Chapter 2: Boy Enters Eternal Dungeon (2)

"Eh? Nothing happened?"

I felt a moment of self-hatred; why believe something nice could happen?

For all I knew, it was scouring my phone for bank account details and passwords...

"Shit..." 

It was not like I could afford to dwell on it because it was late, and tomorrow was garbage day. Mother had already sorted the bags into recyclable plastic, paper and general waste. 

Carrying the three bags, I tossed them into the garbage; the nasty stench of our shared unit made me feel sick...

Poverty is the worst.

I slowly returned as I reached the lock gate and door, a security measure to stop the local thieves from worsening our lives.

Since it felt hot, I pulled out my phone again and wondered if it might have fixed itself.

Bzzzt!

A strange sound came from my phone.

What?

Is this some joke...

My phone screen became blank before vibrating and humming continuously for several minutes. It started to heat up from the constant use of the battery.

The heat burned my hand, forcing me to toss the thing into the air.

Crack!

My heart dropped...

"Shit..."

Because of our horrible finances, this phone was my trusted partner for over 6 years...

It wasn't an amazing phone; the brand was a cheap fake with Bioroid software 5. The most recent was Bioroid 13.

Somehow, my mind became blank; losing my phone wasn't just about nostalgia; inside this were the telephone numbers and details of my various jobs, the information I'd collected and put together to try and escape debt.

"Ah... How useless can I be?"

The next moment, a strange voice sounded. It was metallic in tone, but the voice seemed feminine, which might be my lonely wishful thinking.

[Welcome To Eternity]

What the fuck!? It wasn't a dud... but my phone!?

Quickly, I scrambled off the stairs. One of my old shoes with the bottom layer peeling off slipped away from my foot as I tumbled down and grabbed the phone.

"What the fuck!?"

The old phone... marks from holding it to find a job, the worn screen from constant swiping to message my sister and mother arranging meals and what they needed.

Gone was the old dim Bioroid 5 loading screen was now the high-tech, fully luminous Bioroid 13 loading screen, something I had dreamt about owning for many years.

Ah, what kind of magic is this? Seeing my phone suddenly change, its dirty grey case now a metallic black, with a metal cover... Running my fingers over the cool steel feels nice...

I won't lie...

But the mystery was scary, what is this strange phenomenon...

The voice

My phone was now the latest model of Tamsung Universe.

Suddenly feeling a sense of being watched, I quickly looked around, holding the phone to my chest, rushing up the stairs to enter our apartment, a cheap 2-bedroom place with a bathroom and kitchen.

"Ah... what's going on.... so strange..."

Desperate to keep my excitement and worry held down, my fumbling hands almost dropped the keys; somehow, my heart was racing, yet it felt surreal and distant.

[Please Designate Safe Zone]

Hmmm? Did this thing talk to me again? What is the safe zone...

Click!

Finally, I opened the damn door.

I felt more sweaty and disgusting than usual, knowing Mother was still sleeping before work.

So, with my best effort to be quiet, I rushed to my room.

Let's plug in my headphones... that voice is loud, and Mom might misunderstand!

Thankfully, this wasn't a model with only Bluetooth; otherwise, I might hate myself for feeling annoyed at the thing being upgraded.

"Beggars should not be choosers...

Once again, the strange voice sounded; it seemed a little impatient or angry this time.

[Please Designate A Safe Zone!]

I became flustered, with the voice suddenly sounding different. Was it another person on the other end? Or maybe everything was a prank? Yet the image of my sister and mother working so hard began to play in my mind.

What if this was one of those games I could make money from...

A sad idea, the last folly of a broken man who just wanted an easy way out.

"Designate the safe zone as my room."

[Use current room as a safe zone?]

It was annoying how she asked me to repeat myself; then again, didn't I force her to do the same...

Don't judge; confirm... I told myself, trying to avoid my anger.

"Yes"

Before I could hear any response, the phone in my hand vibrated, the soft black case trembling several times before a strange light exploded in my view.

"Ahh!?"

How embarrassing! Because it was so bright, I lost my balance and fell onto my bed, the cheap mattress causing me to bounce before hitting the hard metal base.

"Damn...."

[User: 513225769]

[Status: Healthy]

[Current Location: Arios 5: Asia]

[Safe Zone: Saol, Happy-Life Apartments, xxx-xxx]

[Confirmed]

...

My mind was worried; this thing spoke not only of our place of residence but the postcode and my phone number...

If this was some trick by hackers, what the fuck would I do when they come to demand money to stop thugs from coming around?

[Do Not Worry]

[The Eternal Dungeon is not connected physically with your world Arios 5]

[A small check will now be initiated to decide which Ring of the dungeon You will visit.]

[Start Check]

[Y/N]

Somehow, the more time passed, the more real this felt. I stopped doubting it completely, rather... Something inside me wanted to know how far this would go, even if things went to shit.

"How much worse can my life get anyway..." Those were my thoughts.

Pat!

I pressed [Y]

The dark screen now had a strange panel, but empty, with only the screen saying it was initialising search.

Immediately after, the world changed. I was inside a strange cave... the walls were leaking with a strange liquid, was it water? I had no clue.

Past the strange walls spread an endless dark hallway, walls made out of strange stone with jagged edges and torches hanging along the walls.

Maybe the app wasn't a lie, and this was no dream.

Once again, her voice sounded, but now it was more human, gentle and soothing, whispering in my ear.

Honestly, it felt amazing for me with no relationship experience.

[Shibuta Rai, Bronze Rank 1 Eternal Explorer, has entered the abyss.]

[Welcome!]

[Rookie Eternal Explorer Support has sent you two Grade-0 Potions]

[Checking your abilities... complete. Eternal Support has sent you a Wooden Bastard sword]

[Ranking Check... complete. You are ranked 250,555th of the 250,555th total Eternal Dungeon Explorers.]

[Rankings will be refreshed each week on Sunday morning, 5:30 a.m. Your local time.]

[You have obtained a status panel. Would you like to confirm starting attribute distribution]

[Y/N]

There were too many damn alerts that my mind wasn't clear; bronze rank.... 250,000? So many people could enter the dungeon; how many were from my world!? These thoughts stopped me from focusing.

I had no idea what to do, but there were no other prompts to see the potions. Where were they?

My hands began to reach around my body.

Jingle! Clang!

I could feel two glass bottles in my pockets; thank god it was right. Otherwise, they would have smashed on the floor because of my hole.

"Damn, it's like a game... Let me take a moment..."

"Is there any way to see the information just spoken?"

[Display the message log?]

"Ah... please..."

Suddenly, the moment I spoke, a large blue window about the size of an A4 piece of paper appeared; when I focused and wanted to read the small text, the screen grew to an A3 size with the letters In an easy-to-read bold white font.

The details of the weapon, items and what they did were written in detail here...

I wondered why they chose this weapon for me, and then the message log, more like an audio log, began to play.

[Although the subject seems ideal for fast attacking weapons like daggers or short blades, subject Rai's body seems built for strength and protection.]

[Thus, the system gave him a weapon that is not too huge nor too small to block and evade most attacks, an ideal form for an Off-Tank role.]

Well, I know that an off-tank is just a weaker version of the main tank, dealing slightly more damage but unable to take the main damage from huge bosses normally and dealing with the extra monsters that come with boss encounters...

Does this mean I am stuck in this kind of role?

[Negative!]

[The Eternal dungeon is eternal... should you wish to build for pure damage or healing, it is possible to even with the current setup.]

[Nothing can be ruled out; even on the 10,000th floor, you can change!]

I felt a little overwhelmed, sitting on a broken pillar, my hand rolling the potions between my fingers, trying to regain my mind.

"If the potions are here, where is the sword?"

[Inside your inventory. Do you want to confirm?]

"Please..."

Identical to before.

The huge window spread, splitting into two sheets, one on the left, which was the normal screen A4 Sized, then a split screen on the right with the top one being A5 and the same for the one below.

There were no words or markings inside the second screen; only the bottom one showed a grid with several spaces in a neat square beside each other.

Only one thing was contained in one of the grid squares, while the rest was empty; the size was 4x4.

In the first square was the image of a wooden sword, seeming to be the sword.

My hand moved towards the screen, trying to grab the sword, only for my fingers to pass through a strange jelly-like substance. I felt something solid in my hand as I began to feel around before pulling them back with a chill running down my spine.

A sword appeared out of nowhere...

Maybe it should have been expected; a wooden bastard sword was in my right hand, and the weight was rather heavy, but it felt smooth and created to fit my hand.

When I focused on the weapon, a series of information showed up.

[Wooden Bastard Sword (Uncommon)]

Durability: 100/100

Attack: 6

Defence:4

Info: A simple wooden Bastard Sword perfect for a novice good at offensive and defensive combat. No special traits

"Ah... kinda awesome..."

Let me be clear. Like all boys, I once dreamed of being a magical knight who saves the realm or a warrior who cultivates to the top with beauties in my arms.

So the moment I took the sword, I felt the need to swing it and act like said, hero.

Hello, my Chuuni phase. Welcome home... My left hand still trembles from the seal.