Chapter 2 〢 Dungeon Arc#1 〢 The System Evolves
Under the markings, my body faded, starting from legs to head.
“Squeek, Squeek”
Huh, Sound, I heard some noise after so long. Now I could also observe little of my surrounding. It looked like a cavern.
This must be the entrance of the dungeon.
“Squeek, Squeek”
That noise again, it was coming from someplace in front; I followed the noise. There was a corner from which the paths split. I glanced through one edge. Three rats like monsters were feeding on a corpse. They were dungeon monsters.
My hands shook a little. Was I scared? What was I terrified of? Scared that I might die? Scared of pain? Whats’s the pain anyway?
A part of me wished to remain in a corner and never leave again, a part of me craved to massacre every being present in this dungeon, a part of me wished to return home, even though I do not know what home even is, Which emotion was mine, what was the thing that I wanted to do? I could not decide.
“Squeak, ”
Huh, I was so lost in thought, I failed to notice the rats surrounding me.
Their volumes were high. Rushing towards me, they all plummeted.
I crossed my hands to block them, but their fierce teeth pierced my bones.
Shit! Shit! Shit! Am I going to die? This soon??? Shit!
Agh!!!!!
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* [You have died]
* [One Soul Consumed: Remaining - 15986]
* [Starting Resurrection]
* [Resurrection Complete]
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Dizzy, My skull, This feeling, I went through this before
Ah! I am Alive!, How? The rats they devoured……
Now that I reflect on it, something like this transpired before. When I fell from above, I thought I died, but somehow nothing happened to me.
And the voice, I recall now; it said I died, later resurrected. So that’s it? Death? There was no pain? Why was I even afraid of it? If I die, I revive, so what’s the point of being terrified?
What was the thing that I wanted to do? What was the point of even thinking about that? I am in a dungeon.
It's slaughter or be slaughtered. How naïve of me to think I had a choice. What I want? Like such things would matter in a place like this.
All I Can Do,
The Only thing I can do,
The voices inside my head roared. All of them said the same thing,
Evolve And Survive!
Yes, Evolve and Survive, That’s What I will do, No that’s the only thing I can do.
“Squeek, Squeek”
The rats, they traveled, here again. As they rushed towards me, I picked up a rock from the ground.
Kill them! Even If it’s just one, I will kill them!
As the rats clambered towards me, I circled my hand with all my might,
Drip!
Huh, I did it; I killed one. Its blood splattered around. However, the rest of the rats soon devoured me.
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* [You killed a Monster Rat]
* [You have died]
* [One Soul Consumed: Remaining - 15985]
* [Starting Resurrection]
* [Resurrection Complete]
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This time I clearly heard what the voice said, “One Soul Consumed: Remaining - 15985”, 15985, hmmm is not that roughly the number of beings that were present in that ridge.
When I first saw the visions through those people's eyes, I also glimpsed at some of their memories, which gave me faint idea of what transpired in the ridge.
I wonder if I can see them again,
Argh!!! My head, Every time I try to think back, my head screams in agony.
Wait! I don’t have the luxury of thinking about anything else currently. The rats will arrive here soon. I killed one before, but that’s not enough. Because of the dark, I could not even see properly. I found more stones in the ground. This will have to do for now.
Carrying one stone in each hand, I waited.
“Squeek, Squeek”
They arrived. This time, I rushed. The rats were fast. In total, they were about 20-30 in numbers. Even my random swing hit some.
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* [You killed a Monster Rat] *3
* [You have died]
* [One Soul Consumed: Remaining - 15984]
* [Starting Resurrection]
* [Resurrection Complete]
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Yes! This time I killed 3 Monster Rats!
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* [You leveled Up]
* [System has Evolved]
* [The helpfulness of the system will depend on the affinity the user has with the system]
* [System will evolve along with the user]
* [Quest: Evolve]
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Leveled Up? System? What’re those?
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* [Profile Updating]
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Profile?
Letters written in blood-red color appeared in midair. Taken back by it, I fell.
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〢Name: N/A
〢Title: [Dungeon Seeker]
〢Gender: N/A Race: Undead Skeleton
〢Class: N/A Level: 2
〢HP: 10/10 〢MP: 10/10
〢Strength: 5 〢Defense: 5 〢Agility: 3 〢Intelligence: 9 〢Luck: 12
〢Skills:
[Resurrection Level 1] [Night Vision Level 1]
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Eh?? What’s this?
Letters in Air? Intrigued by it, I tried to touch it. My finger just passed through the letters.
Hmmm, I poked it a little more. That’s when I touched the Skill [Resurrection]
The letters in the air changed.
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[Skill: Resurrection]
-Upon death, the skill sends back the countless souls inside you back in time before you died. Each time you die, the number of souls decrease by one
-The duration of time sent back depends upon the skill level
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What a useful skill!
But countless souls inside me, so the voices I hear and the visions I saw, were of those souls.
So, how do I turn this back to the initial page? Hmm, Profile.!
The letters reverted, and it showed his profile screen, Ah! So that’s how it works!
So, if I press on skill [Nightvision]
The letters changed again
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[Skill: NightVision]
-Helps you see clearly in the dark
-The amount of clarity depends on the skill level
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Since the Dungeon has no light, it’s also a useful skill,
Strength: 5 Defense: 5 Agility: 3 Intelligence: 9 Luck: 12, these are like basic abilities of a person and represented by numbers, so if the numbers increase, will my actual power also increase? If so, how do I increase them? I wonder if something will change if I Level up again,
My level increased after killing about 4 rats. I should count how many kills it takes before I Level up again.
“Squeek, Squeek”
Perfect timing, the only way to know is to test it.
I picked up the stones again,
Now then, come on, you pesky little creatures!
I killed, I died, I revived.
I killed, I died, I revived.
Again,
And Again,
And Again,
I was right. The more I killed, the more I leveled up, and the higher my level, the higher my stats.
Finally, I killed all of them, all 27 of those rats.
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* [You killed a Monster Rat] *27
* [You leveled Up]*2
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All those kills and my level only increased by two. Counting the times I died, I should have killed about at least 70 rats. The first level up was after 4 kills, the second maybe 24, then the third ugh, I don’t remember.
........I forgot to keep a record. Maybe it around 50, no 60? UHH, next time for sure, I will keep track properly
Now, it was time to explore this place. Carrying my signature weapons, two stones, I roamed around.
After a while, I reached the crossroad where I was first killed, peeking through the edges, 3 rats were feeding on something, just like before, but this time, I was prepared to kill, from the behind I slammed the stones on them, instantly killing it, other two panicked, one tried to attack but got smashed in the wall, the other escaped.
The thing they were feeding on was a giant snake. It looked like it was dead for weeks.