Heading out

Zero picked up the little blue sphere. In 'Star Dust' these spheres usually gave a little health boost, however this one was a spell.

That was within Zeros expectation. Each 100 runs these spheres would give strong spells, the first run did that aswell.

The spell was of the earthen properties, [Earthsplit]. A decent AOE spell, but with a very high mana cost, Zero couldn't use it.

He threw it into his pocket. In total there were 21 of these spheres in this world, all of them should give different spells.

Zero was a bit disappointed, these spells were useless to him. The health boost would be better.

He didn't think about it for too long and turned around. He had to get to Starlight city quickly to get that thing.

However first he had to finish the first layer and get out of this place. Getting out of here is easy, however a bit risky.

Zero headed back to the first layers main location, he had already killed most of the monsters here, so it was safe.

He was heading further down until he saw a brick floor. This was the place that separated layers from each other.

Zero looked around and saw a purple portal that lead into the checkpoint, it wasn't very big, about 2 meters in diameter.

Without much thought he jumped into the portal, the checkpoints were completely safe for now.

He appeared in a room made out of bricks, in front of him was a shop with different weapons.

He threw a quick glance at them, but didn't buy anything. These weapons were far inferior to his scythe.

Usually when you enter the first checkpoint, you can change your class and take one of these weapons for free, however, he already had a weapon, so the checkpoint didn't offer any free weapons or a class change.

Zero looked further into the checkpoint and saw 3 tablets lying on the ground. Those were perks, special abilities that could help him further in the run.

Perks basically determined how your run would go. Among the three only one was good, he was very lucky that he could come across this perk so early, Inventory!

The inventory wasn't very big for now, it was as big as a decent living room. However this was good enough, Zero didn't have many items anyway.

He threw the little sphere and his pickaxe into the inventory. He also took out his empty flask and poured some water into it and instantly drank some.

He ate all his berries and drank all the water he took with him, so he was hungry and thirsty. He had to reach Starlight city as quickly as possible, that way he could buy a lot of food.

Now for the main part, after a little rest Zero stood up and headed to the end of the checkpoint, there was only 1 portal that lead into the 2nd layer.

Behind that portal stood a statue that was about 2.5 meters tall, it was a statue of a goddess of this world. She was barely clothed, how could a goddess wear something like that? Zero thought, how vulgar!

Zero didn't waste much time and took out his pickaxe, with a strike to the statue, everything except the head and feet disappeared.

This was the special ability of the pickaxe, everything within the half sphere range would disappear into nothingness. It doesn't matter what material it is, everything will disappear!

The look on the statues head changed, it had become creepy and angry. The whole checkpoint rumbled and shook, a skeleton appeared behind Zero.

In place where the perks once were stood a skeleton with a sword. Zero took out his scythe and got rid of it with one strike.

"The gods are furious, you will be cursed"

Zero didn't care about that, this curse only made checkpoints spawn a stronger skeleton each layer.

The checkpoints were made by the gods to help the player explore this cave, however a player just broke a gods statue! How arrogant!

A second portal appeared, this portal was red, this one lead to the surface. This was way easier then to mine all the way to the surface.

Zero went through the portal, and fresh air seeped into his lungs. How refreshing! Zero took a deep breath.

He didn't enjoy fresh air much in his gaming life, however now he had the chance to do so.

He looked around and pictured the world map in his head, so he could triangulate where Starlight city is.

After a bit of time he figured out where he had to head out to, and did just that.

The journey wasn't dangerous, but it would take him some time to get there. The world became bigger, or at least it felt like it. In game going to Starlight city would take merely around 10 minutes of walking, however right now the journey should be around 5 days if he hurried up.

He encountered a couple monsters while traveling through the forest, mostly weak goblins and wolves. He made quick work of them.

Many such encounters happened on the first day. Once he reached the end of the forest, he laid down on the grass. It was already dark and he was tired.

He made sure there were no monsters around, and fell asleep next to a tree. His ring would protect him from all types of damage, so he wasn't afraid of anything that could possibly attack him in this forest.

Looking around for monsters was just a precaution he did instinctively. He slept trough the night and awoke to something licking him. What...?

He opened his eyes and saw a dark wolf. It's fur was black, it's blue eyes were standing out way too much.

It wasn't a big wolf, however they were usually aggressive. Why was this one licking him instead of attacking? Zero didn't understand.

He took out his scythe and wanted to quickly kill the wolf. However he stopped and thought of something. He could use the wolf as a ride to get to Starlight City quickly.

There was such a mechanic in the game, however he almost never used it, because late game transportation was quicker and easier.

He glanced at the wolf with an indifferent look. "Do you want to live? If yes get me to Starlight city." The wolf looked at him terrified. It tought it was being nice by not killing this human, but now it was regretting its choices. How could this arrogant human..!

Zero jumped on the back of the wolf and gently patted it on the head "Go.".

With the wolf the journey came to a quick end. It didn't take him 5 days but merely 2.

They stood on the edge of a cliff, a majestic city fell into their view - Stalight city!

They had arrived.