"Well, not many options from here but to approach the thing," Daz thought aloud.

Reika nodded atop his halo. 'We agree. It's a curious-looking door though. We've never seen anything like it before.'

"You can see it from here?" he asked.

She wore a smug expression on her demonic face. 'Do not compare our eyesight to that of a foolish mortal.'

Daz didn't humour her with a response. If she didn't want to be serious, he would just ignore her. Par for the course, really.

He controlled Hamson to move slowly into the ocean beneath it and himself. The water was cold, far colder than was normal.

Daz didn't often venture into the sea but he still visited Atlantis from time to time to set up the devices he needed for its restoration. He'd gotten quite a few as of late from trade deals. All without spending a penny, much to his quest's pleasure.

The underwater city's surrounding ocean was cold, of course, but this was a beach on California's southern coast. One of the notoriously hottest places in America, if not on Earth. Minus all of the deserts, of course. This type of temperature was odd. The whole planet seemed to be cooling down.

'This winter is lasting suspiciously long. I've had theories it was the doing of a fellow sovereign candidate but it could just as well be the doing of that mythical city at the North Pole...' Daz wondered.

Regardless, thanks to his Waterbreathing skill he felt very comfortable standing atop his treasured shovel while it descended into the dark deep below.

The water was relatively shallow at only 70-metres deep but it was still incredibly lacking in light at the bottom. Well, it was if you ignored the glowing door just sitting there on the ocean floor as if it had always belonged there.

Waterbreathing has reached Level 2.

'I do wonder why this skill can even level at all. S-rank should be its limit. Unless at SS-rank it negates the pressure of being underwater? How would that work? It's essentially just weight. All of that water on top of more water,' Daz thought.

After a few moments, he added, 'Well, the system's done crazier things, I'm sure. If it weren't for the sheer depth of Atlantis, maybe I wouldn't drive down to it every time I visit. That would power level Waterbreathing pretty quickly.'

He quickly stopped thinking of the water before he started closely inspecting the door in front of him, both with his eyes and with his skills.

It was a large door roughly two metres wide and three metres tall. It shape was that of an upside-down 'U' and its rim stuck out from the rest of the door like a hard edge.

Words of a language Daz didn't recognise could be seen along the rim and runic symbols covered the main part of the door almost entirely. Long had Daz known All Language Comprehension didn't apply to written words, just spoken ones.

Only now, however, was such a fact truly bothering him. It was a big issue for Lyle since that man needed to use dozens of languages with his informational booklets for the ever-diversifying residents of New Earth. For Daz though? Such a matter never reached him.

'I'm quite the explorer when I'm not being a monarch but boy does it feel like I am horrifically equipped to properly explore sometimes,' Daz thought. 'I usually brute force my way through things with a splash of rational logic. Let's be completely cautious this time, shall we? See how that pans out for a change.'

He reached into his Industrial Item Box and pulled out a special pen and journal. Both worked perfectly fine underwater, the pen not being useless and the book's pages not turning fragile and sopping wet in a mere instant.

He'd not actually bought these through the system but from crafters of Fort Home. They seemed useless to him but he kept them since they were essentially a gift from the creators. Now seemed a fitting time to actually try them out though.

Daz began jotting down the unfamiliar words and runes in the journal as he looked over his system notifications related to the door.

Door 6,796 Door 6,796 of 10,000.

Randomly selected [Door 6,796] Secret: It used to be Door 7,254 before appearing on Earth.

Daz's hand paused, the ink on the paper pooled in one spot due to his hesitation. 'I'm sorry, what? Somehow I now know even less about this thing than before...'

This was the first time The Crystal Digger's Identification had be so useless to him. Daz was used to Secret Override being very hit or miss but his unique master version of Identification had yet to fail him. Well, until now at least.

He ended up sighing deeply while he was standing there under the sea, or, well, did as best as he could since there was no air with which to sigh. 'The system's vast. Of course it has unexplainable magical fucking doors. Let's just treat this like Mr Barrier. I wonder if its alive, this door?'

To entertain his idea he used Soul Vision on the large runic thing and shook his head in disbelieve. 'Right. naturally it has a soul. Hey, Door 6,796. Can you read minds? If you can, open up for me, please. No worries if you can't. I'm not really expecting anything.'

Daz was relieved to see the door not move in response to his thoughts. 'A door with a soul in one thing, one that can read minds is another entirely.'

He collected himself and quickly returned to documenting all of the words and strange symbols on the peculiar door.

About 20-minutes later, he was done and ready to start interacting with it to see how it would react. 'I feel a bit like a scholar. I mean, it only makes sense to be cautious of the unknown but I do wonder how much any of this matters... Regardless, I'll give these notes to Sir Albert when I'm done. Maybe he can use his spare time to study this instead of sleeping with the local girls.'

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Waterbreathing has reached Level 3.

Daz ignored the notification like he usually did for his skill level-ups. He stored the waterproof journal and pen back into his Industrial Item Box and he then walked towards the door.

Its back was identical to its front, down to the last word and rune he found after inspecting it more closely. Daz nodded and then gently pressed a hand against the structure. Nothing happened.

'So touching it doesn't activate it in some way nor does it bring me through. Useful information. What else is there for me to do? I don't want to damage it since there could be people still alive on the other side plus I'm here to test my newly upgraded and purchased skills,' Daz thought as he reached for the door handle. 'Guess all that's left is to open it.'

He did so and was greeted by the stars. The door was heavy but to his stats it was a simple matter to swing it wide open.

He hadn't expected to see the ocean through it since it was obviously a magical door of some sort but seeing the very cosmos itself wasn't one of the things he had imagined.

It was like the door led straight into space. 'Well, it surely can't actually be space. Maybe if Earth wasn't a trial planet, but it is. Access to the greater system and the spectroverse is restricted beyond belief. Must be a pretty unique dungeon.'

Daz didn't trust the system all that much but if it was anything, it was reliably accurate. The mercenary guild was operated and owned directly by the system itself. If they believed this led to a dungeon, then led to a dungeon it did.

He stepped through the door and hoped for the best.

----------------------------------------

You have entered dungeon [Door 6,796].

Daz looked around as he nodded. 'So it is a dungeon. Glad to have that confirmed, at the very least.'

He was in a perfectly cuboid room that seemed to be made of glass. Outside of the glass could be seen the beauty of outer space with stars visible in every direction.

"Incredible..." Daz muttered.

Mofolo exited Hamson and took a place next to Reika. Both of them looked around in awe just as their master was.

'What a magnificent sight,' the former king of Atlantis spoke in praise.

Reika floated over to a wall and pressed her hands against it. 'So vast... Hey, Insolent Fool. We cannot pass through this substance.'

"The glass? Odd. Maybe because it's a dungeon," Daz replied as concern started to creep into his mind. 'How do I progress? The door disappeared and there is literally nothing in this room besides the view...'

"... Entrant detected... Beginning test..."

"Ah, here we go," Daz said in relief after hearing the ghostly voice.

He had no idea where it came from nor what language was being spoken but he was incredibly curious as to what this test would entail. 'Hopefully not something that strips my system upgrades. I'm getting sick of that. Some good old fashioned fighting would be great.'

"Test of Truth phase 1: Answer honestly to progress to the next room."

Daz raised an eyebrow and felt disappointed. 'This sounds interesting but I wanted to fight something... Maybe this will be a wash and I'll need to take another mission. Oh well. Best get on with this. There has to be more to it than meets the eyes if two groups haven't returned after taking on the quest.'

"Question 1: Who are you?"

Daz held his chin thoughtfully. "How specific do you want me to be?"

He had no idea if it would respond to such a question but it was valid enough he felt. It nothing happened he'd just give a basic answer.

"Response: As specific as possible."

Daz smiled. 'It doesn't have a soul for nothing, that door.'

"Daz Crowthorne, High King of New Earth from planet Earth. I'm 21 and I'm a human-turned-reaper, turned-Justice Reaper, turned-Archreaper. Will that suffice?" Daz asked. 'I'd rather not go into who I was or who I am down to the smallest of likes and dislikes if possible. As much as I would willingly do it, it sounds awfully boring.'

"Response: Yes. You speak truthfully. Question 2: What are your immediate goals?"

"Clear this dungeon, find the people who came in before me, alive or dead, and test some new skills and upgraded skills I recently acquired," Daz answered.

"Response: You speak truthfully. Question 3: How did you find Door 6,796?"

Daz cocked his head a little in confusion. "Through the system's mercenary guild."

"Response: You speak truthfully. You may proceed to Room 2."

Daz nodded as a shimmering door appeared in the centre of the glass box. 'That felt suspiciously like a survey, not a test in a dungeon.'

With that thought in the back of his mind, he opened the new door and stepped through it.

Room 2 was just like Room 1 except the glass cuboid keeping him and space separate was about twice as large as Room 1's.

"Test of Might phase 1: Prove your might."

"Simple enough. Now, prove it how?" Daz asked.

The response that met him was the air in the room shifting and twisting. Not a second later a strange monster of tentacles and eyes appeared.

It was grotesque beyond belief and hard to look at, even for someone as stoic as Daz. He felt sick just letting his eyes linger on it for more than a second. Pus oozed out of the creature's dozens of tentacles and eye sockets while it frantically looked around.

Naturally, it took no time at all for it to locate Daz and it attacked even quicker, giving him no time at all to identify the monster before he had to dodge out of the way. 'It's fast for a flopping mass of goo, puss, eyes and tentacles.'

It thrashed about on the floor of the box wildly, searching for Daz with its slithering limbs. It chased him around the room without ever seeming to tire.

Daz was honestly surprised how much of his speed he had to utilise to avoid the creature. If he reduced his focus by even a tiny amount he was sure he'd be smacked by one or a handful of the tentacles and his Survivor's Instinct made it clear that doing so wouldn't exactly be wise.

'If this is the level of enemies this door is throwing at people who enter it, there's no way the ones who came before me are still alive. Question is, where are the bodies?' Daz thought as a tentacle just barely glanced past his left eyeball.

If there was an organ he didn't want to lose, it was his eyes. Replacing limbs was possible via the system but it was also abysmally expensive as proven by Dorian's unwillingness to replace his metal arm.

Daz's eyes were vital for his Future Vision and Success Sight though, the former being potentially critical in this dungeon. He couldn't' afford to lose them in respect to that.

Seeing no reason to continue dodging and to potentially get hurt while waiting for something to change, Daz used a skill. 'Grip of Death.'

Daz grunted in pain as a surprisingly sharp tentacle pierced his shoulder and began rummaging around through his insides.

The monster seemed to be completely unaffected by his Grip of Death and had attacked him in the brief moment he'd taken to make the split-second decision to employ the skill.

'Is it soulless?' Daz asked himself as he grabbed the tentacle inside of himself and dug his fingernails into the wet and disgusting flesh.

All the while he strained his mind to the limits to use Hamson as a shield against the other disgusting limbs trying to gain purchase in his flesh.

The monster seemed to reel back a bit at the pain. Daz quickly ripped the tentacle into two parts with his raw strength.

Once free of the monster he dug his hand into his own body and clawed out the entire remainder of the beast's limb that was still writhing about inside of him.

His arm hurt far more than he had expected it would. He's lost limbs before, been beaten half to death and punished himself daily during his training but this was a different, more dangerous type of pain. It was a pain that seeped into his mind.

Not wanting to fight this monstrosity for much longer, especially since despite it being soulless it was showing far more caution and respect for Daz now, he chose to go on the offensive.

'Let's see how you deal with a flying shovel that's actively trying to rip you to shreds as you were trying to do to me mere moments ago,' Daz thought with a smile as he prepared to murder the ungodly creature before him. 'If that isn't enough, then I've a skull that might like to meet you.'