0011 - Dungeon Part 2
Sitting down on the ground, feeling a bit of pain, I examined the loot before me and...was greatly disappointed.
2x Wooden Clubs
5x Loincloths
1x Back Scratching Rock
1x Yellow Rock
Out of all the loot before me, I was most disappointed with the Yellow Rock because, just as the description read, it was simply...a yellow-colored rock.
Tossing the garbage to the side, I took a deep breath and focused on resting my body to help it heal faster.
As I took deep breaths, I soon found that I entered a calm state of mind, and my body relaxed.
As I was in this strange state of rest, I felt my body heal at a slightly faster, if barely noticeable, rate.
[Congratulations! Your skill Meditation (C) has grown to Level 2!]
Oh?
So this was the work of Meditation...?
That's good to know, at least.
After waiting for all of my attributes to refill back to their max, I got up from the ground and marched onward, soon finding yet another crack.
[Continue?]
[Exit]
[Claim floor Completion Rewards?]
Floor Completion Rewards?
[Congratulations! You have obtained: 1x Lesser Potion of Healing and a Skill Book of Nature's Supplement!]
[A/N: Nature's Supplement is from Dream Engine: Beta Tester... D.C. Comics, by Galen on Scribble Hub, highly recommend the fic and the site if you are wishing to read more Fan Fictions]
Seeing the new active skill within my Status, I cast the spell, and...nothing.
What is the spell supposed to do?
I noticed that casting the spell also cost me 50 Mana, instantly making me feel mentally exhausted once again from using so much mana.
When I regenerated my mana back to full, I continued onto the next floor of the dungeon.
Unlike the first floor, while this floor did follow the same cave appearance, I found myself in a large open cave room, where multiple passways lay before me.
Not wanting to think about it too much, I decided to go through the corridor to the far left of me.
And while I both focused on my surroundings and where I was going, I also, for the first time, opened the System Store that has been sitting at the bottom of my Status ever since I got the system.
/================\
---=[System Store]=---
[Weapons & Artifacts]
[Amor & Clothing]
[Skills & Knowledge]
[Consumables & Materials]
[Other]
System Points: 185
\================/
As soon as I read the screen, I had to cast it away. Why? Because before me are two lizardmen who have begun foolishly charging at me.
It barely took me a minute to kill the two.
[Congratulations! Your skill Mana Bolt (C) has grown to Level 7!]
[Congratulations! Your skill Spear Mastery (C) has grown to Level 2!]
[+41 (42+40/2) System Points!]
When they died, and I examined their loot, I found that they dropped the same typical boring stuff as usual, which I ignored.
Focusing back onto the System Shop Screen, I pressed Skills & Knowledge.
/================\
---=[Skills & Knowledge]=---
--[Sorting Option: Random]--
--[Search]--
[Insights of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness, Fourth Corner of the House of Troubles, the Skooma Cat, Lord of the Never-There, Raver, Comforter of Men, and Sovereign of Shivering Isles
Description: A Scroll that contains the insights of a Scholar on the Deadric Prince, Sheogorath
Price: 2,500 System Points
System Rating: 4/10 Stars
Origins: The Elder Scrolls]
[Reaper Blueprints
Description: The complete Blueprints of how to construct and program a Complete Reaper from the Mass Effect Universe.
Price: 475,000 System Points
System Rating: 5.1/10 Stars
Origins: Mass Effect]
[Flood Dragon Form
Description: A Skill that would allow the holder to turn into a flood dragon at the cost of energy
Price: 75,000 System Points
System Rating: 3.8/10
Origins: Cultivation Universe R-18391-F129115815]
[Tech Spirit
[A/N: Also from Galen's fic mentioned above]
Description: A mix of Nature Magic, and Technomancy to create a natural spirit that can interact with technology to a great level
Price: 10,500
System Rating: 2.5/10
Origins: Dream Engine: Beta Tester in DC Universe]
Page 1 of 999,999,999+
\================/
Seeing 999,999,999+ pages at the bottom was somewhat of a shocker.
Just what kind of being or organization could collect so much information?
Why did they pick me?
How did they reach such heights?
So many questions, yet I had no answers for them.
How was ANY of this even possible?
The Answer I may never know...
Deciding not to delve deeper into this line of questions to keep my sanity, I closed the System Shop screen for a short time.
I continued deeper down the corridor now that my attributes were regenerated to full, besides Stamina, since I would need to sleep to recover to the max.
I found from experimentation that I was limited in how much my Stamina could regenerate over time.
If I overtax myself in physical and mental activities, my Stamina will stop at, let's say, 120/300 Stamina and could not regenerate further until I get myself some rest.
Which made sense, seeing as I was not a Game Character but a living, breathing organism that needed to eat, drink, and sleep.
I won't deny that I have been treating this whole situation of mine as something like a game.
I fear I may have gone mad long ago if I hadn't. After all, when you experience death and rebirth, wouldn't you find some way to cope with the stress of a new life and the scary feeling of death?
Sure, I might not remember how I died, nor do I remember any pain associated with it.
Still, I can confirm without a doubt that I felt the cold hands of death and that suffocating darkness of the void for but a few moments, and even that still causes me nightmares to this day.
But sadly, the illusion I threw over my eyes ended when I nearly died to the Na'vi not long ago.
Feeling the blood on my hands and my near-death again awoke me from my hallucinations.
This is all real, whether I like it or not, and I will be damned if I can't struggle to survive this life just like I survived the bloody streets of that slum so long ago.