Eli looked down at the headless corpse dyed in black ink. He crouched down and started to cut open the thighs to remove the femurs. Now that the creature was dead, his Unwilling Aura had no effect. It made the process significantly easier.

The skeletal structure seemed to be unbelievably similar to his own. He briefly remembered the concept of convergent evolution, where completely different species can develop along similar paths. The possibilities fascinated him.

*ding*

Bone Club Primitive Damage: 3 Durability: 12

After putting the two clubs aside he went back into the cell and started to saw off the creature's fingers. He could tell the claw-like nails would be a definite upgrade from his broken bone dagger.

*ding*

Claw Dagger Primitive Damage: 5 Durability: 5

It would have been smarter to start with these first. He realized too late.

After the task was complete, he stripped before he untied the rope he created and used it to wipe down his body that was now soaked in black blood, to moderate success.

He then took the waistband and pockets from his gutted pants and put it on, stuffing the claws in each pocket. He then grabbed hold of a club in each hand. He didn't have enough unsoiled material to make anything besides an extremely ineffective loin cloth. 

"I look like a naked idiot..." He took a moment to swear. After giving the place a look over to see if there was anything he might have missed, he was finally ready to move on.

As he walked through the halls, he once again started to follow the right-hand rule for mazes. It was a basic trick he learned as a kid that stated as long as you continued to follow the left or right wall, you'd reach an exit. This didn't work with all mazes, of course. Almost any maze with traps would place the most dangerous ones in the direct path of a basic trick like this. Not to mention hidden doors, shifting walls, and rings. Luckily people don't generally place traps in prisons.

After an hour or so of walking, he started to curse to himself. Who the fuck needed a dungeon this big? His complaints were cut off when he noticed a section of the wall had crumbled. As he approached the debris, he noticed that there was a man-sized tunnel.

Eli weighed his options before deciding to scout it out a bit. He cautiously moved forward until the short tunnel led into a small room. It was barren except for a stone gated portal at the end of the room.

The thing screamed "dungeon entrance" to him.

*ding*

???

His Inspect ability was once again showing its utility.

Eli looked around for anything of interest before he ran back out. Perhaps it was a once in a lifetime opportunity where he'd gain unrivaled power that would be used as the foundation for his meteoric rise in this world. However, the far more likely scenario was that he'd be killed by something before he even knew it was there, and heal it while it did so. He wasn't going to gamble with his life like a moron.

After a few more minutes of traveling, he stumbled upon a spiral staircase that led upward. He was desperate to get out of the eerie prison. The air was stale and filled with the scent of rotting flesh, but he had yet to find a trace of a corpse. Not only that, but there wasn't a single sound besides his own footsteps and breathing. The place was starting to unhinge him. 

He didn't waste much time starting to ascend the stairs, but he remained cautious and did so at a crawl. The staircase was designed to be defended from the top, having a clockwise rise. This meant if there was a guard, they would be at the top.

Fortunately, when he finally finished climbing the stairs, he found it was empty. There was just a short tunnel that led into a rather large round room with a metal gate, a portcullis he thought it was named, at the very opposite end.

The layout gave him pause. It was entirely too large to be a simple passageway. He tried to think of what purpose it would have.

The prison so far was designed to defend against the prisoners at the bottom. That meant the only reason to make a room like this was to purposefully herd more people into it. Meaning it was likely a trap room.

What mattered wasn't that there was likely a trap in the room, it's what type of trap it was and its trigger. He thought the most likely possibilities were a pitfall, the ceiling or floor acting as a hydraulic press, or maybe some type of magical crematory. The classics as they were.

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If it was a pitfall, it was likely just a weight trigger, which meant that even a small group was probably fine. As for what could be the trigger for the other types of traps, he thought that perhaps there could be pressure plates near the sides of the room that activated them. After all, only a large group would have a need for going to the sides of the room.

The safest course of action seemed to be just walking straight through. To test the waters he threw one of his bone clubs into the middle of the room.

*clack* *clack*

He waited for any response from the room, but there was just silence. He decided to throw his other club as far as he could to see if there was a reaction from reaching the other side.

*clack* *clack* *clack*

He wasn't strong enough to reach the other end, but there was still no response from the room.

Eli decided to just go for it as he stepped into the room and started walking forward in as straight of a line as possible. He picked up his clubs as he approached the opposite end. As he reached it he found a wheel type lever to the side. He placed the clubs against the wall and started to pull the lever downward. After a quarter turn it clicked into place.

A bright wall suddenly sprang up from both entrances and a red mist started to fill the room.

*ding*

Inflicted with Poison

You take 3 damage every 5 seconds.

The gas burned his eyes and lungs. He started to cough uncontrollably, with each cough he involuntarily took in a short breath, and each breath brought more poison into his lungs that caused a new wave of pain.

He had tripped one of the traps in the room, and all he could do at this point was to try and endure it. After exactly a minute had passed he was greeted with a new alert, but he couldn't focus enough between his violent coughing to read it. Notification after notification started to ring in his ears shortly after before he was aware that the red fog was being sucked out of the room.

Finally able to get his breathing under control after his body started started to quickly repair itself, he looked back at his status screen.

*DING*

You Have Gained Poison Resistance Lv. 1

You take 1% less Poison damage

You Have Gained

+1 Vitality

Essence Core Restored!

Level Up!

You are now Level 1!

+5 Free Attributes

Achievement Unlocked!

Toxic Blood

You have taken a total of 50 poison damage and survived

10% chance to Resist Poison damage.

Name Insignificant Race Insignificant Level (New!) 1 Class Revenant Titles Progenitor, Tenacious, Aberration Achievements (New!) Toxic Blood Age 0% Lifespan 1 year Health 26/50 Mana 10/10 Attributes (New!) Unspent Points 5 Strength 1   Dexterity 1 Vitality 1 Wisdom 1 Charisma 1 Will 1 Endurance 1 Affinities None Resistances (New!) Pain 2 Essence Drain 1 Poison 1   Active Skills Inspect 1   Passive Skills Dark Sight 3 Death's Curse MAX Unwilling Aura 3