0011 - Dungeon Part 2

Sitting down on the ground, feeling a bit of pain, I examined the loot before me and...was greatly disappointed.

2x Wooden Clubs

5x Loincloths

1x Back Scratching Rock

1x Yellow Rock

Out of all the loot before me, I was most disappointed with the Yellow Rock because, just as the description read, it was simply...a yellow-colored rock.

Tossing the garbage to the side, I took a deep breath and focused on resting my body to help it heal faster.

As I took deep breaths, I soon found that I entered a calm state of mind, and my body relaxed.

As I was in this strange state of rest, I felt my body heal at a slightly faster, if barely noticeable, rate.

[Congratulations! Your skill Meditation (C) has grown to Level 2!]

Oh?

So this was the work of Meditation...?

That's good to know, at least.

After waiting for all of my attributes to refill back to their max, I got up from the ground and marched onward, soon finding yet another crack.

[Continue?]

[Exit]

[Claim floor Completion Rewards?]

Floor Completion Rewards?

[Congratulations! You have obtained: 1x Lesser Potion of Healing and a Skill Book of Nature's Supplement!]

[A/N: Nature's Supplement is from Dream Engine: Beta Tester... D.C. Comics, by Galen on Scribble Hub, highly recommend the fic and the site if you are wishing to read more Fan Fictions]

Seeing the new active skill within my Status, I cast the spell, and...nothing.

What is the spell supposed to do?

I noticed that casting the spell also cost me 50 Mana, instantly making me feel mentally exhausted once again from using so much mana.

When I regenerated my mana back to full, I continued onto the next floor of the dungeon.

Unlike the first floor, while this floor did follow the same cave appearance, I found myself in a large open cave room, where multiple passways lay before me.

Not wanting to think about it too much, I decided to go through the corridor to the far left of me.

And while I both focused on my surroundings and where I was going, I also, for the first time, opened the System Store that has been sitting at the bottom of my Status ever since I got the system.

/================\

---=[System Store]=---

[Weapons & Artifacts]

[Amor & Clothing]

[Skills & Knowledge]

[Consumables & Materials]

[Other]

System Points: 185

\================/

As soon as I read the screen, I had to cast it away. Why? Because before me are two lizardmen who have begun foolishly charging at me.

It barely took me a minute to kill the two.

[Congratulations! Your skill Mana Bolt (C) has grown to Level 7!]

[Congratulations! Your skill Spear Mastery (C) has grown to Level 2!]

[+41 (42+40/2) System Points!]

When they died, and I examined their loot, I found that they dropped the same typical boring stuff as usual, which I ignored.

Focusing back onto the System Shop Screen, I pressed Skills & Knowledge.

/================\

---=[Skills & Knowledge]=---

--[Sorting Option: Random]--

--[Search]--

[Insights of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness, Fourth Corner of the House of Troubles, the Skooma Cat, Lord of the Never-There, Raver, Comforter of Men, and Sovereign of Shivering Isles

Description: A Scroll that contains the insights of a Scholar on the Deadric Prince, Sheogorath

Price: 2,500 System Points

System Rating: 4/10 Stars

Origins: The Elder Scrolls]

[Reaper Blueprints

Description: The complete Blueprints of how to construct and program a Complete Reaper from the Mass Effect Universe.

Price: 475,000 System Points

System Rating: 5.1/10 Stars

Origins: Mass Effect]

[Flood Dragon Form

Description: A Skill that would allow the holder to turn into a flood dragon at the cost of energy

Price: 75,000 System Points

System Rating: 3.8/10

Origins: Cultivation Universe R-18391-F129115815]

[Tech Spirit

[A/N: Also from Galen's fic mentioned above]

Description: A mix of Nature Magic, and Technomancy to create a natural spirit that can interact with technology to a great level

Price: 10,500

System Rating: 2.5/10

Origins: Dream Engine: Beta Tester in DC Universe]

Page 1 of 999,999,999+

\================/

Seeing 999,999,999+ pages at the bottom was somewhat of a shocker.

Just what kind of being or organization could collect so much information?

Why did they pick me?

How did they reach such heights?

So many questions, yet I had no answers for them.

How was ANY of this even possible?

The Answer I may never know...

Deciding not to delve deeper into this line of questions to keep my sanity, I closed the System Shop screen for a short time.

I continued deeper down the corridor now that my attributes were regenerated to full, besides Stamina, since I would need to sleep to recover to the max.

I found from experimentation that I was limited in how much my Stamina could regenerate over time.

If I overtax myself in physical and mental activities, my Stamina will stop at, let's say, 120/300 Stamina and could not regenerate further until I get myself some rest.

Which made sense, seeing as I was not a Game Character but a living, breathing organism that needed to eat, drink, and sleep.

I won't deny that I have been treating this whole situation of mine as something like a game.

I fear I may have gone mad long ago if I hadn't. After all, when you experience death and rebirth, wouldn't you find some way to cope with the stress of a new life and the scary feeling of death?

Sure, I might not remember how I died, nor do I remember any pain associated with it.

Still, I can confirm without a doubt that I felt the cold hands of death and that suffocating darkness of the void for but a few moments, and even that still causes me nightmares to this day.

But sadly, the illusion I threw over my eyes ended when I nearly died to the Na'vi not long ago.

Feeling the blood on my hands and my near-death again awoke me from my hallucinations.

This is all real, whether I like it or not, and I will be damned if I can't struggle to survive this life just like I survived the bloody streets of that slum so long ago.