[System] boxes hovered atop a pyramid, fading in and out of existence in rapid sequence—faster than a human eye could blink.
A multitude of screens exploded into being in one second, only to vanish the next and be replaced by an even greater number.
Many of the blue boxes glitched in place, creating visual phenomena that threatened to damage the eyes. A section of the boxes, suppressed by the others, glowed an ominous red. Caution signs dotted their surface.
I hated this place.
A quick turn of my formless body revealed that I had been transported to the Pyramid, with its red skies and blackened earth, ringed by Flame Guardians.
The last time I’d been here, I was trapped in the body of a mouthless homunculus.
The last time . . .
That wasn’t the last, was it?
“Damien!”
The [System] boxes changed. The section with the red caution signs encroached like spilled liquid on the rest of the display, until the blue screens—over a billion of them—glowed red with error messages.
[System Error].
What did that even mean?
[Multiple deviations detected].
[Access to Source disrupted].
[Preparing Termination . . .].
“Damien!”
I recognized that voice.
An electrical surge rose from the center of the [System] boxes, cleansing them of their contamination. The red screens glitched out and minimized, receding to a section of the display.
Blue boxes once again surrounded my vision, but the red had gained ground. Despite receding, they now occupied a larger portion than they had at the start.
“Damien!”
This time, the electrical surge traveled across my chest. Water filled my lungs and nostrils, leaving me gasping for breath.
The Pyramid collapsed around me. [System] screens dissipated into motes of light. A tear in reality parted the sky, replacing the atmosphere with a darkness equally as lurid.
Oh, god. My head . . .
I rolled over on my side and heaved blood—not water as I’d thought—onto the floor.
Paz squatted beside me. “Welcome back to the land of the living.”
My health meter blinked—so low, that a prick from a needle would suffice to empty it. The Blackreach Dagger pressed painfully against my pelvis. I’d fallen atop it during the fight with the boss.
My eyes sprang open at the memory. “The boss—!”
“Easy,” Paz said. “Nicola and I took care of it.”
“Damien,” Nicola cried in her usual manner and wrapped her arms around me. “We thought you were dead!”
“Stay away,” I groaned. Between my lightheadedness and her total nudity, I risked dying a second time.
Nicola hugged me even closer. “I thought you were done for. I was beside myself with worry. If we hadn’t found the chest in time, you wouldn’t have made it.”
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“What chest?”
Paz held up an empty vial. “Elixir of Cleansing. One of the items contained in the boss’ chest over there. A single vial can cleanse debilitating status effects and improve health regen.”
I mumbled my thanks.
A memory niggled the back of my mind, of a fleeting dream with ominous ramifications. It had something to do with [System] screens. But, try as hard as I could, I couldn’t remember what.
Nicola and Paz watched me with worried expressions. I needed to speak up and allay their fears.
“Last I checked,” I mused, forcing my tongue to work, “you both were poisoned too.”
“Nothing a Cure Ailments Potion couldn’t handle,” Nicola said. “Besides, the status condition stopped refreshing the instant the mist dispersed. You were the only one in need of urgent intervention.”
That sucked to hear. Then again, I had been Dreadfully Poisoned. A white vial occupied one slot in my potion timer. Seeing as green was also taken, I could drink two more potions of a different type before succumbing to Potion Sickness.
It had to be health and mana. Vital Points could wait.
I signaled my teammates of my intent to rise, then cleared my throat at Nicola who looked at me in confusion.
“What?” she asked.
“Clothes!” I stammered, doing everything I could to look her in the face. “Can you put on some clothes?”
Nicola eeped and scrambled for her robes.
Paz filled the silence. “We got some nice loot from murder horse over there. A monster core, a bundle of Pure Horse Flax, and this!” He held up a piece of bone. “It’s a whistle that can charm a single Horse Snake.”
“If you like it that much,” I said, “keep it and give the monster core to Nicola. She’ll definitely appreciate it.”
“Already did! The flax is yours by the way.” He spirited the whistle into his inventory. “Come take a look at the boss’ chest. The real treasures lie therein.”
The chest in question stood with its back to the wall in the middle of the corridor, unguarded by lock or key. A fully dressed Nicola joined us as Paz emptied its contents, revealing items that shouldn’t have been able to fit.
“Oh, wow,” I said, staring at the loot.
Paz reached for the pick of the lot—a long spear with two points, akin to a jägerstock. “I’ll be taking this. You both can’t use it anyway.” He spun it through the air, testing its weight. “Ugh. It’s almost equally balanced. For polearms, you want one end heavier than the other to maximize the swing.”
I Identified the spear.
Equine Half-pike [Common]
A polearm that deals increased damage against rampaging beasts.
Requirement: [2].
It seemed I needed to upgrade [Identify] in order to unlock the complete information of more complex items.
The notification icon had been blinking forever in my vision, so I opened it with a mental command.
“Oh, hey,” I said, reading the text. “I’m level 18 now.”
“Level 17,” Paz said with pride in his voice. “I jumped by two!”
Nicola had also gained a level, which boosted my confidence in our odds a little more. The fight with the Way-keeping Boss had done us a lot of good, minus my near miss with death.
The leftover items in the chest included five health potions, a lightly armored vest, and three curious ball-like items, wrapped in cloth bindings. I studied the latter.
Sticky Bomb [Common].
A fitting item for guerilla fighters. This hand grenade contains an adhesive that triggers on impact. Inject magic and run down the timer.
Requirement: None.
Morbid, but useful. I kept the grenades for myself and tossed the vest to Nicola. The only other important matter concerned the distribution of stats, but I already knew what to focus on.
I’d since improved my Strength to the Common tier, so I focused instead on leveling Perception. [DEX] couldn’t be increased beyond the Greater tier until level 25, in accordance with the [System]’s rules on hard caps.
My stat points rose at a current rate of two per level, leaving me with fourteen points by the time I reached silver rank. I could use all of that number for my immediate needs, or I could save ten of them to pour into Dexterity the first chance I got.
The second strategy appealed to me. Nevertheless, after my choices, my attributes looked like this:
STR 10, PER 13, END 10, DEX 20
INT 5, WIL 10, V.F 2, MGK 3.
Nicola shared her distribution:
STR 5, PER 10, END 10, DEX 3
INT 20, WIL 10, V.F 2, MGK 15.
As did Paz:
STR 20, PER 10, END 10, DEX 18
INT 4, WIL 4, V.F 4, MGK 1.
Per popular advice, two of the eight attributes needed to be completely abandoned. But, I’d decide after I’d gained more knowledge. Vital Force and Magicka meant more opportunities to activate [Decoy] and [Dark Stalker] respectively. But, the sheer number of stat points needed to get them to a good enough level induced a migraine.
“We better move,” Paz said through a mouthful of chicken. “The whole point of fighting the boss was to find a faster way out of the area.”
True that.
We continued onto the next corridor. All the while, I checked my quests to ensure that the timer remained the same.
So far, so good. The dungeon run was tough, but not as dreadful as I’d first expected. Hopefully, things stayed the same.