Chris groaned as he blinked awake, his entire body aching, his skin stinging from something covering him. Coughing, he rolled over, hacking up a mouthful of black goop as his body tried to clear his lungs. After several minutes of hacking and coughing, he wiped his mouth and wondered where he was, looking around the strange cavern in confusion. Then the memories hit him like a freight train.
He was in a Dungeon, and he had almost died to a monster.
“Fuck,” he gasped, his entire body shaking as he felt tears drip down his cheeks, “Fuck!”
Coughing up another mouthful of the black goop, he shivered and sobbed, falling back to the ground as he curled up in a ball and wept. After what felt like an eternity, he stopped, unable to produce more tears as he stared blankly into the dim light of the cavern. Thoughts raced through his head, wondering how he’d survived, or even why he’d survived. After a while, he noticed the uncomfortable stinging on his skin, sniffing loudly as he sat up slowly, looking around in confusion. He was sitting in the middle of a puddle of goo, what was left of the Emperor Slime, he figured, and it was slowly burning his skin.
“Right,” he croaked, his throat painfully dry, “Slime goo stays acidic even after their death. The more powerful the Slime, the stronger the effect.”
Blinking at how he knew that, Chris just shook his head, carefully getting to his feet and walking out of the puddle, almost slipping several times before he made it to the edge. Looking down at himself, he realized that he was now naked, his clothes having probably been dissolved by the acidic goo before he woke up. Surprisingly, he looked perfectly fine otherwise, apart from the red burn marks covering his body from the slime.
“How?” he coughed, staggering back into the circle of stalagmites, doing his best to wipe the last of the slime from his body, “This makes no sense.”
[Congratulations. You have won your first battle! You gain Experience by defeating Monsters in the Dungeon. The more powerful a monster, the more Experience you will gain!]
The screen appeared in front of him just as he sat down to think, Chris staring at it dumbly for a moment, before coughing up another mouthful of gunk.
“Okay,” he sighed, glaring at the screen, “And how do I see my 'experience'?”
[Check your Status Screen. Simply say “Status”, or will it to open, and it shall appear.]
“Status?” Chris asked, blinking as the familiar screen appeared in front of him.
Name: Christopher Trevor Sanders
Level: 2
Experience: 20/200
Health: 67/120
Mana: 25/25
Stats:
Strength: 3
Vitality: 2
Dexterity: 4
Intellect: 5
Wisdom: 8
Charisma: 3
Free Points: 10
Titles:
Leader, Explorer, Truly Ambitious, Mage, Giant Slayer, Survivor
Skills:
[Self-Regeneration lv 4]
[Air Magic lv 2]
[Studious Sage lv 1]
“What?” Chris groaned as he looked at the screen, feeling like it had already changed since the last time he’d looked at it, “What does any of this mean?”
[To find out what each Stat, Title, or Skill does, simply focus on them and will them to open.]
“Open?” Chris muttered, looking at his Skills, wondering if he could do it. He focused on Air Magic, blinking as a new screen opened a moment later.
[Air Magic lv 2. Rank C. Utilize Mana to control the air.]
“Well, that’s hardly helpful,” Chris sighed, looking at his first Skill instead, and the only other one above level one, “Let’s try this one then.”
[Self-Regeneration lv 4. Rank B. Regain Health and Mana at a rate of 2 per 60 seconds. Can regrow lost body parts over time. (Currently 1 per 60 seconds)]
“What?” Chris gasped, thinking that he’d been saying that a lot lately, “So this is how I survived? I…regenerated the parts the Emperor Slime dissolved? What about the last one?”
[Studious Sage lv 1. Rank SSS. Halves Experience gain. Grants Knowledge on myriad topics.]
“What?” Chris blinked, “It…halves my Experience gain? And what does it mean by ‘grants knowledge’?”
No answer came as he looked around for a new screen, not even the strange sensation of knowledge he’d felt before coming to him as he glared at the Skill.
“Fuck,” he sighed as he dropped his head into his hands, “Fuck.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
He sat like that for a while, before finally dragging his eyes up to his various Titles, wondering what each did.
[Leader. Rank S. Increased item drop rate when exploring new Dungeons.]
[Explorer. Rank S. Increased chance to find chests and hidden rooms.]
[Truly Ambitious. Rank SSS. Increased item Rank chance.]
[Mage. Rank B. Increased Spell Power.]
[Giant Slayer. Rank A. Increased damage against stronger foes.]
[Survivor. Rank C. Increased consumable efficacy.]
“Okay,” Chriss nodded, “But how did I get half these Titles? I know that I got the first three when I entered the Dungeon, but what about the others?”
[You can check your Notifications by saying “Notifications” or willing the screens to appear.]
“Notifications?” Chris hummed as he looked at the new screen that had appeared, sighing as several more appeared, filling his vision even more.
[Achievement: Cast Magic for the first time. Rewards: {Mage} Title.]
[World First Achieved: First to kill a monster of at least C Rank while still level one. Rewards: {Giant Slayer} Title.]
[Achievement: Be reduced to 1 Health and win the encounter. Rewards: {Survivor} Title.]
“Great,” Chris nodded as he dismissed the screens, looking back at his Status. In the time it had taken him to read everything, he’d gained another twelve Health, which made him feel surprisingly better than he had before, “What are ‘Free Points’?”
[Free Points can be assigned to Stats in order to increase them. You currently receive ten Free Points per level.]
“Right, of course,” Chris sighed, looking at his Stats again, “Where to put them? It would help if I knew what any of these actually did.”
------
Half an hour later, Chris smiled at his new Status screen, stretching as he looked over it again.
Name: Christopher Trevor Sanders
Level: 2
Experience: 20/200
Health: 109/150
Mana: 25/25
Stats:
Strength: 5
Vitality: 5
Dexterity: 5
Intellect: 5
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 5
Free Points: 0
Titles:
Leader, Explorer, Truly Ambitious, Mage, Giant Slayer, Survivor
Skills:
[Self-Regeneration lv 4]
[Air Magic lv 2]
[Studious Sage lv 1]
After some investigation, he’d figured out what most of his Stats did, Strength obviously affecting how strong he was, while Dexterity affected his flexibility and speed. Vitality determined how much Health he had, being one hundred plus ten times his Vitality value, with Intellect determining his Mana in a similar way, except it was a flat five times the value. He still wasn’t sure what exactly Wisdom and Charisma did, but he’d thrown a couple of points into each just to be safe. Chris was pretty sure having all your Stats equal like this wasn’t the best idea, but right now he was more concerned about being able to survive, so upping everything felt right.
“Right,” he hummed, heading back to the small gap between the stalagmites, “Let’s see if anything is out there.”
Surprisingly, nothing was, Chris almost feeling disappointed. He just stared at the puddle of goo that had been the Emperor Slime, wondering if that was what was keeping the other monsters at bay. It obviously was, as they would instinctively stay away from the puddle, thinking it was the Emperor Slime itself, at least until it completely dried up.
“Again with the weird knowledge,” he sighed, “Where is it coming from?”
Shaking his head, Chris just walked out of the circle of stone, looking around for anything that might be useful. His gaze quickly fell on the strange chest that lay in the middle of the puddle of slime, wondering when it had gotten there. Shrugging, he carefully made his way across the puddle, hissing as it started to burn his feet, but not daring to go any faster in case he slipped. He eventually reached the chest, poking it with a finger, just in case it was somehow a monster or trapped, almost falling over as it popped open, revealing a strange piece of fabric inside.
“Please be pants,” Chris chuckled as he pulled the object out, looking at the large piece of cloth in mild disappointment, “I guess a cape will do too. Maybe I could fashion it into a skirt or something?”
With a sigh, he made his way back across the slime, eventually reaching the edge and hopping around a bit as he wiped the acidic goop from his feet, the skin already red and raw from the few minutes he’d been in contact with it. Checking his Status Screen, Chris saw that he’d lost five points of Health from his short walk, making him cringe, before he hurried back into the circle of stalagmites to inspect his prize.
“Now, what to do with you?” Chris hummed as he spread the large piece of fabric out on the ground, “I’d need something to cut it up to make some clothes, but I don’t have anything like that. I wonder if I could use a sharp bit of rock?”
Chris quickly set about searching for a piece of stone that would work, managing to find a couple before he returned to the material. He knelt down on top of it, grabbing an edge and trying to saw at it with the sharp piece of stone. After several minutes, nothing had happened, except the stone was now pretty much blunt, making him groan in frustration.
“Of course that wouldn’t work,” he muttered to himself, “This is a Rank C piece of equipment, I’d need a blade of at least the same Rank to even hope to cut it.”
Chris paused, wondering how he knew that, before shaking the strange feeling off. At least he had something he could wrap around himself, though it wouldn’t help much unless he wore it as intended.
“Again with the weird knowledge,” he huffed, “Seriously, why do I know this stuff? Whatever, I’ll just put the stupid cape on and see what happens.”
Chris slung the material over his shoulders, surprised by how cool it felt against his skin, attaching the clasp in front of his neck. Immediately, he felt strangely stronger, more resilient, wondering how that could be.
“Well, it is an Emperor Slime’s Cloak,” he said, “So it makes me more resistant to physical and acid-based attacks. Okay, how the fuck do I know this?!”
------
Elizabeth sighed as she sat at the dinner table, watching as her parents argued for what felt like the hundredth time in the last few days.
“This isn’t my fault!” her mother shouted, “He’s probably just holed up in some sleazy motel somewhere waiting for us to come find him!”
“We found his wallet and phone in his room, Lorraine,” her father said back, calm as ever, yet she could sense the tension in his voice, “He has no money, and we have no way to contact him.”
“Then maybe he’s staying with a friend, if he even has any,” the woman huffed.
“I’ve already called everyone he knows, and they haven’t seen him either,” the man replied flatly, “He’s missing, so I filed a missing person’s report with the police. There’s nothing we can do about that now.”
“You’re making too big a deal out of this, dear,” her mother said angrily, sitting back in her chair, “I swear, he’s only as useless as he is because you coddle him so much.”
“My son is not useless,” the man growled back, suddenly standing as he dropped his knife and fork on the table, “Never call him that again!”
“But he is, Steven! All he ever does is play around on that stupid computer of his!”
“Enough!” the man suddenly roared, shocking both of them as he clenched his fists, taking several deep breaths before he finally managed to calm down, “I’ve heard enough about this.”
“Where are you going?” her mother shouted as the man turned to leave the room, “We aren’t done talking!”
“To look for my son,” her father replied coldly, leaving the room as the woman stared after him in disbelief.
“I’m done eating,” Elizabeth said quietly as her mother stormed out after her father, picking up her empty plate and carrying it to the kitchen.
She quickly put the dishes in the sink and hurried upstairs, pausing as she passed the door to her brother’s room. On impulse, she opened the door, looking around the familiar space worriedly, spotting his wallet and phone sitting on his desk beside his computer, which was still on. Nervously, she touched the mouse, the screen lighting up as she checked the open programs. Only a web browser was active, which she clicked on, looking at the tabs. The first was his email, already open, filled with rejection letters, the rest were for various job-hunting sites, a dozen of them.
“Where did you go, Chris?” Elizabeth asked, “Where did you go?”
