of his sister, but not his sister. It was Dextum's sister, the original owner of this body. She was a tiny child, barely six years old. He was cuddling her in a small wooden shack that looked like it could barely stay standing after a strong gust of wind. Trying to keep her warm during the harsh winter. 

He was cold and shaking as well. Even with all the blankets on them, they shivered. Pangs of hunger plagued him, but he didn't care, something he was already used to. But she wasn't. 

More memories or dreams of his mother, who was sick and laying on the bed across the room. Next to her, his father was lying next to her, stroking her long black hair. 

Then a memory of his father telling him he was going to go to the church and get some medicine. His mother died a couple of days later when his father never returned. 

Still holding his sister, protecting her, trying to take care of her. When they used the last of the food, he began to sneak out and steal whatever food he could. The house reeked of decay. Their mother's corpse remained on her deathbed, but they remained. There was nowhere else to go. Who would take care of them, who would take care of his sister, Emih? 

Days later, the door was kicked open, and guards stormed inside. They took him and his sister. He tried to get to her but was knocked out. He just remembered her calling his name and crying as the world went black. Waking up in a cell with a collar on his neck and a slave brand on his chest. He was the property of a noble family. 

Family Sundorn used their slaves for entertainment, labor, and recently began filling their coffers by using them in dungeons. 

Using them as cheap labor. Markless or zeros, could clear level zero and one dungeons with only a little teamwork and basic weapons unless faced with something stronger. 

Memories and knowledge seemed to flood Dex's mind. The gems of power could turn a mortal into a hero from stories of old. "The sigil of the gods would appear on the chosen one's hands," he heard the soft-spoken words of his mother.  

He looked down at his hand as he cuddled his sister, sheltering her from the cold. Coming back to this memory multiple times. It was the night before they were taken. A few days before, he had found a group and entered the same dungeon. But he was born with chosen power, no sigil. 

It was his only hope to make money and make a life for his sister. The marks had a chance to appear on someone like him, someone with commoner blood. The nobles all had one from birth, but it was rare for a simple commoner, but not unheard of. Still, he was markless and useless. Dexter woke from the memories hidden within his long dream. 

The moon hung high in the sky, a small red crescent. "Not on Earth anymore..." He said out loud. His headache was thankfully gone, but now he could remember everything about this body's life. Like the body once belonged to a young man named Dextum, so similar to his name on Earth. 

Feeling his chest and touching the fresh scar. He felt the wound that killed him, killed Dextum. A spear through his back by the slave overseer Obenn just before he fled. 

Obenn had ordered them all to stay and fight the troll to the death. Upon seeing them being ripped apart. He decided to use them to buy him some time to flee.

Dextrum remembered the spear piercing his chest and being ripped out just before falling into the puddle of his own blood. The collar clicked off and the slave mark that once adorned his chest vanished with his last breath. Dying with hate in his heart, and revenge on his mind as he watched Obenn moving down the tunnel from where he took his last breath. 

Obenn was a slave too, but because he was a level one, they gave him special privileges and he reported to the masters directly. Dexter now knew the troll was a rare spawn, one Obenn wasn't counting on, and sacrificed his team for his own worthless skin. Just remembering what Obenn did to the slaves inside and outside the dungeon made Dex's skin crawl. "If I see him, I'll kill him," he said, grinding his teeth.  

Looking at the fresh tattoo on the back of his hand, the sigil of the chosen. He was a "zero" as the locals called them, most respectfully, but for nobles, it was still seen as being weak. All of Dextum's memories and knowledge were now a part of Dex. Knowing that he could Will the sigil to "Reveal" showed him knowledge on his progress. It sounded like stats of a video game to Dex.  

Willing the sigil fourth, it slowly formed as golden specks gradually turned into ribbons and thin golden rings that slowly spun around each other, creating an intricate sphere. The sphere spiraled mere inches above his hand. It let off a low yellow glow around him, illuminating his spot against the wall and building. 

In the center of the sphere was a glowing black gem. The gem had twenty equal sides. A low green ebbing came from its center, which seemed to make the black gem look like smoke was trapped inside of it. 

Just below it, a shining light blue marble was connected. On either side above it, Dex knew he could insert more gems. The smaller marble size ones were for small marble size gems, support gems. 

Pulling the one from his pocket, he placed it near the empty gem slot. Dex watched as it floated up and entered. Focusing on the gem, he could tell what they were and what they could do with it, and for him and its immediate limitations. The information just seemed to appear in his mind.

His original host knew a little as well. Like the gems could gain experience, power, and even eventually evolve. The main gem, or what was known as a gem of power. They were never just sphere-like marbles but cut gems of different shapes and sizes. They ranged from basic abilities to whole classes of elements. The gems gain power from absorbing ambient mana after killing creatures in dungeons and magical beasts that roam outside them. Becoming an adventurer was his dream as a child, like the other great heroes of the world, with their names told on countless people's minds.  

Shaking his head, focusing on the four ribbons floating within the projection. Each one held beautiful writing across them, flowing in swooping, elegant writing. It was the language of this world and not of Earth. After merging with the Dextum he could read it just barely now. They each showed as follows.

-Golden Ribbons-

Power: 3

Speed: 2

Grace: 1

Mana: 3

-

Focusing on the gems next. The knowledge from them entered his mind. Like the knowledge that was hidden just below the surface of his mind.

Gem of power: Fragment of power - Ulin (Legendary Unique) 

Gem has been greatly weakened. Grade is temporarily reduced to rare grade.

Available skill: Shadow spike

-

After looking at the gem of power. Next, was the support gems. The light blue marble, and the dull red one he had just added. 

Support gem: Awakened Mana gem

Gem is awakened, granting additional power. Fused to gem of power.

"Gem aids in regeneration and the control of mana."

-

Support gem: Trolls blood

"Regenerates health"

-

He stared at the orb longer before dismissing it. Lifting his hand and looking at the tattoo in the moonlight. Thinking of the gem's, he knew that they would gain power the more he used them. Removing the troll's blood would be fine right now. But removing the gem of power would probably kill him. 

Each gem would become a part of you, but they could be removed with some form of backlash to either the mind, body, or both from its loss. The mana gem was powerful and rare. Most mage types used it while the troll blood gem was almost a taboo item. It helped with regeneration, but if used long enough, it would begin changing the body of the user to take on troll traits. This alone made the gem unusable to most, but Dex didn't have any other choice. His headache was now gone, and he felt revitalized after sleeping.

Picking up the spear, he saw his hand in the dim light of the moon. Stopping and looking at them, just noticing that the brown scales were no longer there, the bruises looked barely noticeable. Even the scars looked older. Even the broken and missing nails were restored. Smiling, he looked up towards the red moon high in the sky.