BXBX NOVEL Chapter 4
Silence. If one could fall asleep this would be the ideal location. Although not having a body leaves much to be desired. The lack of any feelings of discomfort is always welcome.
Ed has been contemplating many things during his Isolation. Was it a special occasion? Without a doubt the dungeon he spawned in was made for low level adventurers.
Although he has no knowledge about the world outside the dungeon if his memories were indeed manipulated then they are as good as the truth.
Why would someone place lies inside of his head? Especially ones as specific as adventurers and their professions. There was no reason, at least he couldn\'t seem to find one.
Why give me a penalty? As much as it hurts to admit, without a penalty he would probably run away from enemies he couldn\'t defeat like the magician. The dungeon clearly encouraged conflict.
Why does it do want him to fight? The word trespasser is as good a hint as any. The dungeons in this world must be the property or resting place of a powerful entity.
Ed felt likes hours should have passed by now. He just has no way to prove it. The messages didn\'t appear again either, although that wasn\'t much of a surprise. He tried counting the time. He ended up giving up at around 3,000 seconds. He doesn\'t even know if he did count correctly but counting for nearly an hour before giving up is already praiseworthy in his mind. He felt he would go crazy if he continued counting anyway, it got to the point where counting was a chore.
Times like this make you want to gaze up into the sky and contemplate life but that is pointless in the endless dark. He couldn\'t wait for the time to be over...
[24 hours have passed, the champion has 10 minutes before respawning]
At last 24 hours passed, Ed\'s mental fortitude was increased because of the penalty. Whether that\'s a good thing or a bad thing is yet to be seen.
\'Hahaha! Freedom!\' He rejoiced in his mind.
Well no... he was still in the endless dark but this time for only 10 more minutes and he could also interact with the system.
\'Status!\' He didn\'t waste another second and yelled out in his mind.
[Name: Ed$#&!]
Type: Level 0 Consciousness.
Health: 100/100
Bodies: Skeleton
His exciting thought was met by an underwhelming screen.
\'That\'s it?\' He couldn\'t help but have doubts.
[Champion is uncorporeal, no attributes available]
It seems he would have to wait until the 10 minutes are up before he could see his attributes and maybe even his skills.
\'Can I check the stats of my body then?\' Given that skeleton was listed as a body it had to serve a purpose, right?
[Acknowledged]
Or maybe he didn\'t need to wait...
[Name: Ed$#&!]
Type: Skeleton
Health: 100/100
Strength: 0
Agility: 0
Constitution: 0
~Skills:~
[Hurl lvl. 1]
Able to accurately hurl small objects short distances.
[Swordsmanship lvl. -1]
You\'ve held a sword before.
\'Still quite underwhelming...\' His attributes seemed to be missing, not to mention his name was incomplete.
\'Why do I only have three attributes, and what\'s with that Swordsmanship skill?!?\' There was no way negative numbers were a positive thing!
[Champion has not unlocked other attributes. <Swordsmanship lvl. -1> is the pathway to <Swordsmanship lvl. 0>]
\'I don\'t quite buy that... Why are my attributes at 0?\' He put the matter aside and moved on to another question.
[Zero represents your base strength. A subsequent increase in attributes signify an increase of one based on your base strength]
Based on his understanding, if he could only lift one stone at Strength 0 Strength at 1 would allow him to lift two stones.
\'I see... How much time is left until my respawn?\' 24 hours was already overstaying his welcome. He really wanted to get out of there.
[7:57 minutes]
\'Time passes by slowly in here huh...\' He muttered disappointedly in his mind. Ed had to endure another 8 minutes of Silence.
Three more minutes silently passed until he decided to ask for help from the System.
\'Let me respawn early!\' He pleaded.
[4:48 Minutes remaining]
\'At least let me sleep for those 5 minutes!\' Wasn\'t it too unfair to claim 24 hours and then chuck in an extra 10 minutes?
The system didn\'t reply in its monotone voice, Ed felt ignored.
\'Please?\' But he didn\'t give up, he let out one final and hopeful please.
[Champion will be put to rest]
\'Wait why does that sound so ominous!?!?\' Ed hoped the system didn\'t plan on killing him for asking too much as his consciousness faded away. He was overcome by sleep.
[Time is up. Summoning Champion]
A vacuum opened up in the vast darkness swallowing up a wisp of consciousness that floated there unmoving.
Ed was jolted awake by his corporeal feeling. He had returned to his Skeleton body. He checked himself out in a new dimly lit room.
\'My cackling bones didn\'t change\' Ignoring the annoying sound he looked at the new room.
\'I wonder if this is still the same floor...\' He gazed around confirming that it actually wasn\'t.
The room was also lit by dim torches but there was old wooden furniture arranged like that of an old office. The room had only one entrance and exit. The cobwebs added that special dungeon touch as well.
Ed decided to look around the room. He found an open chest under the old desk. The inside was rather clean so it must have been opened recently.
With enough looking around, he decided he should explore the layout of the dungeon. He needed to find out if he spawns on the same floor every time.
\'It would be in line with traditional mob spawning if so...\' He walked towards the only exit and was met by a large corridor. It diverged in a couple of places.
\'This should be fun...\' He didn\'t actually believe that but going for a walk in a creepy dungeon certainly beats the endless dark. Then again, Ed couldn\'t be sure if it was entirely an improvement.
He walked up and down the corridor and walked all over the dungeon floor. He would encounter Skeletons every now and then. Sometimes even zombies.
\'Did not know I could find those in here\' He couldn\'t quite call it a pleasant surprise.
He wanted a weapon but he hadn\'t encountered any skeletons with any. He became quite curious as a result.
\'System, why haven\'t I found any sword-wielding Skeletons?\' There was no need to find out for himself if the system was willing to lend a hand.
[Champion was spawned closer to the dungeon stairs due to the last failure. Champion needs to travel deeper into the floor]
It seemed Ed was initially spawned closer to the next floor. It made sense that the dungeon gets harder progressively. Still, the difficulty throughout each floor tends to be pretty consistent, a sword won\'t make any drastic changes.
\'I guess I should continue exploring the layout\' With that in mind he continued his walk.
He had already spent nearly an hour walking around without a destination. The dungeon or at least his current floor seemed to follow a basic principle. After two or three rooms you will reach a dead end. In about a third of the dead ends, he found some sort of treasure chest as well.
Perhaps his luck is foul or the chests are playing a trick on him but none of them had anything in them. The thought of a dungeon mob opening the treasure chests in the dungeon was pretty funny though.
After some more walking, he spotted a fair light off in the distance.
\'Light! and it isn\'t dim!\' For the first time today, he ran not minding the sound of his bones. He was about to enter the bright room but...
[Monsters are not allowed in the safe room]
\'A safe room? Why do you have a safe room for trespassers?\' The system obviously didn\'t reply.
Based on his memories these types of rooms are made to provide the adventurers with breaks. Some safe rooms even have some sort of healing boost.
Ed really wanted to get inside especially because the safe room might lead outside but an invisible barrier wouldn\'t let him pass no matter what. He left disappointed.
He continued his mental mapping journey! He ended up going in circles every now and then since he doesn\'t have a perfect memory.
\'I was hoping to at least find a weapon, not necessarily a sword\' If it wasn\'t for the fact that the System hasn\'t alerted him about anyone being on this floor he would pick up some random rubble or one of those extremely rusted decorative swords often found in rooms.
[A trespasser has returned to your floor]
\'Returned? F*ck!\' Ed did not want to fight that magician again, why is was he even back!?!
Ed had memorized a few dead ends with treasure chests at this point, there is no reason for the magician to return to chests he already opened right?
\'Could he be injured? It has only been 24 hours since I was last in the dungeon so why is he back so soon?\' If he is injured it must be a rather grave one, the safe rooms are the best place to heal up. Although he doesn\'t know if this dungeon provides a healing boost he definitely won\'t be attacked.
[On account of your previous failure, you are tasked with eliminating the intruder. A fitting reward awaits you]
\'Reward?\' So far the dungeon hasn\'t been kind or is it the System? Regardless of whether they are both in cahoots or not, they definitely want to make Ed\'s reincarnated life a pain!
\'I am hiding! I don\'t want your reward!\' He defiantly announced. Before he thought a magician would be easy to take down but seeing how wrong he was he has no intention of going back.
[You will incur a penalty if the trespasser escapes the dungeon]
\'The carrot doesn\'t work so you try the stick huh? I get it I\'ll get moving...\' Ed looked around the hallway he was currently in and spotted a rusty shield hanging on a wall.
\'Better than nothing, I\'ll grab a sword on the way\' He was headed to the safe room.. He would camp in front of the only exit on this floor.