The paths were chilly.
Deep below the southern frontier, a young man wandered the dark paths. With only the small mana crystals along the wall to light up his way as he delved deeper. His boots scraped against the cold stone floor, the soft clicks of a compass echoed throughout the passage with every step he took.
His name was Ted Norral. He was a young ranger who made his living by serving as a forest guide. Well, at least he had been, up until an hour ago.
Just recently, he had been doing his routine check through the forest. Everything had been fine and dandy until he tripped on a root and fell into a dungeon. Blinded by the potential riches an unexplored dungeon could net him, he set out to explore. He spent nearly 6 hours mapping the dungeon, the entire process being strangely peaceful. While the lack of any dungeon monsters creeped him out. He just passed it off to it being his lucky day.
'This is either a tier 1 or tier 2 dungeon. In either case, the cash I'll make from this will be crazy!'
With a giant grin on his face, Ted continued his exploration. The thought of all the money he'll make once he left was making him giddy. Dungeon's despite their dangers were invaluable resources. Nobles, mages, and delvers alike would pay a pretty penny for any info on them.
The young ranger stopped and looked to the bronze compass in his hand. The small tool was enchanted, allowing it to serve as a compass and a monster detector. He was confident in his trusty compass, which had saved him from death many times over. While the total lack of monsters got on his nerves, as a rank 1 ranger, as long as he wasn't ambushed, he was confident in escaping.
Although confidence in oneself was a good thing to have, the line between confidence and arrogance was a thin one.
Double-checking his compass, he found no signs of any monsters nearby. Then, he double-checked his map finding just one unexplored path left. He quickly jogged back to the intersection where the last pathway sat. Peering down the last path, a noticeable lack of mana crystals left the passage in complete darkness. The young ranger wasn't a stranger to the dark, but something about the passage just made his skin crawl. He shook his head and pushed the creepy feeling to the back of his mind.
'Just a little more, just a little more, and I'll be rich!'
Psyching himself up for the final stretch, he began to power walk his way down the path. Unfortunately, he lacked a torch, so the only thing lighting his way was the soft luminesce of his enchanted compass. Relying on sight alone, he could barely see half a meter in front of him. So he did the smart thing and kept his eyes peeled on his compass. The moment it sensed something, he would bolt out of there.
Despite his fears, Ted ran for a full 10 minutes down the path with nothing happening whatsoever. The lack of action didn't abate his fears, though. That foreboding feeling seemingly grew with every step he took. It took everything he had to keep going forward and not run away like a mad man. He tried to convince himself that the money will make it all worth it. But even that argument was beginning to lose out to the overwhelming fear. Finally, just as he was about to turn and run, he ran into "it".
Against his forehead, Ted felt something rough and jagged smash against it.
"AAAAHH!!"
He fell on his butt due to fear and scrambled backward. Terrified, Ted's body could only flop backward like a fish out of water. The enchanted compass fell to the floor and was kicked forward in his panic. Skidding across the stone floor, the soft luminescence revealed the terrifying enemy to Ted.
It was a wall.
Albeit it a very jagged and rough-looking wall. But a wall nonetheless.
Ted looked at the wall, stunned. A small puddle forming at his crotch. A wave of relief, embarrassment, and anger washed over the young man. It seems that the combination of darkness, overwhelming fear, and his compass had given the ranger a serious case of tunnel vision.
"Goddamit! I pissed myself over a goddamn wall!"
Angry and embarrassed, Ted kicked the wall. Surprisingly the seemingly tough wall collapsed with a single kick. Unbalanced by his kick, Ted could do nothing but fall forward onto the jagged fragments. A noticeably more jagged piece laid right where his crotch would land. Even in death, the wall was spiteful.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
***
After a few minutes of colorful curses, the ranger was finally able to check where he was. Behind the wall laid a circular cave. Spanning over 10 square meters, the cave looked like a light show. Opposite to the complete darkness of the passage, the cave was covered wall to wall in mana crystals; at the cave's center, a smooth azure crystal laid on a stone podium.
Unlike the rest of the crystals in the cave, the azure crystal was shaped into a smooth 4 sided pyramid. As he stared at the beautifully shaped crystal, two words came to mind: Dungeon Cores.
"It's the core...IT'S THE BLOODY CORE!" Ted roared like a beast.
Dungeon Cores, like their name stated, were the core functionality needed for a dungeon to form. Unlike their mana crystal brethren, a dungeon core had multiple unique abilities to form the unique environment known as "dungeons". Their usages were near-infinite, and their rarity rivaled even that of Mythril. The profit difference between selling a core and a map would be like comparing a dragon to a pig.
A greedy light had appeared in his eyes as he stared at the Dungeon Core. Like he was possessed, Ted completely forgot about his fear, greed fully taking over as he approached the core in haste. The ranger reached for the crystal pyramid tracing his hand over its beautiful azure shine. Lost in its shine, he began to ramble on like a madman.
"Finally, I'll make something of myself! Finally, I'll leave this god-forsaken forest!! Finally, will everything change!!!"
The young man fantasized about his new life filled with women, riches, and power. However, what awaited him was even grander than he could ever imagine!
A pair of white skeletal hands shot out from the core, grabbing him by the shoulders.
"What the hell!?"
Ted exclaimed in shock.
But soon, it turned into a scream.
Like a vice, the hands dug deep into his shoulders as dense black fog flowed through them. Right in front of his eyes, out of thin air, a skeletal body was being built step by step. The ranger tried ripping the hands away, but the black fog sapped him of his strength. The young man could only watch in horror as the skeleton's skull took shape inches away from his face. Two blue flames lit up in the skull.
For a second, there was a standstill as the young human and newborn undead stared each other down.
Unfortunately, it didn't last. Like a primal beast waking from its long slumber, the monstrosity released a horrible scream from its jaws.
"KIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
His end was near. Ted felt it in his bones. That soul-wrenching cry caused him to shiver with dread. He mustered all his strength to break free but to no avail. Extreme exhaustion swept over him.
Stabbing pain in his chest alerted him his time was running out.
He shook and screamed as loud as he could, hoping for anything to save him. But no one heard his pleas; his screams fell on deaf ears as they echoed throughout the empty paths. With no other options, all he could do was pray to the gods for a miracle.
However, there would be no gods here today.
"Oh lord of light....." he could only cry out in despair.
His last words cut off as the skeleton severed his soul from his body. The skeleton's jaws opened wide, rapidly swallowing the stray soul.
Plop
The soulless husk of Ted Norral fell to the floor.
Tti-ring
[Congratulations, user! For your rebirth as a li-]
"WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
Completely ignoring the notification, the skeleton continued to howl. Despite a phantom grey box resting right in front of its face, the newborn lich couldn't give two damns. The newborn monstrosity had more pressing matters at hand, like the burning pain in his midriff.
Consuming that weird blue thing had been quite delicious, but it was much too little. Like a bottomless pit demanding for more, the young lich felt a jagged void was ripping apart its insides. Although the lich could not understand the concept of hunger. It knew one thing for sure that it wanted it to stop.
Without a second thought, its skeletal feet began their march to find more weird blue things.
With only its primal instinct to depend on, it understood two things. Pain was bad. Blue things are good.
It did not question why it was born. Nor did it question what it was. All it wanted was to sate its nonexistent belly and get rid of that goddamn pain.
While the newborn undead dealt with its hunger, the grey window was having its own catastrophe. Unbeknownst to the lich, a flurry of notifications appeared nonstop.
[N*A? R&*$24SFb!@#BM?SDFS:!&4]
[ERROR!]
[ERROR!]
[ERROR!]
[UNIDENTIFIED BEING DETECTED!]
[Attempting analysis.]
As it began to march, the walls lined with crystals began to shake. The crystal pyramid slowly floated away from its podium, trailing behind the lich. The bright blue crystals began to dull as the skeleton walked past. Thick black fog billowed out from the crystals in swaths. The earth shook as countless hands broke through the soil.
Countless gaunt-looking skeletons and rotten zombies rose from their graves. At the head of the pack, a hollow-eyed ghoul ranger lead the way. The black fog permeated throughout the dungeon infusing the undead with a dark vitality.
With a lich at the lead, the undead horde reached the surface. Black fog and hordes of undead boiled out of the dungeon's depths. Looked at from above, a small writhing spire of black fog slowly appeared in the woods.
[...]
[Analysis complete. An impossible event has occurred.]
[Anomaly has been titled P#$12e?Z&;;A]
[Race designation Ɖὗ#ᾗ%ʛἔ@ᾗ Ŀ;ἷ?ƈђ]
Under the veil of night, a nightmarish horde of undead eagerly marched on in search of new prey. At the head of the horde, wrapped in a mantle of darkness, a howling lich lead the march. Miles away, a small town sat, shining like the sun to the lich's eyes.