As I entered the magnificent city I was soon greeted by the beautiful cityscapes surrounding it from all the sides making it seem like a scenery out of a picture.

‘‘Beautiful’’,

I couldn’t help but mutter this word as I encountered the magnificent city for the first time. Honestly, even I, as the author couldn’t help but feel baffled at the sight of such a beautiful place.

But considering my current situation I know for sure that I don’t have even a moment to spare in order to enjoy the scenery, after all, that guy Adam must have asked Astaroth about my current location, not only that, if my guess is correct I would be soon found out as well, or maybe I have already been found out and Adam is probably now scheming against me to make my life worse or maybe end it before I become too much of a threat to him.

Honestly, I don’t know what kind of agenda that guy has against me, but whatever, since he is out for blood then I will definitely make him see blood. If I don’t have any other choice but to fight then I can only nod my head and do so. Crying and blaming fate won’t help me in this situation at all.

‘No more distractions’, I resolutely reminded myself and proceeded towards my destination.

If I wanted to survive out here in this world then I have to make it work somehow. This is my only choice, after all.

So, taking a deep breath once again, I walked towards a building in a distance. On top of the said building, the words, “Dungeon Seekers” were written in bold letters.

I don’t know how but the moment my eyes fell on the words a certain feeling of panic rushed my heart, for a moment I felt that I was about to lose myself in a deep abyss with no way out, but then remembering that I was the author of this novel, someone who could essentially be accredited as the creator, I was soon able to figure out the principle behind the sign, and thus, was able to break free from this harsh, uneasy feeling.

“Haa… haa…”, as soon as I broke myself out of the illusion I found myself breathing heavily whilst my back was drenched with cold sweat, honestly, I was quite terrified, but I knew for sure that I didn’t have any choice other than to act up on this opportunity and possibly gain a chance to counter Adam.

After all, a dungeon was the place where various inexplicable things existed.

***

Entering the building adorned with white marbles everywhere, I soon became the point of attention of everyone present in the big hall.

Or well, to be precise, it was my clothes that became the point of discussion. After all, because of the lack of clothing I was still wearing the same thing I had been wearing when Adam had stabbed me in the chest.

My clothes were smeared with blood and were torn up in a few places, as for my face, I kind of looked sick and pale therefore looking at me right now some of the people might not help but think of me as a beggar.

Ignoring the glances, I quietly proceeded to walk towards one of the counters where a beautiful woman in her late 30s was sitting.

The woman was beautiful to say the least, but the frown she had on her face when she looked at me made me realize that she was still an amateur when it came to dealing with customers, or maybe she was intentionally wearing that frown to make me leave, well whatever it’s not like I really care about what a bitch or two thinks about me.

Not minding her attitude one bit I gave her a nod and said, “An entry for the S-ranked dungeon, Mother’s Curse”, the moment I said these words the entire place went silent.

Everyone, and I mean everyone that was sitting in the hall was looking at me with dumbfounded expressions, it was as if they had seen the sun rise from the west.

But this moment of silence didn’t last for too long as suddenly laughter burst out in the entire hall,

“Pftt…”

“Hahahaha”

……

Looking at everyone laughing around me I just shook my head and kept on looking at the receptionist.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Even she had a faint smirk on her face as she kept on looking at me with eyes full of mockery and disgust and proceeded to hand me over a form from one of the drawers.

Unperturbed by her expression I seriously looked at her and said, “If I may be so presumptuous, lady could you please tell me your name?”,

This time the entire hall went silent.

Honestly, I was a bit surprised by their silence but then deciding to focus on the one before me I looked at her once again in the eyes and waited for her reply.

The woman also had a surprised expression on her face as she kept on looking at me with unwavering eyes. It was only after a moment that she answered me, “Helen Kimberg, why? You want to ask me on a date?”, although her voice sounded sweet, I knew that it was far from anything like that.

If it were up to me then I would rather not get acquainted with a woman like this for me entire life, but what can I do?

Right now, apart from mixing up with her I don’t have any other choice. Sigh… life is such a bitch.

So, taking the form in my hand I signed it without even reading it and gave it back to the receptionist.

Not minding my silence, she just kept on smiling to herself and after a moment she issued me a something that looked like a bus ticket on which the word ‘S’ was written.

Since this was a parallel world there should have been a different writing system in this place but since I was a lazy bum I never thought about making another script and just said that English was used in this world as the most spoken language, with other earth languages like French, Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, etc. are only spoken by the people of high class as a means of preserving their respective cultures.

English is like the most spoken language in this world.

Honestly, I don’t know why I did that but since it ended up making things easier for me in this life then I am alright with it. I mean just think about it, you wake up in another world without knowing the language, trust me, it will be th worst experience of one’s life

Now coming back to the present scenario, I took the ticket in my hand and looked at the receptionist who was about to attend another customer.

Noticing my gaze, she gave me an annoyed look and was about to say something when I suddenly interrupted her, “Watch how I knock off that cocky expression of yours”, I said as I proceeded to leave but then stopped in my tracks when once again another voice resounded in my ears,

“Oh~ is that so? By the way, have you even read what was…”, but knowing what she was about to say I answered without turning back, “Yeah I did”, and proceeded towards one of the rooms inside the building.

The thing that that woman was talking about was the form she had previously given me, it was actually a consent form about the ownership of my body in case I end up dying.

***

Dungeons are very mysterious places, no one knows about how they were actually formed, not even me, the author, as I had died before I could even get to the part where their formation was discussed.

Well, from what there is known about dungeons, it is safe to assume that they are the kind of shit holes no sane person would ever want to go to.

There are many theories behind their formation but the most prevalent one goes like this, ‘dungeons are separate dimensions formed when two or more energies collide with each other’.

Most of the dungeons throughout the world are under the control of various government and private organizations, honestly, it wouldn’t be wrong for anyone to call dungeons a sort of treasury for these organizations.

Dungeons are divided into various categories, starting from Rank F there are dungeons with Rank SSS or even more, although I doubt any dungeon over SS has ever been completely explored.

As for the form that I was given to fill, it was actually a way for the ones who provide access to the dungeons to earn some capital.

You see, there are many people around this world who find it difficult to get through their lives.

They have given up on everything and now they are only waiting for their salvation, death. But amongst these people there are some who just can’t let go of their fighting spirits and thus they try to get something out of their lives by venturing dungeons to get a chance to turn over their lives.

So, taking advantage of these people’s naivety or circumstances, if someone would call it, these big organizations around the world made some changes in the dungeon venturing laws and thus allowed people to go inside the dungeon, given they sign a consent form, giving the organization complete ownership over their body if by chance they end up dying.

This move was used by the organizations to make money out of the victim’s corpses by selling their organs in the black market or to the rich businessmen. It was really a cruel thing to do, but I guess everyone has their own priorities and ways of thinking, and then who am I to blame others when I, myself have possessed the body of another individual and been acting like him for the last 6 months?

So, taking a deep breath I entered the room where in front of me a gateway made up of stone stood floating about half a meter above the floor.

The gateway was the portal to get to the dungeon.

Closing my eyes I calmed my mind and jumped inside the portal.

Just thinking about the possible things I could do if I manage to succeed in the mission made me involuntarily flash a smile and shake my head in excitement.

“This is it! Just you wait Adam, I will definitely make your life worse!”, I shouted and disappeared inside the portal.