I drank more of my healing potion and let the pain wash over me. Emotions warred inside me to the point that it felt like they would tear me asunder. Anger at being in this world, anger at the people who killed me, anger at the Gods who would let someone suffer like this, anger at myself for dying. Anger at myself for entering this dungeon, fear at experiencing more pain. Hopelessness at not being able to protect myself. That lizard had punched right through my shoulder. Its claws had torn at every part of me. I was within seconds of another death. It was very unlikely that they would spare again me. That a God would give me another do over. I slammed my fist into the wall as hopelessness transformed into rage. Anger exploded out of me as I slammed my fist into the stone. I was in a world where I could shoot fire from my hands. I was living a fantasy, and I was still weak!

If I had been stronger, I could have saved Alex without dying. If I was stronger, I could have stopped them all. If I was stronger. My thoughts spiraled as the battle replayed itself. Not just this one, but every battle. Phantom pain shot through every inch of my body. I let out a sob of pain and then something inside me snapped. My rage turned cold. The face of the man who killed me. The face of the monster that killed Semere. The face of the creature that nearly killed me for the second time. All their faces swirled around me and something snapped.. I wasn’t going to be hopeless. I wasn’t going to cry. I wasn’t going to be at their mercy. My will transformed into steel as I got to my feet. My old world didn’t break me. My death didn’t break me. I had survived. I faced my death with my head held high. I refused to let this world break me. The storm of emotion inside me dissipated until the only thing left was my will. When I opened a new notification appeared.

You have discovered your first Trait. You are Defiant. You faced a moment that threatened to break you. Your actions until this point, culminated in a choice. Where others may have buckled and submitted themselves to the chains of fate, you rebelled. Whether it be man,devil or god, you have chosen to face them all with equal determination. True power awaits those who can stay the path. Stay true to yourself and walk your path.

5% bonus to Mental Resistance. 5% bonus to Emotional Resistance

Reading the message made me a feel better about what I had been through but it didn’t get rid of the pain. The phantom weight on my shoulders disappeared, and I took a deep breath. When I was ready, I took a seat against the wall. I had several notifications to go through and now was the time.

You have been impaled through the shoulder. Your agility in the arm has been reduced by 90%. Your strength in the arm has been reduced by 50%.

You are bleeding. You will lose 5hp every second until you stop the bleeding.

You have been awarded 1050 experience from defeating Chameleon Basilisk level 7

Congratulations! Your skill Pyro Magic has leveled up. Pyro Magic has reached level 5. You are able to learn additional spells.

Altogether, the benefits of the battle were pretty good. It didn’t make the pain feel any better, but it made me stronger, so there wasn’t much I could do about it. The most important benefit was the boost of Pyro magic! It was time for me to learn a new spell. I cast Sphere of light and then scanned the room one more time. Once I was sure that I was alone, I turned my attention to my ring. I summoned the tome back into my hand and opened the pages. The same process began as when I learned my first spell. Only this time it was faster. The first time took a few minutes. This one seemed like it was closer to thirty seconds. I couldn’t be sure without a watch or something, but it was something to think about. Regardless, I pulled up the new spell notification.

Attention! You have learned the spell: Summon Lesser Magmite. Summons a level 5 Pyromantic Elemental to serve you. This is a Pyro spell of the fifth level. Tier: Amateur Cost: 50mp Duration: 2 minutes Range: 30ft. Cast Time: 5 seconds Cool down: 1 hour.

That spell would be a pain to dual cast, but hopefully it would be worth it. I considered casting it now just in case, but decided against it. It would have a one hour cool down and I might actually need it later. I checked my stats quickly and found I had gained a point of Strength. “Looks like fighting with your hands had its benefits.” I chuckled before waving the screen away. Now that all of my notifications had been reviewed, it was time to explore more of the chamber. I was careful to avoid the remaining statues, but two of them had broken during the battle. “I wonder if I gathered all the pieces if I could put them back together.” I spoke aloud as I considered the question. “If it didn’t work, the person would either die or suffer extreme pain as parts of their body suddenly became missing.” My eyes widen when an idea came to me. I pulled up the settlement screen to confirm that I could.

Once I confirmed I had access to all of those spells, I started casting. When the first of my new summons appeared, it looked a bit like an amorphous blob of gel. It was golden and gave off a faint glow. The blob became humanoid but had no features. It reminded me of a bit of mannequin from a scary movie. It was my height and very slender. When I had summoned five of them, I gave them their orders. “Collect these statues and leave them in front of the symbol on the wall. Be very careful with them. Once you have gathered all of them, come back and collect all the pieces. Keep each group of pieces separate.”

There was no indication that any of them understood me, but when I finished speaking, each one turned and wrapped their arms around a statue. It was strange watching the small things lift up those statues, but they did it without any difficulties. I watched them line up and head back the way I had come. Once the last one disappeared from view, I turned my attention to the rest of the room. I went through the room with a fine-tooth comb. I collected all the weapons for the statues, but none of them had anything special. I was just about to leave the chamber when I found something truly interesting. Nestled next to a pile of black and brown mush was a set of six eggs. Each egg was the size of my palm and was white, with black spots spread throughout. When I touched one, I got a notification.

You have found: Chameleon Basilisk Egg Details:The egg of a Basilisk. These eggs can hatch a hatchling basilisk if properly cared for. They may have additional uses.

Durability: 10/10

Item Quality: Unknown

Item Rarity: Uncommon

Weight: 2lbs

I didn’t know how I felt about having more of those ugly creatures. On one hand, they were ugly. On the other hand, one was strong enough to punch a hole through my shoulder. It was only at level 7. What would it be able to do at level 10? Or 20 or even 50? Regardless of how I felt about them, I would be pretty stupid to ignore them. I sent all of them into my ring. Each egg took up its own spot, which reduced my available storage, but the tradeoff was worth it. Once I finished, I turned toward the exit and headed down the pathway. This pathway was nearly twice as long as the last one. It ended in a chamber that was smaller than the last. It was made of the same stone as the first two chambers. The imagery of the woman and her tree was spread throughout. There was a skylight like hole in the ceiling. I held a hand up and felt a faint breeze coming through it. I made a mental note that it would lead me out of here if I could somehow climb up there.

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Before I could decide what to do next, the wall on the opposite side of the room opened. A metal statue stepped through the new entrance. The statue vaguely resembled a knight in armor. Its armor bore the symbol of the tree and in one hand it held a vicious-looking axe. I had just enough time to throw myself to the side as the knight’s face guard opened and a gout of flame shot at me. I began dual casting. It felt like my hands were being pulled down with each move. I pushed through it and formed the components to my newest spell. A tear was ripped in space and a manic laughter filled the room. A monster that looked like a gremlin made of molten rock stepped into the room. It laughed and laughed as it leveled its gaze at the statue. As soon as he was on this side, the portal sealed up behind it. Without sparing me a glance, it threw itself at the statue. It landed on the statue’s axe wielding arm and began to climb.

The molten rock leaving burns across the silvery metal but the statue was not to be outdone. It reached over, grabbed the elemental’s legs with one hand and began ripping it apart. The elemental continued it manic laughter as more molten rock covered the statue. I stood there in complete shock, trying to make sense of what was happening. When I remembered that I was in the middle of a battle, I began casting again. Both hands came together and three seconds later, four rays of light shot from my hands and slammed into the statue. The light deflected off of the armor and before hitting the wall behind it. “Son of a bitch!”

My elemental’s cackling increased in intensity as it crawled up the statue’s body and I made a decision. I ran forward while bringing both hands together. I started a dual casting of my first pyro magic spell. The gout of flame shot out of the palm of my hand like a water hose. The fire bathed the statue and the elemental. The elemental grew more luminous. I made a mental note that the flames strengthened the elemental before narrowly avoiding the statue’s metal fist. “Oh, come on,” I complained as I pressed the attack. My elemental had managed to climb onto the creature’s head and in a scene straight out of a cartoon. The statue swung its metal fist down on top of its head. The impact crushed the elemental with a strange splat sound. Instead of being crushed or destroyed, the molten rock dripped down its body and coalesced at the statue’s feet. It was less than half the size it had been, but was fine otherwise.

“Do that again,” I ordered the elemental, who happily climbed up onto the statue. I ended my spell and started casting Lesser Bright Bolt. I aimed at the partial crack in the statue’s head. The bolt of radiant energy shot forward. The crack in the statue's head allowed some of the damage from the Lesser Bright Bolt to transfer through it, even though some of the light was deflected. I grinned as the elemental reached its target. The elemental opened its mouth and let loose a torrent of molten rock. Most of the elemental's body got consumed, and its laughter finally died. The molten rock caused the crack in the statue to split all the way down its face. I waited until the statue slammed its head again, fully cracking the outer metal before casting a new spell. Four rays of light slammed into the statue’s head. The first was, deflected but the other three made it past the metal and into the statue. The statue’s body halted before collapsing to its knees. I waited with bated breath to see if it would get up. After a beat, a notification appeared and I let out a sigh of relief.

You have been awarded 500 experience from defeating Steel Construct level 5

With the battle finished, I took a seat against the wall and let my MP regenerate. “Next time I will have to bring more people to help with these quests.” I chuckled to myself before summoning a trio of drones. It would add to the amount of time I would be stuck here, but if they could take all that steel out of here, it would be worth it. I gave the drones their orders, and the trio lifted the construct. They didn’t struggle, but either they knew the maximum that they could hold or they followed my words literally and worked together to carry it. They completed the command regardless. I sat against the wall for another thirty minutes before pushing onward and into the next room.

I scanned the next room as I entered. It was the size of a gymnasium and was circular instead of a rectangle. It had three rings carved into the ground. The entire room had a layer of soot covering everything. I did a circle around the room, noting the stone heads covering the ground. Each one was the size of a volleyball and was missing something. Some were missing one or both of their eyes, some were missing mouths and ears. Although some of the stone heads had all their features, they were misshapen. On the far side of the room were three statues. The statues were of a humanoid with bat-like wings folded in close to their bodies. The distance between each layer of circles got larger the further away you were from the statues.

Unfortunately, the stone statues weren’t the only things in the room. There were blackened corpses spread throughout. It looked like the bodies were attempting to escape the statues when they were burned. Some of them had the most intense burns on their lower bodies. “It was as if they tried to leap over the thing that burned them.” I let out a sigh and made my way over to the statues. Once I was standing in front of them, a voice called out from everywhere all at once. I brought up both hands, prepared to cast at the first sign of trouble.

“Solve the story of the statues in order.”

I waited, expecting for there to be more to it but nothing came. I turned my attention to three the statues. All of them were identical and were some kind of devil or demonic creature. Their skin was cracked in places and they had barbed tails that coiled around their waist. “So I am guessing I have to place the correct heads on the correct bodies. Without a hint, how was I supposed to piece it together?” I scanned the walls and the ceiling, but there was nothing. This room didn’t even have the imagery of the woman and tree. This was more of a trap than a proper puzzle. I started walking through the layers. In order to start, I made some assumptions. The first was that each layer would hold at least one skull of the correct answer. The fact that some of the bodies were attempting to get away from the statues could mean one of two things. Either they had panicked and tried to run away or they had solved part of the puzzle but couldn’t grab the last head because it was on the outside. For that reason, I started at the outermost ring and began to walk.

I had to assume that I had already been told the secrets of this puzzle. That I could solve it based on what I already knew. I started replaying everything that had happened since I entered the dungeon. I started my second walk-through of the outer ring when I caught sight of a particular head. It showed a gorgeous man with both of his eyes removed. The strange thing about this head wasn’t the lack of eyes. There were several other statues, just like that. This head looked happy about it. There was something about that caused an itch in the back of my mind. I was missing something obvious, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Either way, I took the head. It was about as heavy as dumbbell but was mundane as far as I could tell.

I made my way inward and began walking around the second layer. This layer was mostly identical to the last. The heads here looked angry instead of sad. This time, I was able to find the correct head in half the time. This head was smiling and was missing both of its ears. I stared at the two heads together when it finally hit me! “Ain’t no way.” I laughed at myself before heading toward the third and final ring. This time it only took me a few minutes to find the correct head. It was missing a mouth. Somehow, even without a mouth, I could tell the statue was happy. It was like its eyes were smiling, which was especially creepy. I made my way back to the trio of statues. I placed the first head and the outer ring erupted in black and red flames. The smell of fire and sulfur filled the air, making me want to barf. I placed the second head and a second ring of fire exploded. The heat in the room made it feel like I was being cooked alive.

I placed the last head and the ring closest to me ignited. I panicked under the belief that I had chosen wrong. Before I could decide on an alternative course of action. The ground trembled and three statues sunk into the ground. In their place was a staircase. I ran down the stairs as fast as I could. I didn’t stop until I reached the next room. “Holy shit!” I placed one hand against a wall and wiped my brow. “Alright that was way too close.” Once the initial panic had worn off, the situation was kind of funny. “See no evil,hear no evil and speak no evil. I wonder if that means that someone from my old world came to this world and shared the quote. Either that or the quote originally comes from this world.”

That was a sobering thought. I had assumed that I was the only person to go between the two worlds, but what if that was wrong? I stopped myself from going down that line of what ifs. Stuck underground in a dungeon was not the best place for it. I turned and looked around the room, ready to face whatever was next.