Legendary Item

I carefully undid the bandage glove that I had on my hand. A warning Window informing me that my weapon had been unequipped blocked my view. I swiped it away with an exasperated sigh.

Once the bandages were off, I studied my hand and up the arm. Nothing looked outwardly different, but the alarming sense of nothing lingered on the arm. I lightly poked it with my other hand and was still somehow surprised that I felt nothing, which made me feel kind of stupid.

I already knew what it would say, but I still asked Paradigm to scan my arm. The message in the Window still sent a shiver down my spine as well.

[WARNING:

NERVE DEGRADATION HAS REACHED 100%

YOU ARE NO LONGER ABLE TO UTILISE THE USE OF YOUR ARM.]

Using the same bandage, I wrapped the arm in a makeshift sling. It was a little bit difficult to tie it up using one hand, but I made it work.

I made my way to my feet very carefully and slowly. Every muscle and every bone in my body ached. It was so brutal that I nearly toppled over on my face. I braced myself against the wall and waited for the wave of pain to dissipate. Another Window warned me of my critically low Health and Stamina.

Gee, I wouldn't have known otherwise. Thanks.

Once the pain became more tolerable, I realised that there was a Window waiting to be opened in front of me. I received the Window, and a surprising message was shown.

[ALERT!

DUE TO EFFECT: RALLY ORDER BEING ACTIVE, EXP GATHERED BY GOBLINS UNDER YOUR RALLY ORDER GOES TO YOU IN FULL.]

Before I could fully comprehend what the message meant, I seemed to have set off a chain reaction of messages as more Windows opened up automatically in front of me.

[ALERT!

BOSS MOB: GOBLIN ALPHA HAS BEEN SLAIN BY GOBLINS UNDER YOUR RALLY ORDER.

YOU HAVE RECEIVED 300EXP!]

[ALERT!

BOSS MOB: GOBLIN ALPHA HAS BEEN SLAIN! ALL REMAINING SPAWNS WILL BE DESPAWNED AND EXP REWARDED DUE TO THE COMPLETION OF THE BOSS ROOM!

2000EXP RECEIVED!

200 GOLD COINS RECEIVED!

ALL STATS IMPROVED (+3)!]

My jaw dropped. The numbers I just read clouded my mind as the enormity of it all threw my mind for a loop. There was another Window explaining how I was now LVL 10, but my eyes had already glossed over and I didn't take in any of the changes in my stats at that point.

I grabbed the Sword of the Chief and scanned it just to double-check the item. I skimmed through the item description until I got to the part describing Rally Order. My eyes widened. It said, "goblins of lower level than you attack the enemy you have damaged with the sword." So even though I didn't realise it, Rally Order must have activated when I slashed at the Goblin Alpha and all the Chiefs and Basic goblins stormed it. I just can't believe that the Rally Order worked like that. It didn't seem fair. It didn't seem real!

LVL 10 is around the level someone my age should be. Never in my life did I think that I would ever get to the point where I felt normal. I remembered those early days when I looked at the Paradigm Help Entry about average levels and stat values.

Using what I remembered from that Help Entry as a guide, I used up all of my available Stat Points and now my stats were at:

STR: 10

VIT: 12

AGI: 10

INT: 10 and

WIS: 10

In the end, I decided to use up the remaining two Stat Points into Vitality. I thought that was the smartest move since I only have one arm now, and I believed that I would probably get hurt more in the future and higher Vitality meant better healing. I was lucky that I didn't die this time because of Rally Order, but now that I can't use my dominant arm anymore, I don't think I'll be able to activate Rally Order anymore.

Once I finalised the placement of the Stat Points, a Window popped up in front of me.

[ALERT!

USER HAS MET THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENT TO ENTER THE HIDDEN TOMB.]

A doorway opened up at the far end of the boss room and I swallowed hard. My throat had suddenly got dry. After I finished off all the water in the canteen and returned it to the Inventory, I cautiously made my way to the doorway.

As far as I understood the quest notification, it didn't say anything about clearing the Hidden Tomb. The fact that the tomb was located somewhere other than the Boss Room also seemed to me that there wouldn't be any enemies spawning there. Although, at this point, what else have I got to lose?

I suddenly remembered the faces of the children at the orphanage. I remembered Obaa-san and how much she's relied on me the last year or so with the hunting. I was so stupid. I was so reckless. They were all waiting for me to get back to the orphanage. I nearly died! Why did it take me this long to realise that fact? Was it because every time I levelled up my health and stamina were topped up?

I stopped in my tracks right by the doorway. Like all the doorways before, this led to a cavernous hallway. Each side wall was adorned with a line of torches that lit up automatically as I drew near. Do I go ahead into possibly more danger? Do I head home? After everything that has happened, I realised that I hadn't been rewarded the quest clear rewards yet. Do I just give up on the rewards? That would mean this whole thing has been a waste of time. If I walked away now, I would have nearly died for nothing.

For a long while, the conflicted mess of my thoughts prevented me from deciding. I looked into the hallway and past the lit-up section of it into the darkness and a longing sensation from what felt like the centre of my heart started to grow. I had to keep going. I had to now, after everything. I had to see this whole thing through.

I sighed. I hope I didn't have to walk for a long time again.

***

Everything seemed normal. Or as normal this dungeon had been up to now. The torches acted the same, only lighting a small area of the hallway before the next couple of torches continued to light my way.

There was no way to tell the time in the dungeon so I don't know how long I walked, but after a little while, I noticed something happening in the hallway.

It started to change.

I stopped in my tracks and approached one of the walls to take a closer look. I realised that gone were the craggy and natural-looking rock walls of a cavern, and in its place was a smooth, brick pattern like those I imagined a castle would have.

However, the pattern seemed like it was chiselled out of the natural rock face of the cavern itself, instead of individual bricks placed and mortared. I touched the surface of the wall softly and all I felt was how smooth it was. I don't know how I missed it, but this brick pattern was now all over everything. Even the ceiling of the hallway.

How long would it take for someone to do this? Was it even possible to do this? Surely it was, right? Paradigm would need a real-life example to create something like this, right?

Quests usually come with some sort of fictional storyline that gives a User some context to what they see when they go into a Dungeon, and true to its subversive, odd nature, this quest had nothing of the sort. Only the title of the quest gave a clue as to what the storyline of the quest had been; even then, it was extremely vague.

The Hidden Tomb. Why was the tomb hidden? Hidden from who? Whom? Hidden by whom? There were so many questions. Now that I was thinking about it, why did the Window only come up once I placed all my available Stat Points into my Attributes? This whole quest seemed to only be about getting me stronger. Stronger for what?

***

I don't know how long it had been after I realised the brick pattern but I finally reached the end of the hallway and entered yet another cavernous space like the previous wave rooms. The only difference this time was that instead of the usual craggy rock, the brick pattern continued to surround the area. Instead of the usual torches that had lined all the hallway walls, now there were ornate feature torches that were placed equally spaced all around the circumference of the room.

I walked further into the room and the walkway behind me was replaced with a wall like the previous wave rooms. The ornate torch that lit up automatically included.

From inside the walls themselves, I watched some sort of liquid fire travel down the shallow grooves that I finally realised were on the ground. I followed the shallow grooves and noticed that they made their way to the middle of the room, where a single stone tomb sat surrounded by the pattern in the stone.

The soft light that came from the liquid fire added a warm tone to the light levels in the room and I watched the liquid fire light up a circular pattern on the ground.

From where I stood, I could see a majority of the pattern and I froze right where I stood when I realised that the pattern that the liquid fire was lighting up was a five-point star in a circle, with two curved points protruding off the circle that looked like horns.

I'm not religious, but I believed that some things should never be tested, and according to the beliefs of the Religion of the Creator, the five-point star in a horned circle was the Mark of the Demon. A sign of evil. As I was thinking about what I read about the sigil, a cold shiver ran up my back.

An invasive Window popped up right in front of me and made me jump a little. It said:

[ALERT!

USER HAS MET THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS TO COMPLETE THE DUNGEON!

CONG̵̻̓L̷͉̎Å̶̟TULATIONS! OPEN THE TOMB AND COLLECT YOUR TREASURE!]

I was gifted by another shiver. It was a celebratory tone, but the context of the situation made the whole message creepy. I didn't appreciate the fact that the text was also a little glitched.

For a moment I hesitated, but there was something deep within me compel me to approach the tomb, and it managed to sufficiently override my original trepidation. I made my way toward the tomb and made sure that my feet were nowhere near the liquid fire and the grooves.

Once I got closer, I saw a small crack approximately lined the middle of the stone cover of the tomb. That same compelling feeling made me tentatively push against the cover in an attempt to open it.

It was heavy, and at first, nothing budged, but I shifted my weight and got slightly lower to leverage more force and it started to scrape away. It was slow work at first, but that small crack had permeated through the whole stone cover so once the lid of the tomb reached a certain distance, almost half of the cover dropped heavily onto the floor and the weight I was pushing against disappeared. Dust from the floor got kicked up.

The whole room started to rumble ominously, and I grabbed onto the tomb to keep my balance. As suddenly as it appeared, the room stopped rumbling, and when I shifted my stance, I realised that in the shaking I had accidentally placed my feet over a lit groove, only to not feel any heat from the liquid fire. Strange.

I had to make sure that the room wouldn't start shaking again, and after a moment of still silence, I returned my focus to the tomb. The dust had settled, and I saw a soft, gold light coming out from the tomb. I leaned forward carefully to look inside and my breath got caught in my throat

On the hard stone bottom of the tomb, there laid a set of bones that looked humanoid. The skeleton seemed to be placed peacefully with its arms placed across its chest like the original body had been put to rest, but held tightly in one skeletonised hand, was a slightly-mummified left arm. The gold glow of a legendary item came from this left arm.

In shock, I fell backwards on my backside. Once again, my body was dangerously close to the liquid fire, yet nothing caught on fire and I felt no heat, but that didn't catch my attention at this point. A Window had popped up above the tomb.

[ITEM: LEFT ARM OF THE ████████████

ITEM CLASS: L̷̥̍E̷̙͘Ǵ̵̼Ẹ̶̕N̷̪̈́Ḓ̸̍A̴̩͘R̸͖̓Y̵̜̓

TYPE: A̵̙͑R̸͎̀M̵̧̌O̸̲͂Ų̷͘R̶͚̄

ALL PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES +5

"Some kind of e̵͕͆n̷͙̓è̴͇r̸̫͑g̵̫̉y̷͕͊ emanates from the Left Arm. It calls out in longing to its rightful owner. It promises great physical prowess w̶̟̿h̸̞̓ȇ̶̥n̶̬̊e̷̔͜v̸͖̆ȩ̸͐r̸͖͐ ̵̧̀i̴̧̿t̸̫͐ ̷̩̚í̵̩ś̵̳ ̸̙̀ẹ̴̆q̸̙̎u̶̼͝ì̸̢p̵̲̎p̵̡̈́ḙ̴̎d̸̦̋.

It is hiding a secret truth. Collect more pieces to reveal its truth."]

I was completely shocked. I think I remember a phrase that Saizo always used when he was telling me the stories of his adventures. "Absolutely gobsmacked." If I understood what the phrase meant properly, that was what I was like at that moment. If I understood the item effect correctly, it would add five points to my STRENGTH, AGILITY and VITALITY attributes. I've already raised my attributes to the level of the average person my age, so with the item and the twenty Stat Point reward of finishing this quest, I would turn from being the weakest User to an extremely strong one especially compared to my peers!

It was obvious that this "Left Arm of whatever" was the legendary item that was part of the completion rewards of the Solo Dungeon, but why hadn't the other rewards been given to me at the same time? Is that why it was glitched?

As I was thinking about the strange situation, I realised that I had been reaching out towards the Left Arm and pulled my hand back. It wasn't easy to do. The compelling feeling had grown much stronger than before. It was like I was destined to touch the mummified arm. It was so strong that I felt like I was going to die if I don't touch it. Was this the "longing call" effect that the description wrote about?

The thought of touching what looked like a dead person's arm disgusted me, but the feeling that was welling up inside me was too strong to fight for long and I watched in horror as it seemed like my arm was moving of its own accord as it grabbed hold of the Left Arm.

Once it was holding the arm, I snapped out of the out-of-body experience and I attempted to pull back my arm in disgusted recoil, but I couldn't move. My whole body was frozen in place like an invisible force was holding me in that specific position. Hunched over an open tomb and clutching a mummified arm from a set of bones.

A cold fear started to creep up all over my body that was amplified when I saw mysterious dark tendrils start to appear from the mummified arm. They moved with a definite purpose as they start to cover the entirety of the Left Arm and started to crawl up my own.

I tried to scream but I couldn't open my mouth or force any air out. I realised that I had held my breath this whole time and the invisible force that held me still prevented me from even breathing. As my lungs started to beg for oxygen, I watched fearfully as the dark tendrils started to climb my arm and spread throughout my body. It was scarily cool as it touched the skin of my neck and face and I realised that the darkness wasn't just the abstract concept of darkness, but was something with a physical presence.

The cool sensation started to cover my face and I attempted to scream again when I could feel it start to enter my ear canal and even my nostril. It was thick and cold and the sensation that it left me with was frighteningly claustrophobic. And as it started to cover my eyes, leaving me in the complete cold darkness, I internally screamed as the tendrils took over my whole body.

I was left in that darkness for who knows how long. Suddenly, after what seemed like a whole eternity of that cold, wet darkness, what I could only assume was my left arm was enveloped by a sensation of burning fire. My eyes opened, and I saw the ceiling of the cavern. I looked around as cold sweat trickled down my cheeks and saw that I had fallen over on my back, arms and legs sprawled outwards.

The burning fire sensation swelled up to a ferocious high and I snapped my head around to look at my Left Arm and saw that it was not on fire, but was instead covered by the dark matter that had made its way from the Left Arm to all over my body.

The pain swelled once more to a record high and my vision blackened again. I must have passed out again and was now returned to the darkness. This time the darkness felt normal. Like the darkness after I was flung away by the Goblin Alpha. The pain was gone, and I felt like I was floating peacefully once more.

I don't know how long I was in that peaceful darkness, but after an uncertain while, I opened my eyes slowly.

I was still lying down on the floor covered in sweat. The tomb loomed over to my side, and the torches lining the outer edge of the room were still lit. Even the liquid fire was still oddly not emitting any heat under my body. The burning sensation was gone, and my head was clouded with a haze I'd never felt before even when I was sick. I heaved myself up on my left side and pushed myself off the ground, using my left arm to hold myself steady against the tomb.

A Window popped up.

[ALERT!

ITEM HAS COMPLETED ITS I̷͍̾N̶̙͆T̷̗̾E̴̳͝G̷̰̿R̵̘̈́A̵̳̎T̵̰͘I̸̖͘Ȍ̷̲Ń̶̖ WITH THE USER!

ITEM: LEFT ARM OF THE ████████████ IS NOW EQUIPPED!]

The realisation that I was leaning on my left arm, and I could feel the pressure of that lean without the warning Window about Nerve Degradation finally hit me like I had just run into a wall.

I can use my left arm again! I flexed my muscles. I closed my hand into a tight fist and nearly sobbed with happiness when I could feel my nails pressing against my palm. I swung my arm around a bit and stared in wonder at the sensation of the air rushing past my skin. I was able to feel the air rush past my skin!

For the first time in my memory, I swiped my Status Window into existence with my left arm and didn't recoil from the pain. A laugh sputtered out of me as I started to cry.

On the screen in front of me, a '(+5)' was present at the end of all of my physical attributes. I reached out and pressed my finger at STR. A message popped up:

[STRENGTH

QUANTIFIES HOW PHYSICALLY STRONG A USER IS.

STRENGTH, ALONG WITH SKILL PROFICIENCY DICTATES HOW STRONG AN ATTACK IS.

ITEM EFFECT ACTIVE

"LEFT ARM OF THE ████████████" PROVIDES THE USER WITH A PHYSICAL BOOST OF +5. USER MUST BE AT LEAST LEVEL 10 FOR THE EFFECT TO BE ACTIVE.]

I checked my Inventory Window and took out the Sword of the Chief with my left arm. As I gripped it tightly, no debuff message appeared in front of me. I laughed out loud in disbelief. I can use my dominant hand to equip a weapon! A joyful force rose from my lungs and my chest and I cried out in happiness.

I discarded the Windows and took a look inside the tomb once more. The skeleton was still laid there in its peaceful pose but where the mummified arm was held in the bone grasp was now a thin layer of ash and dust. Looking through the skeleton at the bottom of the tomb, I could see a small pile of ash and dust roughly in the shape of the arm.

I looked at my arm once more and this time I paid close attention to where the massive encircling scar had been. There was no longer a scar. All that was left was a tiny line of discolouration where the scar was. The only way to notice the discolouration was if you were looking for it and you were studying the arm close.

Paradigm played a victory chime and I heard stone scraping, which signalled a walkway had appeared for me. A Window appeared in front of me.

[ALERT!

THE HIDDEN TOMB (SOLO DUNGEON) HAS BEEN CLEARED!

200 GOLD COINS RECEIVED!

20 STAT POINTS RECEIVED!]

Before I was able to check if what the message had said was true, everything disappeared into nothingness and a force felt like it was pushing me forward. I lost my balance and stumbled forwards and suddenly I stepped on the grass that lined the cliff wall and I heard the low buzzing of forest bugs and night life. I was suddenly back in the forests outside of town and out of the dungeon.

How long had I been in the dungeon? I noticed an abandoned fire pit and a makeshift log seat were nearby. That was odd. Ohda may be a small town, but it had facilities for travellers to rest overnight. Why did someone camp out here?

Mental fatigue washed over me, and I decided to make my way back to the orphanage. With the gold reward, I would be able to get so much meat for everybody to enjoy. I hope they didn't miss me too much.

***

I don't know how late it was, but the torches that lit the town pathways were starting to grow dim. At the very least, it was very late, and the town was very quiet.

As I found myself a little further out of town, near where the orphanage was, something didn't sit quite right with me. I didn't know what it was, but something made me start to walk faster and faster. When I reached the front gate of the orphanage, I was surprised to find it closed and... bolted. There was a sign placed in front of the gate and I was just able to read what it said in the low light of the night.

No Trespassing.

What?