The bonfire crackled and flickered, casting a warm, reassuring light in the dark world Stark found himself in.
[Entered safe space, enjoy the safety while it lasts =)]
The silver fog wall loomed right in front of him (only a few meters away), a barrier separating him from whatever awaited on the other side: the boss of the [City Ruins].
But for now… all he wanted to do was rest.
He sat on the ground around the bonfire, enjoying the feeling of slowly regaining his HP and the curse of the Black Sun going down.
'No… I can't rest now…' he thought after sitting down for a minute, and then got up.
[Experience: 65960/75000]
'I'll get to level 10, then I can rest as much as I want,' he nodded before getting up, he had retrieved some of his life back, plus he was confident he would have no issue dealing with enemies nearby.
There were some monsters he had never seen roaming nearby, and so he decided to do something… quite strange.
He went to the border of the 'safe zone', and then put half of his body outside, allowing the monsters to see him.
Some immediately rushed to kill the human, while others just looked, waiting to see what would happen.
And so as some monsters were about to hit Stark… he took a step back and went inside the safe zone again.
And then…
"Let's see if that works!" he laughed then tried to punch the monsters while still in the safe zone, giving him an almost impossible to break shield while still being able to hit them as his fist traversed the 'barrier'.
"-2719!"
"-3162!"
"-2913!"
The monsters outside the safe zone roared in frustration as Stark's punches connected through the barrier, dealing damage without putting himself at risk.
'I'm actually cheating the system, how has nobody thought of that before,' he laughed, trying to punch yet another monster.
But…
~ZAP~
"-100!"
A lightning strike that came from the sky hit his body and dealt 100 points of damage to him, luckily he had allowed his HP to go up with the bonfire, or else it would have been bad.
[No cheating]
This panel appeared in front of him.
"…" Stark groaned before leaving the safe zone and killed the last monster that was in front of the barrier, "this was the last one anyway, I wasn't gonna abuse it," he shouted to whoever (or whatever) was watching him, but of course, no response.
[You have slain 'City Beast lv15', gained 3000 EXP!]
[You have slain two 'Mouthless Figures lv15', gained 5800 EXP!]
[You have slain 'Owl Cultist lv15', gained 2750 EXP!]
And of course, eliminating those foes resulted in the reappearance of the golden aura, once again enveloping him.
[Your level has increased to level 10, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]
[Experience: 2510/85000]
'Finally… damn it!' Stark smiled and sat beside the bonfire again, enjoying the feeling of finally reaching level 10, meaning he could now equip the necklace he had acquired.
And also…
[Level 10 Reached: please pick a skill card]
Just like last time, three cards materialized in front of him out of thin air, this time their color was blue.
'Oh yeah… that thing,' this had been how he acquired [Aura Smash], it seemed like he would be able to choose a new skill every 5 levels.
Stark gazed at the three blue cards in front of him, pondering his choice carefully.
"Oh well, it's not like I can decide what skill i'll get," he shrugged and picked the middle card at random.
The other two disappeared once he did that, and so he turned the card he picked to see an image of… himself?
…
[Name: Clone Frenzy]
[Type: Rare]
[Level: 1]
[Description: Summons a clone of yourself that acts and fights just like you do, giving you a temporary additional character to control in battle, the clone does damage based on how much aura you give it, but its stats are extremely reduced, and its HP is set to 1, cooldown period of 30 minutes between each clone]
…
And yet again, below the description was some sort of low-budget animation showing how the skill worked: a stickman that was supposed to be Stark used aura to summon another stickman that looked exactly like him, and he was able to control it to fight enemies.
'I guess it's good…' Stark would need to see it in battle to judge, but this was his first 'rare' type skill, meaning that it MUST be good, right?
[Clone Frenzy has been added to your skill list]
[You have upgraded 'Clone Frenzy' to level 2!]
After reaching level 10 and acquiring this skill, Stark just sighed and looked at the sky while sitting beside the bonfire, its darkness was mesmerizing for some strange reason.
'Spatial Inventory,' he mumbled after five minutes, and the small void appeared beside him.
He hesitated for a few seconds, but then put his arm inside while thinking of the "Soulbearer's Embrace" necklace.
Suddenly, he could feel his fingers brushing against the cool metal of the necklace, and so he pulled out his hand, just to see that the necklace was in fact inside it.
'I guess that's pretty cool and convenient.'
Without wasting time, he put the necklace around his neck.
["Soulbearer's Embrace" Equipped]
If he remembered correctly, that necklace was supposed to give him +20 strength, +100 HP, and also…
[Special Perk:] Grants the wearer the ability to absorb a very small percentage of damage dealt back as health.
If there was a way to gain health through damage, then he sure as hell was gonna take it.
'I guess that's all for now, isn't it?' he lay on the cold ground, maybe it was dirty, but even sitting down left him uncomfortable, so this was his best option.
He needed to be full of energy before attempting to kill the boss after all since he would do it alone and only at level 10 while it was probably recommended to do it with a party of level 15 classifiers.
'I hope that new skill helps… it would be great if it truly worked just as I envisioned it to be…'
Stark kept thinking about the future for a bit… and then… before he even realized it, the ground became strangely comfortable.
And so he closed his eyes.
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
People began rushing through the beginning areas after the message of the mini-boss being defeated appeared.
After all, this dungeon was supposed to be used to level up (mostly) safely while also gaining experience, so if someone completed it quickly, they would have less time to do so.
The deeper they went, the higher amount of experience they could get, and the least the people that would be there to annoy them.
Lana was one of those that prioritized completing the dungeon over leveling up since she already had the gear to do so, although she was alone.
Soon enough she reached the level 15 area "Advanced District", and from now on only the strongest were there.
Kent and Bill had also decided they wouldn't go further inside the dungeon past that point as it was too dangerous, and they also believed that "Stalk" was the same.
After all… who was dumb enough to go for the boss in the first day, right…? RIGHT?
"-928! -827!" killing enemies, Lana kept going.
Her interest wasn't to level up as she was now level 20, more than enough to start going into actual dungeons, not beginner ones.
And although 'Archer' was considered one of the weaker classes, her powers and equipment were still good enough to compete with all the others (except for Domination, obviously).
Her goal wasn't to level up, but to defeat the dungeon and boss.
"Complete that dungeon and be the strongest one inside there," her father, an extremely strong classifier, told her.
So her goal, just like Stark, was to complete the dungeon as fast as possible and retrieve all the rewards/fame.
Of course, she wasn't dumb, so she would obviously wait for some high potential people to help her out with the boss, going alone was suicide.
But for now… she needed to get to the bonfire before the boss.
***
(3 hours later)
"I see it!" Lana smiled, she had successfully entered the "City Outskirts", which was the last area of the [City Ruins] rift, and managed her way through all the monsters.
All she could see around her was the empty streets, no one was there, meaning that she was probably the first to reach this place.
No… she was CONFIDENT that she was the only one.
And right in front of her was the bonfire before the final boss of the dungeon, she would set herself there and wait for around 4 more people to create a party and defeat that boss together.
"This dungeon is more dangerous than I thought… but there's definitely no one there, all the others are too weak to fight the monsters here as of now…" she kept advancing.
And the moment Lana reached the giant bonfire…
"Huh?" she spotted a pair of legs right behind the fire, and as she peeked her head to check what (or who) it was… she spotted a sleeping Stark, "WHAT?"
She was astonished, not only had someone already reached this area… but Stark nonetheless? How did he do it? Did he avoid every monster and through some godly luck reach this place?
No… this wouldn't be possible…
Her mind immediately wandered to the time Stark defeated Daniel and caused massive amount of damage to him.
"Could it be…?" she approached him slowly, making sure not to wake him up, and got closer to his sleeping face.
Stark seemed to be resting peacefully, his face calm and serene. It was as if this whole dungeon didn't matter to him.
Realizing this wouldn't lead to anything, Lana just sat on the ground beside the bonfire, waiting for other people to come.
***
In the realm of dreams, Stark found himself standing in a vast, empty space.
The air was cool and soothing, a stark contrast to the harsh world he had been navigating just moments ago.
As he looked around, he noticed a figure in the distance, its features blurred and indistinct. Something about it drew him closer, an inexplicable pull that beckoned him forward.
With each step he took, the figure seemed to shimmer and shift, changing form until it finally solidified into a mirror image of himself.
Stark stared in disbelief at the doppelgänger before him, feeling a strange mix of curiosity and unease.
The other Stark smiled, a perfect replica of his own grin, and spoke in a voice that sounded like an echo of his own thoughts, "Are you ready?"
"Ready for what?" the real one answered, confused.
"The First Domination Trial, you have read about it several times in your status window, right?"
"Yeah…" he hadn't ignored it all this time, it was just he didn't have any info so he didn't think it was worth it… for now.
"It is coming soon, and you will suffer, but in the end…" the fake Stark didn't have the time to finish its sentence that it vanished.
And suddenly, the dream world started to shake, a proof that Stark was beginning to wake up.
***
(30 minutes later)
'Hm~?' Stark opened his eyes, rubbing them as he got up, then remembered about where he was, "Holy shit, did I seriously sleep in here? Luckily nobody saw-"
He turned his head, and noticed Lana looking at him.
"I'm surprised you could even sleep here with the boss lurking around the corner," were the first words she said as she was busy inspecting her bows and arrows.
"Gotta be full of energy before fighting the boss, shouldn't I be," Stark replied while yawning, not even questioning why she was here, and got up from the ground, his clothes were a bit dirty but it didn't bother him.
"Fighting the boss? But you're alone!"
"Hum… yeah? That's kinda the point, y'know," Stark wasn't the type to hide his achievements, so he didn't care about telling anyone that asked him about the fact he had killed the mini-boss by himself, although most wouldn't believe him…
He stretched for a bit while talking to Lana, the shock across her face growing more and more after each of his replies.
"How did you even get here?"
"Killing the monsters…? Isn't that obvious?" these question were almost becoming silly, and so after a few minutes of back and forth, Stark decided that it was time.
His HP were full, he had all his skills, and his necklace was equipped, nothing could stop him now (except an insta-kill attack from the boss).
And so just like that, he left the safe space and headed toward the silver fog.
"Where are you going???!!!" Lana got up too, surprised.
"Going to kill the boss," Stark grinned and traversed the wall of fog, not even bothering to hear her reply.
Lana stood there, unable to understand whatever the fuck was happening.
The only thing she knew was that… she couldn't let Stark defeat the boss by himself if he had some sort of trick up his sleeve- NO, she meant she couldn't let Stark die alone.
And so she followed after him.
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GOT IT