Aftermath

William's eyes slowly fluttered open, grogginess clinging to his mind like a damp shroud. He was met with the faint scent of disinfectant and the soft beep of machines. A dull ache throbbed in his head, and his body felt heavy, as if weighed down by invisible chains.

He tried to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through his side, making him wince. Memories of the battle with the E-rank wolf came flooding back, and he gritted his teeth, fighting against the wave of discomfort.

As he looked around, he saw that he was in a hospital room. The walls were a pale white, and the bed he lay on was surrounded by various machines and monitors.

Just then, a gentle voice spoke from beside him. "Oh, you're awake."

William turned his head to see a kind-faced woman with a nurse's cap and a warm smile. He tried to speak, but his voice came out hoarse.

The nurse poured him a glass of water and helped him take a sip. "Better?" she asked.

William nodded, feeling a little more coherent. "Where...am I?" he asked, his voice still weak.

The nurse's smile faltered for a moment, and she exchanged a glance with someone outside William's field of vision. "You're in the hospital," she said gently. "You were brought here after...an incident in the dungeon."

William's eyes narrowed, trying to piece together his fragmented memories. "How long have I been here?" he asked, his voice still weak.

The nurse's expression was gentle. "You've been with us for about three days," she said. "You were brought in pretty badly hurt, but you're recovering well."

The nurse smiled and stood up. "I'll go call the others," she said. "They've been waiting for you to wake up. They'll be happy to see you're doing better."

"Who?" William started to ask, but the nurse was already out the door, leaving him with more questions than answers.

After a few minutes, while William was still lost in thought, a man walked into the room. He was tall, with a strong jawline and piercing blue eyes that seemed to bore into William's soul. His dark hair was neatly trimmed, and he wore a warm smile on his face.

"Glad to see you're awake," the man said, his smile widening. "My name is Ron, I'm the manager of the Dungeon Booking Center. I've been keeping an eye on your progress, and I'm happy to see you're recovering well."

Ron's expression turned serious, and he took a step closer to William's bed. "I want to apologize, William," he said, his voice sincere. "What happened to you in the dungeon was unacceptable. We take the safety of our explorers very seriously, and it's clear that we fell short in your case."

"It's alright," William said, waving his hand weakly. "No one expected to see an E-rank monster inside an F-rank dungeon. It was just bad luck.... I know the Dungeon Booking Center can't control what happens inside the dungeon all the time."

William's eyes narrowed slightly. "Have you guys figured out why an E-rank monster was inside an F-rank dungeon?" he asked.

Ron's expression turned somber. "Unfortunately, we haven't found anything conclusive yet. We're still investigating, but so far, we haven't been able to determine why that monster was there."

Ron sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "To be honest, William, we're stumped. We've never had an incident like this before, and we're not sure what to make of it. We're going to have to dig deeper to figure out what went wrong."

William's eyes seemed to cloud over, his mind working overtime to process the information. "I see," he said slowly, his voice barely above a whisper.

William's gaze drifted off, his thoughts wandering back to the novel he had read, he recalled the countless adventures and misadventures of the protagonist, but one thing was certain - there was no record of a higher rank monster appearing inside a lower rank dungeon.

Ron's expression turned resolute, and he placed a hand on William's shoulder. "I promise you, William, we'll get to the bottom of this. We'll investigate every possible lead, every shred of evidence, until we understand what happened."

"We'll discuss a suitable compensation for what you've been through, one that reflects the severity of the situation."

William's lips curled into a faint smile, a hint of his usual humor resurfacing. "Well, I won't say no to the compensation part," he said, his voice a little stronger now.

Ron chuckled and nodded, his expression softening. "Alright, alright. You get some rest, William. We'll talk more about this later." With that, he turned and headed out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.

William let out a deep sigh and lay back in his bed, his eyes drifting upwards to stare at the ceiling. His mind began to wander, reflecting on his own actions and decisions that had led him to this point.

He couldn't help but wonder if he had been too reckless, too arrogant, in thinking he could handle the dungeon on his own.

"I really fucked myself up, didn't I?"

William's voice was barely above a whisper, a mixture of frustration and self-recrimination etched on his face.

William's eyes widened slightly as he remembered something. "Wait, the quest...what happened with the quest. I had almost forgotten about it."

"System"

As soon as William said "System", a translucent screen flickered to life in front of him, displaying a few lines of text.

Quest Completed:

Objective: Defeat the Anomaly

Reward: 2 stat increase in all physical attributes

Penalty: Death

Result: Success!

William's eyes widened as he read the update. A 2-stat increase in all physical attributes was a significant reward, especially at his current level. He felt a surge of excitement and anticipation, wondering how this would impact his abilities.

William's eyes narrowed as he read the quest notification again. He realized that he hadn't actually defeated the anomaly himself - the guards had intervened and killed the wolf.

However, since the monster was dead, the quest had still been marked as completed. But, he hadn't received any experience points since he hadn't dealt the killing blow himself.

William's lips curled into a wry smile. "Guess I didn't get off that scot-free after all..."

William's eyes flicked to the screen, and he mentally commanded the system to display his status. The screen flickered, and a new window opened, showing his current stats:

_Status_

Name: William Barlowe(Simon Reed)

Age: 17

Current Status: [Recovering,Anxious]

Afflictions: Injured

_Attributes_

Mana: 100/100

Vitality: 100/100

Strength: 9(+2)

Endurance: 11(+2)

Agility: 8(+2)

Intelligence: 10

Charisma: 15

Sanity: 90/100

_Progress_

Level: 1 (Awakened)

Experience Points: 90/100

Attributes Points: 0/5

_Skills_

Basic Spearmanship (Level 1)

_Elementalism_

Elemental Affinity: Neutral

Elemental Resistance:

Fire: 1%

Ice: 0%(locked)

Lightning: 0%(locked)

Earth: 0%(locked)

Elemental Abilities:

Flame Edge

Elemental Mastery:

Fire: 5%

William's eyes lit up as he noticed the small increase in his Elemental Mastery: Fire. "5% now, huh? Progress, no matter how small, is still progress." He felt a sense of satisfaction, knowing that his abilities were slowly but surely improving.

Just as he was about to close the system window, a new notification popped up:

*System Update: New Patch Available*

William's eyes widened as he read the update notes:

[Patch 1.0.1: 'System Overhaul']

- Assimilating with William's memories...

- Integrating experiences, skills, and knowledge...

- Bug Fixes and Balance Changes Applied

-Please restart the system to apply the update.

A growing sense of confusion settled over William as he mentally commanded the system to initiate the update.

[Assimilation Protocol Initiated. Merging memories... Altering core parameters... Transformation in progress.]

William's vision began to blur, and his thoughts grew jumbled.

'What's happening....?'

With that, he lost consciousness and the room was shrouded with an unsettling silence.

[ 23:59:48 ]

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