Silas's eyes fluttered open weakly to the sight of a pale blue glow.

He sat up, remembering reading several notifications before sleep took him, it had been a stressful day and at the time he was fatigued.

His muscles ached all over, they felt as if they had been pulled by the hands of giants over and over again, and coincidently they were currently being pulled.

Silas felt a tugging sensation on his left pant leg and squinted his eyes in a pained manner to examine. Pulling on his leg was a small humanoid creature. It stood at about 3 feet off the ground and had thin red skin pulled taught over its entire form.

It cursed in a harsh guttural tone as it attempted to, with all its might, pull Silas further into the cave system he now found himself in. It wasn't having much luck.

Silas was a large man, standing at 6'3 with a muscular build and broad shoulders, his mass seemed to be too much for the small creature.

Silas, feeling safe in the knowledge that the creature likely thought him dead and as of yet his weight was an insurmountable challenge for the red-skinned fellow he set about scanning his current surroundings.

Congratulations, after repeated use you have learned the skill "Identify"

Identify: A skill that allows the user to glean information by visually examining objects

Silas tried his hardest to contain his excitement at the recent development lest he disturbs the monster. And continued his scanning of the surrounding environment.

He was in an enclosed cave, how he managed to fall into a cave with no entrance is beyond him, probably some kind of system fuckery, he thought in an annoyed fashion.

The walls, roof, and floor of the cave were comprised of jagged and uneven stone covered in a slight sheen of dry moss, it was damp, cold and quite uncomfortable but the strangest thing about it was the fact that the rock was seemingly the light source of these caverns.

The stone gave off a pale blue glow that illuminated the cave system in a cold light, at least I won't have to fight in the dark, he mused.

And fighting was exactly what Silas expected to do, the message when he first arrived had told him there would be no escape until the dungeon was conquered and, believe it or not, Silas was in no mood to trifle with something that can bend the laws of reality to its will.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

He was a survivor, he had survived time in the desert, being hunted by Indian war parties and various vicious skirmishes with bandits, he wasn't planning on dying of starvation in some damn cave.

Speaking of starvation he hadn't eaten since yesterday and he was famished, luckily the food seemed to have come to him.

He looked at the red creature, slowly trying to draw his gun without being noticed, I hope this thing doesn't turn out to be super tough, he thought nervously. Then he remembered his new skill.

Imp

lvl: 1

Imps are small demonic creatures and are considered the bottom of the demon food chain, they are often used as errand boys for larger, more powerful demons. One thing is certain, an Imp cannot come into this plane alone, they are not strong enough. Where you find an Imp larger demons are probably close behind.

Well, that wasn't foreshadowy at all was it, fuck more powerful demons. Silas examined the Imps level, it is the same level as me putting me on the approximate level of the bottom of the food chain of this place, this is going to be difficult.

Silas had mused that you probably got strength through killing things, so if he wanted to get out of here alive he was going to have to kill a lot.

Silas never enjoyed killing, didn't mind it but never got sucked into the bloodlust that so many in his profession did, he was a survivor, not a killer. That being said in situations like these he didn't shy away from it. He was hungry, desperate and pissed off, this imp was going to die.

Silas had been staring at the imp for a few moments now and it started to notice him. It dropped his leg with an incredible amount of agility then it screamed bloody murder and began to draw a crude stone knife hanging from its belt.

Ha ha ha ha, Silas cackled so that's how you wanna play it eh? He thought. All right then, let's draw.

He pulled his pistol from where he was lying on his back, drawing it out in a smooth practised motion, beating the imp to the punch with seconds to spare, those pistol masteries aren't just for show, he thought happily.

But neither was the agility of the imp, it saw the bullet coming and managed to twist out of the way, turning its body to avoid a direct hit to the chest, taking one to the right shoulder instead.

The Imp spun from the force of the blow, its lack of mass truly being a disadvantage, it was quick to recover though and the follow-up shots Silas fired hit the stone floor as the red humanoid scampered away and then toward him.

Silas watched grimly as the imp raised the knife above its head and charged for his leg, he kicked out, not nearly fast enough to hit the creature and it dodged to the left grabbing his leg with one arm and raising the dagger with the other.

This is going to fucking hurt, Silas thought as he watched the knife pierce right through his pants and deep into his calf muscle.

It felt like the world was set on fire and a hundred burning needles were inserted into his leg, Silas didn't let it phase him, he was used to pain.

He used the fact that the knife was lodged in his leg, cant dodge when you're attached to me can you fucker! He thought hungrily as he blew the Imps head of, spraying a cloud of red mist onto the previously pale blue cave walls.

Silas laid back down breathing heavily before sitting up to staunch the blood in his leg.

That was just a level fucking 1! he thought, truly questioning whether or not he was going to die in this cave.

Congratulations you have leveled up, you now have two distributable statistic points.

Fan-Fucking-Tastic, he thought mockingly. Cause that just makes it all worth it doesn't it.