Episode 0: The System Owner (2)

Episode 0: The System Owner (2)

"Is this truly my death?" Kevin looked at the sky.

Tattered armor, broken sword, body filled with wounds, he was near death.

In the black land, there was not a single living organism. Black big slimes, bigger than an elephant, crawled around.

Their liquid was corrosive, capable of destroying any life it touched.

Kevin's body sank into the slimy ground. Each second, his skin melted. His bones melted slowly. Being an S-rank Awakened, his body was countless times stronger than a normal man.

If it were any ordinary man, it wouldn't take more than a second for them to turn into nothingness.

As he sunk deeper into the slime, his consciousness turned dim. At last, all he met was darkness.

"Is this death? Lonely, cold, and sad…" in the void, he thought.

However, a blinding light lit the whole void. A pulling force dragged his soul, and he felt everything zooming.

Before he knew it, everything was dark again.

But slowly, the darkness disappeared. Light appeared.

The wounded body didn't hurt; the blood stopped, and he felt fine.

"Wha…What is this sorcery?" Kevin was shocked. "Never in my 50 years of life have I seen this." His body was small, weak, and thin.

There was a metallic spear with a movable point in his hand.

"What a small hand." He looked at the small and weak arm.

"Where am I?" He was lying in a room, with big walls and a grand door.

There was a circular pattern drawn over where he was lying, as if someone just performed a ritual.

[Information]

Name: Arthur

Level: 2 (10/200)

Mana Point (MP)/ 30/30 (2/min)

Class: Shadow Master

Main Dungeon: None

Sub Dungeon: Locked

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[Stats]

Strength: 9

Stamina: 10

Agility: 6

Perception: 2

Energy: 3

(Available Stats Points: 0)

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[Skills]

Active

— Shadow Manipulation Lv.2

Passive

— Blessing of Darkness LV.1

(Available Skill Points: 0)

"What is this? Am I under an illusion?" He looked at the hologram and wondered.

"Arthur?" He read the name. "I'm Kevin, not Arthur." Still, there was no reply. "So this information is not mine…" He pondered.

But he felt energetic. As if he were young again. Not to mention, there were no wounds on his body, and he was small too.

"Did I just possess someone's body?" That was a possibility, as in the world, there was body-possessing magic.

"However, it doesn't make sense. I was on the verge of dying. I didn't have mana. And I am suddenly here too…" He scratched his head. "Leave it, I should be glad I am alive." He stood and grabbed the spear.

He swung it and felt satisfied. "Not a bad weapon." He walked out of the room.

As he walked out, his eyes twitched. And he immediately moved sideways.

A shadow passed right by him. "A sneak attack?" He looked at the attacker.

It was a small cat monster. "This? Felithral, this monster that is found in an F-rank dungeon?" He looked disappointed.

The cat monster hissed. It didn't like the look on his face.

It charged at him. Its speed was fast. Arthur would have had a hard time defending against it, but it was Kevin, an S-rank knight who had faced many life and death battles.

"Tch!" He clicked his tongue and swung his spear.

The spear hit the monster and flung it over the wall. Before the monster could stand, the spear stabbed right at its eyes, killing it instantly.

[You have killed a Felithral.]

[You have received 10 EXP and 1 Crystal Coin.]

"Hmm?" He looked at the notification. "This…" He was confused but didn't think much.

He moved over to the hallway where Arthur died.

As he reached there, a bad feeling crept over his heart. "Why do I feel fear?" He has never felt fear, as he has faced many moments where he could have died. He was immune to it.

"Stop beating, you damn heart!" He hated cowards.

As he walked, three cat monsters attacked him.

Stab!

Kevin easily dodged their attack, but it was still a little hard. He was not used to the body, and his reflexes weren't as good. While he was more instinctive and fast than Arthur, he still was in a body which was weak.

Hence, he also got stabbed in his chest. The nail didn't dig deeper, but a stinging pain surged in his body.

Still, Kevin bit his lips and didn't scream. Instead, he stabbed the monster in its back and threw it away.

Clutching his chest, he breathed heavily. His eyes turned blood red.

The cat monster attacked him immediately, not leaving him to recover.

But Kevin was too alert, and he dodged the attack by a hair's breadth.

He immediately rotated the spear, causing the blade to swing around.

The cat monster was near and couldn't avoid it in time and got hit. Another monster tried to attack his back, but the swinging blade also hit it.

Kevin rushed at the nearest monster and tied the chains around its neck.

Crack!

As he pulled the spear, the monster was strangled, and its neck broke. Immediately, he threw the monster's body at the other monster before it could disintegrate into light.

Then he rushed at the cat monster; the cat monster tried to jump back and run in fear, but Kevin vertically swung the spear.

The blade extended from it hit the monster on its head. It laid due to the force, and Kevin finished it.

As this monster also turned into light, he fell to the ground and breathed heavily.

"Damn…This is tough. I'm struggling against F-rank monsters." He sighed.

[You have killed 3 Felithrals.]

[You have received 30 EXP and 3 Crystal Coins.]

Kevin ignored that notification and looked at the spear.

"It's not bad. But I'm not used to it."

_____________

Clank!

Spear and nails collided, producing sparks. Five Felithrals ambushed him.

Kevin stabbed a jumping Felinethral and hit another, which also charged at him, with the back of his spear.

As another one came, he swung the blade, and two Felithral collided. They both flung and hit the wall.

While one disappeared, another struggled to stand.

Kevin then stabbed the one which was hit with the back of his spear and killed it.

The three Felithral shuddered as they backed down. But Kevin didn't leave them. He rushed at them and dealt with them.

He was also a little injured, but that was something he didn't care about. He bandaged the wound with his cloth, which was also tattered.

The robe which he wore was miraculous. It didn't affect his movement. But it was also indestructible. It couldn't block attacks, but it wouldn't be tattered.

So he tore the cloth he wore inside the robe and used them as bandages.

Still, there was a risk of infection, but Kevin didn't care. He would die either way if he continued like this.

He escaped the hallway and arrived at the huge intersection. There were four intersections and one board.

[4 paths lead to 4 destinations. Each one is filled with danger. One is the real path, and the other three are just for decoration.]

"Hmm?" Kevin frowned. He hadn't encountered this type of board in any dungeon he had ever been in.

"As long as I don't immediately die, I can find the real one eventually." He then looked at the corner of his eyes.

"But what is this timer for?"

[01:28:50]

"It's a bit annoying." He didn't care and continued to walk on the straight path.

As he moved deeper, he arrived at a room.

"This room looks so normal." As he stepped into the room, all his nerves tingle, and cold sweat dropped from his body.

Swoosh!

"This…" An arrow pierced his arm. Kevin immediately crouched and rolled backward to the outside.

Thousands of arrows hit the area where he was before. Cold sweat poured from his face to his neck.

"Just a second, and I would be dead twice." He sighed.

"Is this a trap room?" He wondered as he looked deeper.

There was something that resembled a chest there. Seeing that, Kevin's eyes widened.

"A chest!" Chests were rare in dungeons. Chests possessed incredible loot and were the dream of every knight.

Kevin's head tingled. "I shouldn't…but this is so tempting!" He cried.

"Maybe I should come later." He then returned back to the intersection and walked to the right path.

The path also led to another room. Unlike before, he didn't immediately step into the room but looked at every corner of the room.

There was also a chest at the end of the room, waiting to be opened.

"Chest…." Kevin's eyes stared at the box as he drooled. His eyes that looked cold now were gleaming.

However, that didn't let his guard down. He was cautious. He slowly stepped into the room.

He just entered it and immediately jumped back. He waited for a while.

Seeing no effect, Kevin sighed a little and walked inside. But he was still cautious. His eyes wandered all over the place and were ready to jump back.

But this time, there were no traps. There was a huge circle drawn in the middle of the room.

As he stayed in the room for 10 seconds, all the walls shook, and small holes appeared on them.

From there, black liquid fell down.

"These liquids!" Kevin's eyes grew wider, and his body trembled. As the liquid flowed, memories played in his head.

Battling against these black liquid corrosive slimes… The stickiness, the burn, the pain, the difficulty, and the death….

Every moment played in his mind. He grabbed his arms and dug his fingers into them, which calmed him down a little.

He was ready to rush back, but then the black liquid all mixed together.

They took humanoid form and had bright white eyes.

They all turned into undead skeletons, a common F-rank monster.

"Ah…Hah…Hahaha!!" Kevin laughed. "This…Hahahaha" he laughed so hard tears fell from his eyes.

"I have truly turned into a coward!" He roared. He rushed at the skeleton, in rage and anger. But he forgot, the room wasn't so simple.

As he stepped on the circle, the whole circular part moved up.

"Huh?" Before Kevin could realize what happened, he fell down. In the deep abyss, he fell.

"I…was careless…" Those were his last words as he fell and landed on the spikes.

The sharp metallic spikes looked dangerous. He fell on them. All those spikes pierced through his body. From his back to his eyes, to his forehead, to every part of his body was pierced by spikes.

He died instantly.

__________

"This…Damn….Damn!!!" In the void, a being roared in anger. He slammed his fist on the space, causing the whole place to tremble.

"Why?" He asked. "Just why? Why can others have such powerful candidates who can level up the system to the peak, while the candidate I chose all died instantly. Why?" He was so angry.

"Last chance…If this time the person I chose couldn't survive, then…I will just destroy this universe and move on to the next one."