[You have found the First Floor Boss. Kaibat, The First Prince of the Blue Moon Kingdom.]

Before Do-Yun stood the towering Orc with fury-filled eyes. His upper body had nothing while some dented armour covered his waist and legs clinking with each step.

“CHIIIK CHHHIIK CHHHHHIIIKKK!!” Kaibat roared flashing his sharp tusks and flexing his muscular body.

“I don’t understand that ya damn pig.” Do-Yun wasted no time to swing the pole at his face.

A crisp sound echoed in the tunnel as the pole met the shiny metal gloves of the Orc. Do-Yun jumped back to avoid the stomp that left a crater on the floor. Seeing the caution his opponent flexed his muscles with another roar the orcs behind him started to get rowdy shouting alongside Kaibat.

“These bastards are getting faster!” Eun-Young’s complaint confirmed it for him.

This guy Kaibat didn’t shout for no reason, in a situation where more than half of his troops had been killed, he needed to make a quick move. That is why his main concern wasn’t to defeat Do-Yun but to wear down the two fighting behind him and force a retreat.

“You’re too easy to read.” Do-Yun smacked the punches off the trajectory with the pole.

‘He is using an Energy circulation method to power his attacks.’ The violent vibrations from the pole traveled up his arm as he stepped back. Even with Magic energy, one could make Martial arts work, and an orc using them was another testament to his intelligence.

Though Do-Yun still had more things to work with. Even though an energy circulation method, it was inferior to an Aura circulation method. And Kaibat hadn’t made a run for Byung-Ho yet. Meaning he wasn’t affected by his skill. But, this was good news for him.

“Chik Chiik! Chikk Chiik! Three Moon!!” Kaibat yelled sending three punches aimed to smash Do-Yun’s left side.

‘Buffing his allies, resisting Byung-Ho’s skills, and keeping me engaged in battle. All this would take a hit at his energy reserves in the long run. That is why what he’d try to do is make me focus on the one behind me.’ Forced to move to the right Do-Yun smashed the head of the two orcs that tried to flank him.

They had managed to break out of Byung-Ho’s skill, as soldiers and as orcs obeying their superior was ingrained into them. Even with that he only managed to take two away. However, the orcs weren’t meant to deal any damage to Do-Yun.

Kaibat’s left fist came from above right after. All that to create a single opening!

“Chiiik Moon Blast!!” The fist shone in ethereal blue light and tore through the air to reach the target with the shortest trajectory. With a resounding bang, the stone floor crumbled under the force as the tunnel shook.

Fragments of stones flew across and a dust cloud kicked up. Kaibat felt his broken fist. Hot blood seeped out of the glove. He felt the shortage of energy from using the ultimate technique. A sense of lethargy took over him. However, he failed to land the hit.

“I told you, you’re easy to read.” Do-Yun’s pole struck the side of the Orc’s head with a full swing from within the dust cloud.

Kaibat’s body staggered as blood dripped from the wound on his dented head. Before the punch landed, Do-Yun used the pole to jump above. He then attacked when the orc had stopped.

On his knees now, the orc bleed from his nose as more blood poured out of his ears and eyes. An aura-infused attack to an unprotected head did the damage one would expect. Kaibat’s brain was scrambled like an egg, the skull had fractured into pieces along with the neck.

[You have defeated the First Floor Boss, Kaibat!]

[First Floor Clear Objective: Kill all Beasts on this Floor.]

[Objective Completed! Please head to the starting point to receive your rewards!]

Do-Yun turned to see Eun-Young, Byung-Ho, and Ethan standing in the middle of orc corpses. They increased their efforts after seeing the two orcs rush towards him and then the attack that followed.

Among them the first looked out of breath, however, their nerves settled down after they saw the System message. These were all the monsters on the first floor of the Tower.

Do-Yun knew that this became a little underwhelming from what he expected after hearing about the first floor. But, even with 100 famished orcs and a single commander. This floor was equivalent of an A-Rank Gate. If these guys were given the chance to reach the outside world and replenish their energy, they’d turn into a real threat that could take down a city.

However, with the correct conditions lining up for them in this tunnel and their hunger, the orcs couldn’t do much. Things went over easier.

“Let’s see what is up ahead after gathering things.” He suggested as they caught their breath.

With swift speed, they gathered the broken weapons from the orcs. They may be broken now, but if they could get them to a blacksmith they can melt them down and get weapons of their own. Do-Yun had a similar view about the metal gloves from Kaibat. They were made of Veidant, a metal tougher than steel with better conductivity for energy than the pole he had. It would be useful for making weapons that they’ll need to fight stronger Beasts.

Making weapons made of this metal wouldn’t be easy though. Earth still didn’t have blacksmiths as far as he knew. Even if there were some, getting used to these newer metals would take time and multiple trials. Getting anything useful would take a while, even with the skilled Blacksmiths. But, they had the time for now.

“Here, take it back.” Eun-Young handed him the map, small notebook, and pen from earlier.

Do-Yun chuckled at her frown but decided to continue his work as a scout. Among them he had the most experience, so he planned on handling it for now. He felt Byung-Ho’s interest and didn’t mind letting him watch from close by. It was tedious, so he planned on handing it to Byung-Ho after he had learned enough.

Walking to the end of the tunnel they took the right used by the orcs to rush in and after a five-minute walk, there they found a wide cavern. The damp cavern had a smell similar to rotten eggs, but worse. A bit further they found the source of it all.

“Did they take a dump near the place they sleep?” Revolted Eun-Young moved back to spare her nose. The orcs used this place at their base, there were stacks of hay in one corner near what seemed like a makeshift lavatory.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Though more than that she didn’t want to see the bones and skulls piled up near the shit swamp. There were twenty-five skulls in total, almost half of them were broken in some way or showed signs of injuries. The bones had a similar situation which made them wonder how much those victims went through before dying.

Do-Yun knew that the bones most likely snapped when the orcs were eating. Tooth marks and such were obvious, but he didn’t say anything about it.

“I found some books and a few letters here.” Ethan walked over with books as thick dictionaries in his hand, they were stuffed near the wolf hide in the pile of hay.

“What are the books about?” Do-Yun placed the skull he was examining on the ground.

Ethan flipped through the book to understand what it contained.

The books were covered with thick brown leather that faded a little at the edges. A lined pattern was formed on the spine of the book, but the golden ink was missing in places too. It was similar to the other two books.

“On the flora and fauna around this place, the second one is a book on medicinal and poisonous plants, and the third one is in a language I don’t know right now.” Ethan said.

“How much time will it take for you to learn it?” Eun-Young asked.

“An hour because I need to read, but the alphabets look simple and distinct so maybe 45 minutes.” That came as a shock and showed how helpful he could be.

If they could find books such as these there was so much they’d learn. Information was the key to success in a place they knew nothing about. With Ethan, they could get information faster than anyone without trails or errors.

“What about the letters?” Do-Yun pointed at the yellowish papers on top of the books.

“These are from a person named ‘Siba’ from the City of Zolrack of Blue Moon Kingdom. The earlier exchanges are about food and help, but the last one says that they can’t provide any more food relief to this town because they are facing the same issue. They are also telling the receiver ‘Kaibat’ to come back and help in the war. And it is in the same language those Orcs spoke, so it should be from an orc too or it could be a common language.” The letters were short and to the point without any other information.

But, Ethan had found that this language had to be used this way. Simple and to the point.

‘A kingdom of Orcs and they are facing famine and war. And this town was ransacked. The residents who should’ve lived here are also missing, not even dead bodies were around.’ Do-Yun pieced in the information together.

He noticed another thing while traveling towards this town. And it was the absence of edible fruits and plants, the burned fields, and the absence of anything useful in the town.

“I see, so that is why they resorted to these methods.” Do-Yun glanced at the pile of bones in front of him.

Orcs weren’t into eating humans from what he remembered. But, these orcs could be different from what he knew of. After all, they looked different too.

“Hyung there is a path here.” Byung-Ho called from the side of the cavern.

From there an upward slope took them towards the light of the sun. The entrance to this cavern was well hidden by foliage, stepping out they were in the middle of yet another forest. A little further ahead waited an Angel Statue similar to the one they remembered.

“That saves us some time.” Do-Yun smiled as the reward window showed up in front of them.

[Rewards will be handed out now!]

[+2 Compartment to the inventory of all surviving members, Granted.]

[A Random Rune, Granted to the one who dealt the last blow on the Floor Boss.]

[You can now enter the Second Floor!]

[Yes/No?]

“Anyone wants this Rune?” Do-Yun asked. In his hands was a black stone with a heliographic symbol that glowed in multiple colors.

“Isn’t that your reward?” Eun-Young had seen the panel. Do-Yun defeated the floor boss alone so there should be no discussion about this.

“I am bad at gambling.” He sighed. Though his sentiment wasn’t shared by the rest, who could give up on gaining a skill because they had bad luck?

Wouldn’t such a person try to take all the opportunities so he could gain something at least once?

“Well, I’ll keep it with me for now.” However, Do-Yun didn’t share that line of thought. He already had a way of getting skills as he understood the mechanics behind them.

Similar to how he unlocked poison resistance, regeneration, Magic Sense, and Argon’s Aura Heart Method. Do-Yun knew the things he had to do to unlock other skills too. There were two main requirements for anyone to get skills regardless of the class.

‘First, they have to be Classless, and second, they need to know the things needed to activate the conditions to unlock said skills.’ People either chose a class as soon as they became available, or they got one from the moment they Awakened.

Choosing a class meant closing off other possibilities, but the instantaneous extra skills and benefits one got from doing so outweighed the risk of trying to experiment. However, there were always anomalies that went against common sense. Do-Yun learned of this secret halfway into his regressions through some ancient tomes, by that time he already had a job and couldn’t use it.

But, now he satisfied the first condition, leading to the second condition. And this was the easiest part for him.

‘With Argon’s and my research that went on for over twenty thousand years, I know of way more useful skills than this rune can give out. But my body isn’t tough enough to handle the process it takes to get them right now.’ Though Do-Yun didn’t plan on getting all the skills, ‘I’ll only take what I need, that is why this rune is useless to me.’

Do-Yun thought that maybe he could use it to get more money, after all, which awakened wouldn’t pay to get an extra skill from their Class? But, it seemed like a waste and if possible he wanted someone from his team to get it to increase their power.

“Why are you staring into space again?” Eun-Young’s voice brought him out of his thoughts.

“You shouldn’t jerk someone out when they are in deep thought Eun-Young-Ah. It can be damaging you know? What if they are thinking of something important?” Said Do-Yun.

“Oh! Then tell me what grand plan you were cooking up?” Eun-young countered.

“Well, for starters I thought of burying the dead.” Do-Yun suggested it had been in the back of his mind since the first chamber.

Although she wanted to find some fault with him before, Eun-Young agreed with his proposal instantly. So did Byung-Ho, Ethan followed along and helped in digging graves with Do-Yun.

“…You are good at this.” Ethan said watching Do-Yun dig, he was on his seventh grave while he had only done three.

“I have years of experience. How about you? Your speed is quite good.”

“My mother was into gardening, I helped her with that. The increased strength and speed helps too.”

“It sure does help.” Do-Yun chuckled. With those as the last words shared between the two, they completed the graves before Byung-Ho and Eun-Young came back.

They had gathered the bones and skulls of the ones in the cavern. But some remained, Eun-young was about to get them however Do-Yun stopped her.

“I’ll get the ones in the chamber, you guys handle this in the meantime.” He entered the opening and walked down the tunnel.

It didn’t take him long to return from the journey to the end. He gathered the heads in his inventory and carried the bodies over his shoulders. The three had laid down most of the bones and skulls in the graves. It wasn’t possible to match the bones of everyone, but they did what they could. Do-Yun laid down the bodies inside graves with care like he was putting a kid to sleep. Carefully he climbed out and the four began to fill the graves with dirt.

“May you find peace…” Byung-Ho prayed in front of the graves as the other three stood behind. Do-Yun and Eun-Young didn’t know the prayers, but they waited with their hands clasped in front of their chests.

After that, Do-Yun took out a bottle of wine from his inventory and placed it in the middle of the graves. The other three didn’t understand, but they didn’t interfere either.

“There is only one bottle, so you lot will have to share.” He said to the graves marked with blank stones.

“Let’s go to the next floor.” He turned to the three behind him.

“We aren’t going back?” Eun-Young questioned.

“Hmm? I didn’t tell you that we’ll clear up to floor three?” Do-Yun asked.

“What?” Her lips twitched.

“…What?”

Do-Yun had a tough time explaining himself afterward.

***

Seoul, South Korea.

“…Why would the Tower send something like this?” Ji-Hu felt a headache rising when the red panels showed up in front of his eyes.

[Congratulations! The First Floor has been cleared!]

[The timer will now reset!]

[Clear the Second Floor within 30 days. Failure to do so will result in a Stampede (All monsters on the Second Floor would be released on the outside world).]

The three red panels flashed in front of him ominously, and not him alone.

On that day every Awakened across the globe saw those panels regardless of rank. That is how the outside world fell into chaos once again.

…

Eun-Young: Why did you bring a wine bottle with you? (Curiosity)

Do-Yun: …Erm (Hesitation)

Eun-Young: You didn’t plan to drink it, right? (Annoyed)

Do-Yun: … (*averts eyes)

Eun-Young: …Right? (Angry)