What a weird dream...
I rotated my shoulders as I felt myself coming back from my sleep. I had been knocked out for a while, I could feel it by how numb everything felt.
Last thing I remember... A boulder fell directly on top of me. As the thought entered my mind my eyes quickly opened, I couldn't feel anything on my back.
I looked around, the dungeon was back to its previous state, pristine, you could say, but only if you considered how rough the dungeons already looked.
My arms seemed fine, my legs too, I checked out my face, no blood, and nothing hurt in particular. It seems the dungeon had managed to fix itself.
Looking up, I found the entrance to the dungeon, the wooden gate had been sealed off with the same stone bricks the rest of the dungeon was made of.
So the dungeon can 'learn' from its mistakes and fix them, its pretty much an alive ecosystem that we walk around and loot in.
I pushed myself up but the moment my legs were supporting all my weight against the stone floor, my vision went white and I fell back to the ground.
A sharp sting shot through my legs as it scraped against the rough stone. I clenched my teeth waiting for the pain to settle.
[+1 Defense]
A faint flicked of purple appeared in front of me.
I blinked a couple times in confusion, staring at the message as it faded away, asking myself what the hell had just happened.
I forced myself to stand up after I'd let the dizziness pass. My head still felt a little light, this time I sat up slower, letting the blood flow properly.
Once my vision had stabilized I pulled up my status.
[Fang Tian] [Pathway of the Ascendant: First Seeker - F rank]
[Health: 70]
[Defense: 21]
[Intelligence: 40]
[Strength: 10]
"I have a pathway?" I spoke out loud to ground myself and make sure I wasn't imagining things. I was in disbelief at what I had just seen.
I laughed. "I actually have a pathway!" I tried to examine what the pathway did, but wasn't greeted with what I expected.
[Pathway of the Ascendant
Tier: First Seeker
Rank: F
Attributes: Core Osmosis
Info: ???
Grade: ???]
Pathways had their rarity measured in Grades, the lowest grade was Grade 10 and the highest was Grade 0... But this one showed up as a combination of glitched interrogation signs.
I ran my hand through the screen, assuming it would do something, but nothing happened. The info section also had those question marks, so I couldn't exactly know what my pathway does.
However, the attribute was visible... Core Osmosis... It could mean a hundred different things. For now, I'll focus on trying to level up my pathway rank. Rank E would be enough for now.
Leveling was simple, you kill an enemy or complete a quest and you gain experience. Which reminded me of a section I hadn't thought about.
[Daily quest: Obtain 10 stat points.
Main quest: Reach breakthrough.]
Oh, that's a lot to unpack. 10 stat points is an absurd amount for a single day, unless you somehow farmed for weeks and obtained all the experience at once, it was an impossible feat.
Breakthrough...? At least its not daily. A breakthrough is what happens when your Pathway tier reaches S+ rank. You need some materials along with monster essence to experience a breakthrough.
It resets your current pathway rank however, you advance to the next tier, these tiers increase your stats and give you access to a broader amount of skills.
Well that does it, I'm not a failure anymore and I actually have potential! Even if my pathway doesn't seem to be displaying any useful info...
Something didn't feel right, my body felt the breeze of the cold dungeon air flowing through me. I took a look at myself and noticed my [Foliage Armor] was nowhere to be seen.
But my health...? My health stat was still 70, the same amount it was back when I was wearing the armor set.
I clenched my hand and noticed [Star Wand] was also gone, in its place nothing but air.
My gear must've broke the moment that boulder fell on top of me. Perhaps, [Foliage Armor] saved me from major injury while [Star Wand] just broke from the force.
The armor broke but I still have the stats. If I had to assume, the one behind that weird event and back when I scraped my knee and gained defense... Its my system.
After clearing everything up for myself, I looked at my left, the large expanse of the dungeon room was before me, a challenge I had been ignoring the past seconds.
A large hallway was sitting before me, it had a red carpet along it and a bright chandelier at the ceiling. Only the better end of the D ranks were capable of soloing a floor 1 Dungeon.
But I, I was a mere F rank who had just awakened a pathway after a near-death experience. I was basically walking right into a certain death!
E ranks aren't even allowed to create their own dungeon scavenge teams. Dungeon licenses, which give you free access to the catacombs are only handed out to D ranks minimum.
And here I was, taking a step into the dungeon as someone who got their pathway 3 minutes ago.
Monster appeared from every corner, dozens of undead, all standing in place and staring at me. In these moments there's only one thing you can do.
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! I hurried along the wall, hoping I'd reach the far end of the hallway. I was fast enough so the zombies didn't get me.
That's when a thought crossed my mind. A memory of the party's tank pressing and pulling levers to reveal hidden paths to treasure chests.
I couldn't fight off these enemies wearing nothing but my clothes, so the dungeon loot was my only hope.
Most monsters would drop a piece of their armor upon being defeated if you're lucky. On top of that, dungeon loot naturally has the [Dungeon Scaling] attribute.
As I ran along the wall I pressed all the bricks hoping one of them would be some sort of hidden switch. To my luck, one of them sank when my fingers pressed on it. The floor opened up and swallowed me.
I fell down to a hidden chamber, it had no enemies inside. At either side lava fountains were flowing into rivers and at the far end was a chest.
Looking around, I made sure there were no hidden traps, as far as I'm concerned, any step could lead to an arrow right through my skull.
The chest was lighter than I expected, it gave a small creak as I lifted the top. I took a look inside.
[Uncommon Loot! Undead Core]
The loot was a small black greenish orb, it emitted a faint green glow as I held it. What does this even do...?
[Undead Core: A condensation of the remaining life force of undead monsters that have been defeated. Crafting material.]
This doesn't help out... Just in case, I shoved the core into my pockets and managed to climb my way out of the hidden chamber by pulling on a surprisingly strong stand of string.
As soon as I stepped out of the chamber I was greeted by a bone at maximum speed hitting the wall next to me.
I looked in front of me, a skeleton was menacingly standing before me. It reached out and the bone returned to his hand. A [Bonemerang].
This close to the end of the hallway I finally noticed, the gate to exit it was locked. Then my mind connected the dots. Shit.
[Sealed Sectors: These are sectors with sealed exits, they require defeating the Alpha Monster in them for the seal to fade away.]
That skeleton before me wasn't any normal skeleton, it was the Alpha. That explains why it has the [Bonemerang].
However it wasn't all bleak, if I managed to defeat it, it would drop its [Bonemerang] and I would finally have a usable weapon.
"So you're the Alpha." We engaged in a staring contest for a while, and just as I saw the intent of throwing the [Bonemerang] at me I ran away. Yes, I was a coward.
The Hallway was adorned with bushes at its sides, lush ones that could hide whatever was inside them. I ran laps around the skeleton to try and make it dizzy and waited for the right moment.
It threw its [Bonemerang] and it nearly missed, I could feel it moving the air around it, only missing my back by a few centimeters.
At that exact moment I launched myself at some bushes. I hadn't realized but these bushes were the perfect and most convenient spot for hiding secret loot.
Perhaps I broke two steps of the ladder on my way down.
[Health +5]
I fell head first into a secret hole with wooden stairs leaning on the wall, I managed to hit every single step of the ladder with my chin before falling flat to the ground.
[Defense +2]
At least that confirms my hypothesis. Damage increases either my defense or my health, when I get out of here I'll experiment around with it.
Lying on the chamber's room was a small iron sword, I took a closer look, its item name hovered over it. [Sanctifier's blade], it was a Common rarity Dungeon sword, but anything works when you're desperate.
[Ascendant feels attracted to the blade before you.]