“I've done my part and introduced myself,” William said. He couldn't help the burning curiosity he had for the old man. What was their story? How had they gotten here? Lived for thousands of years? Horrors? Isolation? It was all so interesting. “You never did reciprocate.”
The old man rubbed his white beard. “Are you suggesting I give you my name?”
William nodded.
The red-skinned man thought for a few moments. Clearly considering what William had just said and what he wanted to tell him as well. He tapped at his chin and hummed as though it was something of great importance to him. Which it was considering some information was always dangerous in the right hands. William just hoped that the person before him was no demon that could not give its name out to people.
“How about this?” the red-skinned man said as he rubbed his hands together. “You reach level ten and I'll give you my name. Maybe even a bit more information about where you are, what's happened to you, and what will happen to your planet if you are lucky enough to survive this place. As of now, you, as you stand before me, are not worthy of the information I hold. Few know that I exist. Fewer still know my identity so closely as to know my name. You are unworthy, William. Prove me wrong and you shall have what you are asking for.”
William sighed, doing his best to remain as respectful as possible. Considering he had the assumption that the man before him could kill him with a swipe of his hands, he was not about to anger or disrespect them. “I'm not sure who or what you think I am or what circumstance you think brought me here? But I do assure you that I am not as special or as connected to whatever world you think I'm from. Coincidences happen. To think I'm somehow special... it's just not true.”
“Why could it not be otherwise? Why can't you be special, William.”
He reeled back at his words. William thought about his system and what he had been given including the broken parts as well. The looping and recovery from death was a blessing as much as it was a curse. He would not feel the physical suffering of each demise, yet he had to live with every death haunting him mentally. He had no clue how to contend with something like that.
Maybe one day he would be callous to it. Until then, he would have to figure out how to deal with the twenty-some odd deaths already. No matter how much he denied it weight upon his mind, being cut apart, having his throat ripped out, face torn off the bones, and limbs cut off, those types of experiences do not just disappear.
They lingered and hid beneath the surface until one day he frayed at the edges and lost control of them. Ending up doing something he would regret for his entire life.
He’d seen something similar many times during his life already. Sane, level-headed individuals just snapping after years of abuse and bottling up their frustrations and disappointments. People that were far stronger than he was.
William shrugged, acting non-chalantly to hide his turmoil. He did not have an answer for the red-skinned man. Even if he did, there was only so much he was willing to tell a stranger he had just met. The old man, for all he knew, before him could have been the most evil person in the universe while the system was out there trying to prevent him from causing greater amounts chaos. He had no clue on how to assess the situation. No perspective to judge what was right or wrong, good or bad, or any other metric other than his safety.
The red skinned man smiled. It looked menacing within the dim lights of the swaying torches within the hall. William could see fangs slowly peek out from his lips showing something he had not noticed before. William cursed mentally, fangs were never a good sign. It was only the system providing him with a notification that this was a safe zone that he was still in the area and willing to give the other occupant a chance.
“Have it your way then, not so special William. But that does not change your circumstance and where you find yourself now. You will die without me. No cheat will keep you alive within the city of Balfiemeth and the dungeon world surrounding it. Struggle, fight, claw your way to level ten and return to announce your great victory. Only then will I consider your existence rather than kill it wherever it stands.”
William gulped at the implied threat.
Quest -
Reach Level 10!
Return to ___ and announce your victory to him!
Reward -
4 Earthly Realm Rune Shard (3) [250]
2 Minor Healing Potions
1 Minor Arcane Potion
William stared at the quest he had been given. He was now more convinced than ever that the old man before him did not exactly pose a direct threat so far. The system would not be prompted to give him a quest based on his words if he had been a danger, right? That had to be the case. Then again, he had no point of reference to understand the world around him.
“Alright. Alright. I'll do it.” he said.
“Good. I'll be asleep in the meantime. Go on and explore, don't die out there, not so special William. You are currently a fancy of entertainment, something so rare around these silent boring parts.”
William nodded as he turned around and began to walk away. He considered what he just learned from the quest, namely that [Arcane] likely meant mana and would be used for magical means. Then there was also the consideration of whether he wanted to take the quest. He could technically let linger and refuse it. Indirectly since he would eventually reach level ten. He shook his head. That was a ridiculous thought he could not accept. Just the process of thinking it had felt wrong.
It meant missing out on multiple rewards he would need badly. What if he got injured and not killed in the process, William was not about to commit assisted suicide to get himself out of trouble. He wasn’t even sure if the system allowed it. Then there was the potential for key information he would receive from the red skinned man. Information that was held out by the system. He had no clue how or what was going on around him due to the system being broken and ending prematurely.
William had many questions he needed answered, like how to grow stronger beyond just stats and level ups or how he would find a way back towards Earth. He needs some type of guidance, someone to teach him new things he could not learn by himself. Techniques and skills? Was there a science to getting the perfect class? Or maybe a side career that did not involve murdering everything he met, maybe blacksmithing or some type of alchemy?
Yet, there was information far more important that he had caught during the red-skinned man’s little tirade. A bit of information within the conversation so far.
The old man had titled the system as a slaughterhouse and Earth had just entered it. He had no clue how that would end up looking exactly, but he had a few good ideas. None of them could mean anything good to the people back on Earth if the system had come and initialized to all of humanity. He really didn’t have anyone anymore out there. Including direct family.
His mother and father died a few years prior due to long lasting medical conditions and he was an only child. Cousins and distant family never did contact them during his life.
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Maybe his old co-worker Ahmed?
The man did look out for everyone around him without ever trying to ask for anything in return.
William stopped in his tracks as his vision rested on a couple of the corpses he had decapitated along the way back towards his cell. He took a large sniff and reeled back. Before there had been no smell in the entire hall, but as soon as he cut the bodies up, all the foul odors seemed to launch themselves out of a cannon and directly into his nostrils. William couldn’t help but gag a few times. He made a mental note to clean the area up once he returned.
Living in a place full of horrifically repugnant corpses was not what he would attribute to a livable area. Whether it was diseases or just the natural filth of having something lying about like this, all of it did not sit well with him. He had no clue how the old man lived in the dungeon; the lack of light, the stagnant air, the horrible smells, and everything else that made this place inhospitable for long term stays.
He was no eccentric hermit, nor was he an ascetic. William was an average person that just so happened to be given an opportunity, a chance to be greater than what he had been. That meant he followed normal habits of cleaning where you slept and ate.
William stepped over the bodies and body parts and kept going until he reached his cell. He paused to look around where he had woken up so many times. Nothing had changed and no new monster had appeared. He shook his head as he continued down the hall where he fought the Corrupted Guardsman in, pushing forward until he reached a slightly open doorway with a grand set of stairs that went up and down. An ornate piece of woodworking with flower and vine handles, shining luster until this day, and even dragon heads at every level going up. He could imagine what it would have looked like in its heyday.
Parts of the stairwell were broken and others looked too dangerous to tread on. They teetered so dangerously that he doubted much of the steps would be able to hold his weight. Though he did chart a path that looked reasonably safe going up. On the other hand, going down seemed almost impossible or at least as far as his vision or the light could reach. There was nothing but darkness below in the abyss below.
He shivered when he imagined it going on forever without a floor.
Thankfully there are a few small windows along the way up that he could check out, lighting the place with anything other than the strange swaying torches, and maybe breathe in some fresh air. It felt like it had been months without some pure, clean oxygen filling his lungs.
William nodded to himself, the choice was already made. He had no other choice but to go up and find some enemies to level up and reach level ten to complete the quest. He would have done the work anyways, having a quest with potential lifesaving rewards and vital information was only the cherry atop the cake. The healing potions, even if they were minor, were the big reward he wanted the most.
He carefully went up the stairs, pausing with every creak and shriek that the wood made as he shifted his weight to the next step. Thankfully, nothing untoward happened to him as he worked his way up and finally made it to a more stable section that led to another door very similar to the one he had just come out from. This one was closed, but a quick attempt to turn the knob showed that it was unlocked. He just needed to push it open.
William cracked the door slightly and peeked in, only to find nothing but darkness. Pitch black and endless without a single torch in sight. He couldn’t see a dozen feet in front of him even with the light that filtered in from the stairwell.
There's no way I'm going through this area. I could get eaten by some monster and not notice until I'm dead.
He looked up the stairwell now that he had a better vantage point and sturdier parts of the railing to lean dangerously at the edge. He found that the stairways went up a dozen more levels. The first set of windows were about two levels higher than where he was at. They looked small and made for prisons rather than general windows. They even had a couple bars in front of them that looked rusted and broken.
William wasn't sure if he was in a tower far above the ground or whether he was currently under the earth in a deep dungeon.
Guess I'll find out when I get up there.
He stumbled and tripped his way up, nearly falling down the steps a couple of times until he finally reached the stairwell ledge where the windows were at. William walked directly under where they were at, and stared up at them for a few seconds. They were uncomfortably higher than what he could usually grab while standing up. Though he could probably reach it if he jumped high enough. He understood that falling from that height probably meant the ledge falling with him and his immediate death when everything hit the ground
William was determined to use his newfound athleticism and strength. He jumped.
One foot pushed off the wall to gain enough height to catch the window sill and hold himself up. He pulled his weight up with less effort than he expected and leaned over slightly to get a good view of the outside world. Face almost pressing into the clear, but thick glass. He stared at the new world he was now in, finding himself looking through what could have been a cellar or basement window on the ground floor, only a foot above the floor level of what could only be a courtyard.
William’s mouth thinned into a straight line as he surveyed the area. Things looked worse than he expected just from the very little he could see so far. The courtyard of what had to be some type of fort was full of what he assumed were Corrupted guardsmen, knights, soldiers, archers, spearmen, and even what looked like mages with thick robes and staffs next to them. Out and about, laying in their respective positions, some in groups, others by themselves in sentry positions.
As though they were preparing for something or someone to attack them.
He couldn’t imagine having any chance at survival if he ended up fighting more than one at a time. William was already struggling with just a basic Corrupted Guardsman. The idea of fighting an elite knight or soldier at a much higher level was something that he could not see himself succeeding at. Worse was if he had to fight a mage throwing fireballs that doubled as literal bombs.
William dropped down as lightly as possible, making sure to roll to help. The stairwell's ledge creaked dangerously as he landed for a few seconds. He froze like a deer in headlights until the trembling stopped and everything returned back to normal. He let out a deep breath and leaned back to sit on the ground with his back to the wall. William allowed himself a few moments before he started to think about what his options were at the moment to continue his plan to level up.
Using the plethora of mobs outside was a good idea, assuming that the door at this level led to the outside world. Yet, he had to make sure he wasn’t getting jumped by a dozen enemies at the same time. He would need to lure them. No matter what plan he came up with, anything that involved fighting out in the open courtyard was an immediate death sentence.
More so when there could be hundreds of the corrupted dead around the stronghold.
William could imagine all of them waking up after the first Corrupted Guardsman wakes up and screams their lungs out like the first one had. Chasing him around the building in hopes to eat his soul.
I need to funnel them in one by one into an area disconnected to the courtyard.
He paused as he looked around himself. This was a perfect area to lure them into and then push them off the ledge. He didn’t even need to kill them all himself, just get them to tip over the edge and fall into the endless abyss, though he would need to be careful to not fall himself. This made for the optimal rune farm he could think of on the spot. Add onto it that he could get his runes back without any hassle if he ever died. There couldn’t be a better place.
As long as the corrupted dead were stuck in the courtyard outside and his rune orb was here on the stairwell. It would be easy and comfortable to grab them without any issues. No need to worry about a monster waking up earlier than expected and taking all his potential levels away.
William went over his plan multiple times to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything.
Attract attention of corrupted dead.
Make sure the dead guardsman would chase after him.
Set up an ambush at the turn of this doorway after making sure to close and lock it from others that may be attracted.
Where he would use a heavy blow with his shield in hopes to tip them over or unbalance them into dropping precipitously to their deaths within the pitch black abyss below them. If things turn sideways he could always use a [Heavy Strike] to do the job, even if it was dangerous to lose his balance on the stairwell ledge so close to the edges.
William stood back up to check the area and where he could shove them down and cause the least amount of damage to the stairwell. He still needed to get back down without stranding himself up here. The longer he looked, the more he understood that the only spot that was viable was the right side. An option that would not cause one of the corrupted guardsmen to fall down onto his pathway to the original floor he had come from. It was not a good idea to push one of the corrupted dead down and destroying the stairwell he needed to use to get back to the red skinned man and turn in his quest.
He now had his plan and the path he needed to take. All that was required was action to actually fulfill his goal. Nothing else mattered other than action and the decisions he would need to make in the moment as the battles occurred. He understood that not all plans went perfectly, but he was determined to make this work as his farming spot.
William started stretching. He no longer felt nervous or scared of fighting something so much stronger than he was. He had faced the Corrupted Guardsman more times than he was comfortable with. What was another death or another fight? At the end of the day, he would continue to progress, it was just a matter of time before he was strong enough to defeat all of the undead within the entire city and finally, the last boss to return back to Earth.
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