Silas then collapsed onto the cold floor of the dungeon chamber; every breath was scraping his throat like fire.
The Hollowmaw Serpent’s carcass lay still, its once traumatizing scales now pale and lifeless, and a pool of bluish acidic blood was seeping beneath it.
Then the voice of the system echoed in his ears.
[DUNGEON CLEARED!]
[Level Up! You are now Level 20.
[Stat Points Available: 20]
Silas let out a long, deep breath, wiping the blood off from his eyebrow as he leaned back against the body of the serpent.
"I’m... I’m still alive," he muttered under his breath, a small grin appearing on his face. "Barely alive though... haha."
[HOST]
The system spoke, voice cool and neutral.
[You have now reached level 20; please allocate your stat points.]
Silas didn’t hesitate for even a second as he said. "Distribute them equally. Let’s keep everything balanced for now."
[Stat Distribution Complete.]
[Agility: C-]
[Strength: D ]
[Intellect: D ]
[Endurance: E ]
[Charisma: E ]
[Luck: E ]
[Mana: 120/120]
Silas let out a deep sigh as he flexed his fingers. He could already feel the subtle shift of stats in his body—his steps felt lighter, thoughts clearer, and body sturdier.
"System..." he muttered with a big grin on his face. "You’re the best; I’m almost on par with a real D-ranker now, huh?" He took a small fraction of ti to think, "Still... I’ve got a long way ahead of ."
He said as he took his hand up slowly, ford a fist with it, clearly showing that his resolve is clear and he will not stop before he achieves it.
He rose to his feet, feeling the slight strain in his muscles from the aftermath of the extended battle. Around the corpse of the Hollowmaw Serpent, glimring stones pulsed with residual mana—loot.
"Hey, system." He said while surveying the shimring pile of stones. "Can you collect all of those mana cores for ?"
[Yes, Host. I absolutely can; please walk within the range of each core and leave the rest of the work to .]
Silas did just that, his boots scraping across the stone floor as he slowly circled the area, letting the soft blue glow of the cores sink into his inventory one by one.
[Mana Core Acquired: F-Rank ×30]
[Mana Core Acquired: E-Rank ×5]
[Boss Mana Core Acquired: E-Rank (Elite) ×2]
Silas let out a small laugh, clearly impressed. "That’s not a bad haul... For now let’s get out of here."
The teleportation rune activated the mont he stepped on the glowing circle. A bright light enveloped him—and then, utter silence.
Silas reappeared in his house; the air inside his house was warm and soothing, unlike the one in the dungeon. He slowly looked around, tossed his sword next to the dressing mirror, and fell onto the bed.
"...I made it," he whispered to himself.
But he wasn’t done yet.
"System," he said, lifting his hand up in the air lazily. "I rember that you told before that you had a shop, right? One of those in-built types."
[Affirmative, Host.]
"Open it, and give a tutorial while you’re at it."
[System Shop Interface Unlocked]
[Displaying Tutorial...]
A translucent blue window expanded before him, scrolling through the sections in just a few seconds.
[Weapons Section]
[Mana Artifact Section]
[Skills Section]
[Sword Art Section]
[Trade Section]
Silas blinked. "Oh!? These many things?"
[Yes. The shop catalog spans from F-Rank to God-tier.]
He got shocked, eyes wide. "Wait, wha—God Tier!? As in... divine level?"
[Please do not shout, Host.]
[Yes, the shop extends to transcendent items... though they require absurd amounts of currency and progression.]
Silas leaned forward a bit as he slightly rubbed his temples. "You’re hiding too much from , you know that?" He said with a small laugh. "Just... what are you, system?"
The system didn’t answer back.
Silas stood up and dusted himself off. "Alright, let’s do it like this. Sell all of the mana stones we got from the dungeon."
[Mana Cores Sold.]
[Total Credits Earned: 100 System Coins]
[Transferring to Shop Wallet...]
Silas then opened the coin balance window as he said. "Only 100...?" he groaned. "That’s sooo fucking less, oh god!!"
Still, he wasn’t about to waste this golden opportunity.
"Alright, let’s convert these 60 coins into experience points."
[Converting... Experience Added.]
[Level Up! You are now Level 25.]
"Nice." Silas grinned. "Now... let’s check the Skill Book section to find sothing useful for us."
He scrolled through the pages of glowing titles, descriptions, and prices until one of them caught his eye.
[Skill: Phantom Steps – E-Rank Agility Technique]
[Cost: 40 Coins]
[Description: A foundational movent technique focused on precise, flickering footwork to disrupt enemy targeting. Boosts short-distance evasion.]
"...Perfect. I’ll take this one for now."
[Purchase Complete.]
[Transferring Skill to Host... Initiating Integration.]
The mont the surge of knowledge started to enter into his body, Silas’s eyes widened.
PAIN
A tidal wave of information surged through his brain at rapid speed: diagrams of foot positioning, explosive shift angles, weight balancing, and subtle feints.
It was like soone had put the information by itself directly into his brain.
"Ahhhh...FUCK!!" he cried out, dropping to his knees.
His head throbbed with pain; tears started rolling down his cheeks. Every single nerve of his body scread for rcy.
It wasn’t just the knowledge. It was the understanding forced into his very muscle mory.
After several agonizing minutes, it ended for good. He slumped over, completely drenched in sweat, heart beating faster than light.
"This... this shit is just the beginning." His hand slowly clenched into a fist; for the first ti in his life, Silas felt sothing powerful stir inside of his body.
[Current Level: 25]
[Mana: 120/120]
[Agility: C-]
[Strength: D ]
[Intellect: D ]
[Endurance, Charisma, Luck: E ]
[Skills: Piercing Thrust (E), Phantom Steps (E)]
He sat back up on the couch, panting for breath.
And just then—
[Dungeon Gate Collapse Detected.]
[Exit Portal Closed. Dungeon Marked as Cleared.]
The screen slowly faded. Silas stood up from the couch; his body moved a bit differently now—smoother, lighter, faster. Every joint, every muscle, every tendon felt alive and better than before.
He walked to the mirror and looked at the boy who’d entered the dungeon as he saw a different person standing in the mirror. He had changed.
Outside, the city still buzzed with noise.
The system slowly chid again.
[New Quests Available.]
[Main Quest: Investigate the Power Disruption Affecting Dungeon Gates and Rifts. Priority: High.]
[Side Quest 1: Solo Clear 2x E-Rank Dungeons and 1x D-Rank Dungeon.]
[Side Quest 2: Make a Na for Yourself Among Awakened. Ti Limit: 30 Days.]
Silas blinked. "You want to _what?_"
[All quests are essential to Host’s growth.]
[Failure may result in stagnation or death.]
He groaned with pain and buried his face in his hands. "I just ca back from one death, and now you want to go there and fight for my life again? HELL NAWHHH!!"
[Host! If you want to get stronger, you have to do this; there is no choice.]
He sighed as a small grin appeared on his face. "Whatever, you want to get strong, right?"
He stretched his arms, muscles tight, the spirit of ambition burning in his body again. "I’ll get strong, stronger than any damn awakened out there."
He turned to the system screen again. "I’ll start the quest right now."
[The system is ready when you are.]
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