“Put 5 into strength, endurance, and physique. 3 into dexterity, concentration, and perception, and finally 4 into agility.”

I quickly used all the stats I gained from Rick. Due to the test bonus and the fact that Rick killed Jason, I gained quite a lot.

My reasoning for raising the seven stats were simple. They were all stats that would increase my fighting potential and allow me to fight longer.  

I saw the destructive power that Rick did with his lightning ball. Sure, I could have invested stats into magic power and intelligence, but it was high variance. I don’t know how many goblins are at the goblin village but if I get tired after using fireball and there’s still a lot of them left, I’d be in big trouble.

With the sudden increase in strength, I felt my whole body flowing with power. My mind became clearer and my control over my body increased by a huge margin. After getting another ‘Basic Fighting experience,’ I had the feeling that I could fight with Jason on equal grounds, even without the increase in stats.

“System, how much time is left?”

[All explorers currently have one hour and 32 minutes left]

“Good. I still have time left.”

I turned and looked around. Kelly was nowhere in sight and Chris was staring at me. He had something that looked to be a potion in his mouth and I could see that his face was visibly better. His bleeding also stopped.

“Is that a health potion?”

“...yea.”

“Where did you get it?”

“I got three from killing the explorer on the second floor.”

“How many do you have left.”

“Two left.”

“Can you fight?”

Two of the five explorers were dead and one was missing. Despite the small boost in power, I was still worried whether I could clear the village. I needed help if was to pass the floor. But the most important reason was that I didn’t want to kill Chris. I didn’t want to kill someone that I was friends with or someone I might be able to rely on in the future.

“I can fight. But give me some time for my leg to heal. Just 10 minutes.”

“Alright.”

“Were you going to kill me if I couldn’t fight?”

I didn’t answer right away. I looked at Chris for a couple seconds before talking.

“I don’t know. Killing you would obviously be the logical thing but...well there’s no point in thinking about it.”

With bodies and blood around us, we just sat in silence. After who knows how long Chris suddenly broke the fragile peace.

“On the second floor, the explorer I met was my girlfriend. You don’t know how surprised I was. I was worried but at the same time I was relieved because I would be able to rely and protect her through this fucking dungeon. Together, we killed goblins and managed to reach the door to the third floor. But there was a sign on top of the door. Do you know what it said?”

“Only one person can go through the door.”

“Only one. Only one person could go through the fucking door.”

Chris’s voice cracked and I could see his eyes becoming foggy.

“I’m sure you can tell what happened.”

“You killed her.”

“Yes, I killed her. But when I stabbed the knife straight into her stomach do you know what she said?”

“No.”

“She...she said that she was relieved. She said she was worried that I wouldn’t kill her and was happy when I did. She said that she wouldn’t have been able to continue living if I died because of her and thanked me for not letting her go through the pain.”

I saw tears starting to flow from Chris's eyes. His lips trembled and I could see the pain in his eyes. He spoke slowly.

“She was my childhood friend, my best friend, my girlfriend. I’m only fifteen but I really did love her. Even now, when she’s gone I realize I loved her so much more than I thought I did.”

“Then why did you kill her.”

“Fear. It was my fucking fear for death that made me kill her without hesitation! Heha, but now...living is something I hate more than dying. Ironic isn’t it? I killed her because I wanted to live but now I just want to die.”

“Yet you try so hard to survive.”

“Because I’m a coward. Living is so painful to me, Ed. Everytime I sleep, I see her face. Everytime I eat apples I see her face. She loved apples... Everytime I see or do anything that reminds me of her, I’m filled with so much pain and regret. But everytime I want to kill myself to just end it all, I become too scared to do it. She died because I was a coward and I’m unable to pay her back because I’m a coward...Ed did you know? You don’t get transported to the dungeon everyday. I found out that if you really don’t want to go to the dungeon, then the dungeon doesn’t summon you for at most 10 days. For the past 10 days I’ve been trying my fucking hardest to not be here.”

“Chris, what happened to her after she died?”

Chris didn’t answer right away. Instead, he closed his eyes and put his head against the wall. After a couple minutes of silence, he starting talking.

“Sigh... She..got erased.”

“Erased?”

“Everyone who ever knew of her lost their memories of her. All signs of her existence was erased.”

So that’s what happens. Dying in the dungeon literally means death, where your existence is completely erased from the world.

“ I tried calling her but a random person picked up. I went to her parents but they didn’t know who I was and denied ever having a daughter.”

There was silence. Neither of us spoke for a while. I thought about what I would have done if I was in Chris’s place. Would I have killed her too? What would have I done if I did kill her?

“Chris.”

“...”

“Do you miss her?

“..of course. I miss her everyday. I miss her so much.”

“Then you should keep doing your best to live.”

“...what?”

“If you really hate living then live! Go through the pain of living in order to pay for your actions.”

“...”

“If you really love her then live! She died for you, she wanted you to keep on living. Don’t make her death for nothing.”

I looked straight at Chris and he looked straight at me.

“If you really want to change, then live. Survive in the dungeon, conquer the dungeon, and become someone who is never afraid of anything.”

Chris just kept staring at me. After a while, a smile broke out from his face.  

“I didn’t think you were an inspirational speaker.”

I smiled.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me. We got 4 years of catching up to do. Anyways is your leg healed up yet?”

“For your information, I’m as straight as a 180 degrees line can be.”

“Fuck off.”

Stolen novel; please report.

I wanted to talk more with Chris about his experiences on the first floor. But it wasn’t a good time to have a discussion, we only had around an hour and 10 minutes left. Apparently asking questions about the time didn’t count as a part of the 4 questions because I was able to continuously ask.

Right before Chris and I started searching for the village, I went back to the bodies for loot. The bodies dissolved and left two small red boxes like the one on the second floor.

[Short Sword (F): A sword used by warriors of the past.]

[+1 Strength, +2 Agility}

[Health potion +3: Heals wounds and relieves exhaustion.]

Decent loot. The short sword had slightly better stats than my bone necklace and I felt really relieved after getting the health pots. The health pots were only the size of a tic tac box which made it really convenient to carry around. Oh yea, I brought my phone!

I quickly took out my phone while Chris watched me and checked for signal. As I thought, there was no signal in the dungeon, however I took a couple pictures around me before I put it away.

“You can bring items from outside the dungeon?”

Chris asked me with wide eyes. Looks like he didn’t know.

“Yea, anything you put in your pocket can be transferred. Though I’m not sure if something I’m wearing like a bag can be transferred as well.”

“Looks like I should get better prepared for the next floor. Well now that you’re ready, can we go?”

“Wait let me do something else first.”

I grabbed the sword and started swinging and thrusting. I wanted to get familiar with the weight and reach of the sword before I have to face up against goblins. It was a bit of a shame I didn’t get a knife. I was more used to the knife and even had a mastery for it.

“Ok. Let’s go.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Chris and I searched for the goblin village. We didn’t talk much and all our focus was to search and be ready for attacks.

I wanted to take the goblin pouches for my knife but they were all burned from the lighting ball. As a result I had to carry the sword on my right hand and the knife on my left. It was good that I mostly used my left hand on the second floor and it didn’t feel too awkward. I wasn’t sure if I could fight well using both hands. I should have taken drum lessons when I could.

It was suspicious that Kelly disappeared but I really couldn’t care less as long as she wasn’t against me, otherwise I would kill her. Hah, I’m able to say things like killing so indifferently now. Looks like I really did change.

“Ed. I think we’re here.”

What? There weren’t any goblins in front of us, much less a village.

“You feeling alright bud? I don’t see anything.”

“Trust me. Most of my stats weren’t anything special but for some reason I had unusually high perception. It was also the reason why I was able to dodge that madman’s lighting ball in time.”

“So you’re saying that the goblin village is right in front of us?”

“Not directly in front. More like in the next passage or so.”

I took a deep breath and let it out. I closed my eyes and calmed my mind and my beating heart as much as I could. I was nervous and a bit scared. I killed goblins before but this time I was going to be up against a whole village. There might even be a lot of elite goblins like the one that injured Rick.

“Take this health pot.”

“I already have two, keep it.”

“I have two items that make me stronger and I gained a ton of stats from Jason and Rick. Take it.”

“Being nice is going to send you to an early grave.”

“I’m not being nice. If you die to soon then I’ll be in big trouble.”

“Tch, you’re acting like a tsundere.”

“Fuck you man.”

Chris took the health pot and we both laughed. I didn’t know if we were going to survive but laughing in a situation like this really helped me relax.

“Though how are you going to use a health pot with only one arm?”

“I’m going to keep one in my mouth with the cap barely on so I can easily use it when I have to. For the others I’ll have to somehow make space between the goblins and me to use it. The caps aren’t on so hard so I should be able to open them with one hand.”

“Be careful.”

“Smirk* You’re going to have to carry me.”

“Ha just don’t feed too hard.”

Ready and joking around, we both walked forward to where Chris estimated the goblins would be.

And he was right. There were over 40 tents that looked like mini teepees and fireplaces with goblins gathered over. There were male goblins, female goblins, old goblins, young goblins, it was a fucking community of goblins.

With our arrival the goblins all looked and stared at us. For a second I thought they weren’t as bad as I thought when suddenly they started growling and screaming in unison.

‘KEKEKEAWWA”

“Fuck! Let’s do this!!”

I dashed towards the goblins. Not all of them had weapons, about a half of them had nothing that could fatally hurt me like a knife or sword.

I reached my first enemy and swung my sword.

“Keke-”

The goblin didn’t get a chance to finish. It’s head flew off with blood splattering all over the place. The hot black liquid sprayed onto my face and it tasted like metal...strangely human.

[Basic sword mastery gained]

A goblin rushed at me from the corner of my eye. It swung its stick but I sidestepped and stabbed its neck. From behind I heard the sound of metal cutting through the wind.

Tinggg!

I parried the knife before it could stab me. The goblin didn’t get another chance as my knife sunk into its head.

[Two handed weapon mastery gained]

Two dead, I engaged another.

A single strike, another one down.

I felt a sharp pain from my side, the pain of metal sinking into flesh. I didn’t care about it and killed one more.

Anxiety, fear, nervousness, they all disappeared. What was left was excitement, bloodthirst, thrill.

The screaming of goblins just became another part of the background. My body became increasingly more used to thrusting, throwing, slashing, parrying, and stabbing.

Before I knew it, all the goblins in a 10 meter radius of me were dead. Gasping for air I looked around. Bodies everywhere, black blood soaked into the ground making it impossible to see any colors of brown. My own body had numerous cuts and wounds but I was numb to the pain.

I looked up, even more goblins were staring at me. I saw terror from the weak ones, fear from the experienced, and unease from the elites.

I looked back. Chris was panting while drinking a health potion. He was still alive. He looked at me and motioned for me to drink mine.

I stabbed my sword onto the ground. The goblins flinched while I took out a health pot and started drinking. I felt some strength coming into my body as my exhaustion became lighter.

There were still a lot left. In addition there were many experienced and even elite goblins among them. A situation like this, my future was grim wasn't it? I was probably going to die. But for some reason, I had a grin on my face. At this moment, I wasn’t scared of dying. No, I just wanted to keep fighting.

I drank my last health pot and threw it away. I pulled out my sword, it was completely black from the blood of the goblins. Tightening my grip on the handle I raised the sword shoulder level to my side. I slowly started walking towards the goblins. At this moment, I felt like an army of thousands of men were against me.

“Ha, it wouldn’t be fair otherwise.”

I rushed in.

And so another bloodbath began.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Pant..Pant.

My vision was blurry. I was barely able to stand by leaning on my sword. My whole body was aching and the pain I was numbed to starting rushing in like a flood.

I managed to kill them all. Haha I really lived through all that carnage. At some point even the experienced goblins became nothing but regular mobs to me. Only the elites proved to be a greater problem than I thought. I almost got killed by them 4 times and even then I got stabbed in so many places of my body. It was a miracle I’m still alive.

Just when I was about to fall I felt someone hold me up

It was Chris.

“Fuck man. Pant. Haha..we’re alive.”

“I...I guess we are.”

“Quickly drink this health pot.”

Chris slowly put me on the bloody ground and poured the contents of the potion down my throat.

It was amazing, It felt like I was floating in the clouds and I almost fainted due to the sudden relaxation my body.

[Tremendous achievement! Nearly wiped out a whole medium sized goblin village single handedly! +100 achievement points]

[Basic sword mastery has been raised to Beginner sword mastery!]

[Basic knife mastery has been raised to Beginner knife mastery!]

[Stats have been raised due to constant battle]

[Stats have been raised due to Barbaric trait]

[Explorer is now able to emit Bloodthirst to intimidate enemies due to Bloodthirsty trait.]

[Killing Intent has been gained due to the indiscriminate slaughter of other living beings]

[The King of the Battlefield has taken note of you!]

[Great achievement! Been noticed by one of the 8 High Lords. +50 achievement points]

[The King of the Battlefield has given you a small gift!]

I was shocked by seeing a series of announcements from the system. Who was the King of the Battlefield. Who are the 8 High Lords?

Suddenly I felt a vibration from my sword. I turned my head and it looked like it was devouring the light around it. The whole sword was surrounded by darkness and it started changing shape.

[Demon’s Edge ( C ): The transformation of a regular short sword by the endless blood of its enemies. The sword has been blessed by one of the 8 High Lords. As a result, it has become incredibly sharp and only explorer Ed is able to wield it. +12 Strength, +12 Agility, +12 Dexterity ]

The weapon I was holding was no longer a regular sword, it was a C ranked item! It even came with its own scabbard. Despite the exhaustion I forcefully got up and pulled the sword out of hiding. No, it wasn’t a sword anymore..it was blade. A completely black blade from the tip to the bottom.I felt an endless amount strength rushing into my body just from holding the weapon. It was a really good blade.

“Wow. That’s..a really scary looking sword.”

“A blade actually. But yea, it’s really strong.”

I put the blade back into its scabbard and tied it around my body. Like magic, the scabbard automatically tightened so it wouldn’t fall off.

“How much time do we have left?”

“30 minutes.”

“I’m able to move again so let’s search if there’s anything in the tents. The door should be on the other end.”

“Alright.”

Chris and I started searching the tents. After around 10 minutes of searching Chris surprisingly found 2 health pots and a goblin pouch acknowledged as an item. I also found the goblin pouch and it had a capacity of over two times its volume.

“KEEKROAR”

We both stopped what we were doing and rushed out of the tents we were in. The sound came from further down the dungeon, pass the tents. We looked at each other and without saying anything started running towards the source.

I was faster than Chris so I arrived earlier. When I saw the scene in front of me I was immediately shocked.

It was a goblin..but was it really a goblin? It was tall, about 170 cm and had green skin like the goblins. But it was much more brawny and even had black hair on top of its head. Its face was much less hideous and could even stand up to an ugly human being. It wielded an axe on its right and a shield on its left and even had armor on.

However the monster wasn’t roaring or facing me. Instead it was fighting against another person who I realized right away.

“Kelly?”

“That’s...isn’t that a hobgoblin?”

Chris arrived behind me and saw the monster. Then his eyes went towards Kelly who was fighting it.

“What the fuck? Kelly?”

I always knew that Kelly was suspicious. She was calm throughout everything that happened, solved problems that occurred and even disappeared after the fight with Rick. But I had no idea that Kelly was strong enough to fight directly with a monster that is probably the floor boss. However, could she beat it?

“Chris give me the health pots.”

“Here.”

Chris handed me the two without hesitation. I quickly opened one and drank it. Despite having 10 minutes to rest, my body was still feeling the strain from the battle. One potion just wasn’t enough.

I felt more of my strength returning and focused on the fight.

“Chris. If Kelly gets injured from the monster, go kill her right away. I’ll deal with the Boss so don’t worry.”

“Can you fight the hobgoblin?”

“If I didn’t have Demon’s Edge, I wouldn’t have been sure. But I do, I can fight him.”

“I’ll believe in you.”

“Why that’s a given. Always listen to your booster, man.”

Just then, Kelly managed to injure the monster but got knocked away by the shield the next moment and crashed into the wall. She quickly got up but the Boss was already up close and swung at her with its axe. She had no choice but to parry with her sword but I could see that her arm got bent the wrong way. She was bashed by the shield again and was thrown to the ground a couple meters away.

“Go!”

I dashed towards the boss monster and stopped him from approaching Kelly. Chris reached Kelly but before he could kill her, she started attacking him. 

“Don’t worry about me! This bitch is injured, I can take care of her even without my right arm.”

Hearing Chris I smiled and no longer paid attention to the fight happening behind my back. I drew Demon’s Edge from its scabbard and stared right at the Boss.

The threat I felt from the Boss was even higher than when I fought against the goblin village. I didn't doubt for a moment that the monster could single handedly destroy all the goblins. I could feel its killing intent on me as the monster roared.

'KEKOROOAR!"

I smiled.

“Let’s have some fun.”

[Name: Ed]

[Age: 15]

[Species: Human]

[Occupation: None]

[Subclass: None]

[Titles: Psychopath]

[Traits: Barbaric, Bloodthirsty]

[Strength:23 (13)]

[Intelligence:12]

[Agility:18 (13)]

[Endurance: 17]

[Physique:14]

[Vitality:14]

[Dexterity:17 (12)]

[Perception:15]

[Concentration:16]

[Magic Power:25]

[Charm:4]

[Luck:11]

[Skills (P): Beginner knife mastery: 1, Beginner sword mastery: 1, Two handed weapon mastery: 2, Pain resistance: 8, Magic resistance: 3, Clarity: 6, Basic magic mastery: 1]

[Skills (A): Fireball, Killing intent]

[Stat points: 0]

[Skill points: 0]

[Achievement points: 190]

[Items: Bone necklace(F), Demon’s Edge( C )]

[Affinity: Fire ( C )]