Drip!
There was an annoying sound in my ears as I began to wake up, the feeling of a warm, sticky fluid dribbling onto my face, but everything about my body was too sore to move.
“Ugh…”
Despite the nasty feeling of wet sludge under my body, I forced myself to roll over, a strange sight coming into my eyes.
There were muscles… on my biceps and forearms, not huge, but far greater than I had ever been able to amass due to the poor diet and lack of decent rest.
Somehow it felt cool—the weight of my body felt like a feather as I pushed myself up.
The muddy, wet sensation was a strange sludge of water leaking from the dim rocky roof, a strange grey and black substance that seemed to have come from my body.
“Shit…”
It stank so bad that my nose felt sore—maybe I even lost a few of the valuable brain cells I had left.
Are you still there, sexy Ai voice lady?
…
Silence.
I guess my words before fainting pissed the beauty off.
Time slowly passed, and as I began to check myself out, there was no mirror—and I didn’t want to see my ugly face because it would be demotivating!
Heh…
But these abs are amazing, like those Gorean novels where the guy gets a system doing 1 or 2 days of exercise and has an eight-pack and a perfect body!
Well, my body is only a six-pack, so I have hard work to reach those Gorean god-tier guys…
I traced my fingers along the new body, tempted to check my pants—even if I was decent before.
A man can hope for a few extra inches, right? Haha!
The feeling of smooth flesh is completely different from the past sensation of several knife wounds and a few scars from falling from high walls when fleeing from chapters.
Man, my life… It was fucking joke…
And only a few of my old scars remained from the old days when several gangs beat me up because I refused to give my sister’s telephone number and fought back.
Skitter!
A strange sound echoed in my ears, causing the slight puddle of murky water to shift below me, the scent of sweat, beasts and other foul scents now wafting into my nose, which felt even more acute than in the past.
“Well…”
I placed my hand into the inventory box when I thought of the words [Inventory].
It seemed my body changed when I slept, and maybe my slow mind started to digest some of this shit I was told?
My hand grasped the bastard sword’s leather handle firmly, feeling each bump and stitch of the leather, which felt nice.
Is the weight lighter than before?
Woosh!
My arm moved according to the knowledge that seemed buried in my mind, so strange yet second nature, like when you learn to ride a bike…
Holding the sword in my left hand, the blade was quite long, but not too much that it was hard to handle one-handed, around 80 centimetres long, with the handle being 28cm.
Skitter!
Once again, that fucking sound!
I won’t lie…
I feel fucking petrified!
The dark dungeon was eerie with the distant sound of water trickling down the rocks, and now the weird feet slowly skittering around made my new heart race, even though my damn heart was beyond the most agile of athletes!
A distant chirping sounded in my ears, more like a disgusting squeak and crunch—it reminded me of the stray dogs who would raid the bins outside Chu’s Restaurant at the end of the day with all the meat scraps and bones.
Wasn’t this meant to be fantasy?
Why is this dungeon so realistic and horrific?
My SAN value is almost negative!
[Are you done playing around, Eternal Rai please complete the first level of the dungeon]
“First Level?”
[Eternal Rai, please focus and take a stance.]
[The enemy is here]
Enemy? Here!? Is it some beast with huge teeth or a strange demonic monster?
The anticipation in my stomach was boiling over, causing me to feel intense terror; it was one thing being excited about becoming an adventurer, but why the hell with the dungeon mismatched and more like a damn zombie movie!
“Squee!”
“Sqwu!”
Two distorted sounds echoed around the caves—maybe it was their tones or how they spoke, but the two voices sounded so deep and ferocious.
Somehow my heart began to calm, and taking a moment to breathe deeply, grasping the bastard sword with my left hand tightly helped me deal with the strange fear and stress.
Their footsteps continued to echo and slosh as the two approached.
I can do this…
I have to do this…
I will do this!
My arms followed the memories from my mind, holding the sword in what the [Low-Rank Greatsword Skill (Lv 1)] called the Ox guard.
The tip of my sword was pointing towards the air, out from my chest, while the pommel rested in the groove of my left elbow crease.
Once following the skill guide, it soothed my mind—I no longer felt terror from the sounds but focused on them, trying to determine how far they were.
What!? 𝑜𝓋𝔩xt.𝔠𝚘𝚖
I found my steps sliding through the murky water, with anticipation and excitement pounding in my chest.
Let’s do it! To become stronger, for a better fucking life! No longer forced to eat expired food when it’s just before payday!
“Phew…”
[Good… You were a bit pathetic for a while there…]
“Shush… If you offered me a kiss or a panty shot, I might be inspired sooner!”
[Would a 56-year-old male’s panty shot be fine?]
“!!!”
Somehow the Ai sister seemed to help me forget the fear and only focus on the task at hand and helped me take the first step forward, trying to make as little noise as possible, but the damn sticky mud sucked my feet inside, pulling off my cheap trainers like a marsh.
Despite my initial cowardice, it wasn’t like I was useless in a fight, sometimes forced to fight thugs to make enough to cover our rent and debt interest.
Otherwise, my mother would suffer even more than usual.
Picturing the enemy as those thugs, I stepped forward, each step the cold, wet muck covering my legs as it splashed—the monsters soon came into my vision.
Bipedal monsters with fluffy bodies and rat-like faces.
Honestly, that looked a little cute at first, till I saw the disgusting bloodstains on their mouths and the broken bones crunched in the second one’s mouth.
They carried two crude spears made from a wooden pole and a stone tip tied with weird rope or string.
“Hah!”
My first attack as a dungeon explorer, the force I put into the attack sent my body lunging forward, rapidly stepping in the mud, my left foot sliding before the wooden sword crushed the most of the first Ratman, sending it flying back.
Shit! Shit!
Out of panic, my spare right arm sent out a hook with as much force as possible because the second rat was about to stab me with his fucking spear!
Bang!
The moment I connected, it felt great… A nostalgic feeling of bones breaking and the warm feeling of blood oozing across my knuckles…
Then silence, before a strange fanfare that the older sister made with her lips.
-> Defeated Ratman A and Ratman B
I was about to celebrate when her voice sounded before countless splashing feet sounded in the distance.
The Ratmen were more than two!