First Stage

Maybe it was the Concealment skill, but the monsters Ezra faced going forward seem to overestimate themselves quite a bit. Normally, they would attack with some caution and using a little more strength, but it seemed that now they would only appear before Ezra as though a lion was chasing a rabbit, without much care.

At the moment, Ezra had the thought of when it would all end. His greatest hope was that as long as he kept going forward, he would certainly run into a dungeon boss and maybe after taking care of the boss, just like any other dungeon, it would close, and he would be able to leave then.

At the current moment, following his calculations, Ezra had been in this dungeon cave for at least more than five hundred days, maybe even close to 600. He spent all his days fighting and trying to survive, with the monsters getting more difficult as time passed and he went deeper.

From time to time, he would even hit a dead end and would have to retract his steps and follow another route. As he advanced, the cave system became even more complex and difficult to navigate, but somehow, his intuition was mostly correct, and he often chose a good route without a dead end. The problem was, recently, the monsters had increased in number and their strength was much stronger than before.

Perhaps, the one thing helping Ezra much was his Concealment skill that made him appear as a weakling, but that was only useful until he made his first attack. Unlike humans, beasts were not as arrogant, and so once Ezra showed his true strength, they would not go easy any longer.

"When will all of this end?" Ezra asked himself in an almost dead tone. Suddenly, it seemed like the mysterious power keeping him sane could only do so much, it was not absolute.

Lo and behold, the system answered Ezra's question.

[Door to the next floor detected. Within 200m] Said the system.

Maybe it was not an actual answer, but the timing was perfect too.

'Next floor?' Thought Ezra.

This message destroyed all of Ezra's hope of leaving this place, as it had basically just been assured that there was more. To say the least, he was in a bit of despair.

'I know I have already died once, but this is just too much! Another floor? Is this a joke?!' There was no strength to throw a fit, so Ezra just sat on the floor with his back to the wall.

"Does it even matter. There was never any guarantee that I would be living this place from the very beginning. At this rate, it's better to call this hell… Fuck it all!"

With some determination, Ezra picked himself up and started searching for this door to the next floor. He was feeling a bit bitter for sure, but what could he do really?

Half an hour later, he came before a door that seemed to be open, but within was total darkness. Of course, there was the uneasiness Ezra felt from such darkness, but this place had been like a game, so it wasn't totally out of the ordinary. In fact, if he had seen something like stairs, it would have been even more shocking.

With some faith and determination, Ezra walked into the darkness.

A second after entering the door, Ezra didn't even have the strength to fight it, and his body weakened until three seconds later, he lost consciousness completely.

. .

In another place, inside what looked to be a cave with several luminous crystals scattered around in the walls and other places, several people could be seen scattered around, all mining these crystals.

At a location towards the rare where the group of men were exhausted in their numbers, some men in working clothes could be spotted, discussing.

"Heh… I hate this job. Why don't I have something cool like some fire ability or something? Instead I awakened with some improved strength and physical conditions."

"You ungrateful idiot. At least be thankful that it aids you in your job. Look at us? Just take a look at your brothers!" A young man said with fake tears running down his face like a stream.

"Fine fine, I won't complain." The first youth said.

"Hehe, how's it progressing with Laila? Huh?" Said, the second youth.

"Yeah, any luck yet?" A third one spoke, with quite the unsettling expression.

"You perverted worm. This is probably why you are still single." The first youth said with a disgusted expression.

"His mother probably only breast fed him for six months." The second said.

"Forget this bastard, answer the question! We're eager to know. This might just be my motivation to find myself a babe! My wrists hurt these days.."

"Ah? Hehe, well…" The first youth was going to say something, when another domineering voice cut through their conversation.

"YOU THREE IDIOTS! ONY KNOW HOW TO TALK. NO BREAK FOR YOU THREE! EVERYONE ELSE, BREAK TIME!" A middle aged man with a muscular build who seemed to be the leader spoke. His figure was really imposing as he seemed to still contain a bit of his youth.

The three did not even argue, it seemed this wasn't a first, and their leader was too fierce to be negotiated with. After all, they were the only ones slacking off, and there really wasn't anyone who would agree to back them up and plead with the fierce leader. It wasn't worth it.

"Those rats think they slack off under my radar. Lazy snots, always talking and never working." The leader said. He seemed to be a good leader that fathers a group well.

"Damn, no escaping this time." The first youth said.

"For sure."

"We were been watched by that old man the whole time, heh…"

"We should move forward and get to work. I really don't want to be anywhere near the boss area." Said, the second youth.

"Pussy cat, we're quite far from it, and besides, the boss is already dead." The third said with a mocking expression.

"This fucker…"

"heh…"

. .

. .

. .

"The fuck just happened? My head really hurts."

[Congratulations host, you have cleared the first floor of the abyss and completed the first stage]