Chapter 2 - First Encounter
‘I’ve got a sword!’ He raised the sword into the sky in celebration. It was too dangerous to go alone after all. It was a matter worth celebrating.
Ed’s plan was coming together quite nicely, he was almost looking forward to it!
‘No, hold on… Why would I look forward to killing something’ His thoughts in disarray, he shook his head and focused.
‘Okay! Let’s find a place to hide!’ He looked around the poorly furnished room, but it didn’t give him many options. Maybe it would be a better idea to wait near the room’s entrance. Based on the mobs in the dungeon alone, no one should be expecting a sneak attack.
With that settled he hurried over to the entrance which unfortunately for him never had a door. He was standing carefully next to the wall while gripping the rusted sword. He was trying to calm down his emotions.
The skeletons in the area where quite curious as to what he was doing so they couldn’t help but stare.
‘Ok! Calm down! You are in an unfamiliar place facing an unknown enemy but there is nothing to worry about’ His thoughts didn’t sound very comforting…
and the noise wasn’t helping him calm down either. It continued to slowly approach increasing the pressure Ed had to face. Whoever the mage was must be quite reckless.
After calming down and waiting for nearly a minute Ed noticed a big problem.
‘Stop f*cking looking at me!’ Unless someone was in a rush they would be easily able to spot him thanks to his “allies.” His boney face tried its best to express his plea.
The sounds grew louder and ever closer, Ed was in a dilemma. Looking at the crumbling walls he spotted some chunks he could throw.
‘Don’t blame me for this friends!’ He said in his mind as he grabbed a chunk and hurled it at the nearest Skeleton, he glared at them all the while.
The Chunk wasn’t particularly accurate and hit the Skeleton in the rib breaking apart a piece of it. Still, the Skeleton was frightened and ran.
Ed could somehow imagine the Skeleton’s expression. It looked like it felt betrayed as it ran away. The other Skeletons froze stiff before quickly averting their gazes.
‘Ok! I can do it!’ He was relieved. At least until he noticed that he could no longer hear the sounds of explosions in the vicinity. Rather, he could hear faint footsteps echoing throughout the hall.
This terrified him, he tried to calm his trembling arms but his grip on the Sword was loosening nonetheless.
The footsteps were unrelenting. As they grew ever nearer his nerves could not calm down. They reverberated in his mind increasing the tension.
Soon enough he would meet whatever was wreaking havoc on this floor. A being capable of casting spells. He as a mere Skeleton could not help but feel nervous.
The magician was nearly at the entrance before coming to a sudden stop. They were a bit confused as they had managed to sense something hiding near the entrance. The dungeon so far had no mobs capable of doing something like that so it took the magician a second to gather their bearings.
It was an enemy with greater strength than the previous ones based on circumstances alone. The magician immediately chanted a fireball spell aiming to explode whatever being was hiding near the entrance to the room.
The poorly lit room and hallway suddenly brightened. It took less than a second for the fireball to pass near Ed. He eyed it as it was flying by. He hoped it would continue on its way without minding him.
Unfortunately, it didn’t. Ed felt time nearly come to a halt as the fireball exploded.
‘F*Ck!!! I am too young to die!’ He felt like trying to block the firey explosion but with less than a second to react there was no way he would be able to.
[You’ve been dealt a critical hit! -80 HP]
Pain.
even though he had no flesh, had no nerves, had no brain. He could still feel pain.
Even though he survived, the Sword in his hand didn’t. He was also blown back and disoriented. His chances of survival were looking grim.
His skeleton buddies quickly rushed towards the direction from which they spotted the fireball. The magician managed to alert the small group of 7 Skeletons and they headed towards its direction. Their quick response to intruders allowed Ed to recollect himself. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
The magician did not retreat however as they were confident in their own strength. Why else would they dare tackle a dungeon on their own? Ed hadn’t even managed to catch a glimpse of the magician and he was already in a poor state. His pristine white bones were now charred black and grey all over.
The other skeletons didn’t stand a chance as the magician hurled another fireball at the approaching group showing no mercy. It exploded in between the group sending Skeleton limbs all over the room.
‘How am I supposed to fight that!’ He felt entirely helpless, was it even possible from the start!
One of the limbs smacked him on the head. It was the arm of the Skeleton whose sword he stole.
In less than 10 seconds all his plans went to waste! To think he ever felt proud of his quick thinking!
‘You are out of our league why the hell are you here!’ He couldn’t help but curse the magician and whatever brought him here. Still, Ed refused to give in to fate and started running towards his aggressor.
He punched at the magician only to be blocked by a round transparent shield that came out of what he presumed to be some sort of artifact. The magician spared no time charring him to bits using a lightning spell capitalizing on Ed’s failed attempt.
Ed once more felt his consciousness waver until it left his Skeletal body.
[Recalling Champion’s soul. Deciding penalty…]
[Champion will be subjected to isolation for 24 hours. Failure to meet future expectations will be met with harsher penalties. ]
Ed’s disembodied consciousness found itself in the endless black void for a second time.
‘That’s it? I- I get to live?’ He felt that the punishment was pretty light. The second message is a bit worrying but, he gets to live!
What Ed does not realize is that spending 24 hours by yourself in the dark is not easy on the mind.
‘What a relieve…’ Maybe the situation wasn’t so bad after all. It didn’t seem like he could really die and all.
But after about 10 seconds of silence, Ed realized this wouldn’t be as easy as he first imagined.
‘F*ck!’ There isn’t anything interesting to watch! The endless black abyss was unforgiving. If he doesn’t start thinking about other things he just might go insane.
Thus he decided to think back on the battle. His first mistake was failing to gauge his opponent’s level. He thought that since the dungeon was clearly a low-level one that the adventurers would be too.
The magician had some sort of ability or magic spell for sensing others in a small vicinity. If he ambushed his future opponents from long-range things might work out differently.
‘I got a damage notification…’
With that as a cue, Ed managed to recall the go-to phrase for reincarnators of all types of shapes and species using his vague memories.
‘Status!’ He enthusiastically yelled in his mind.
[Champion is isolated. No access to distracting imagery. This message will not repeat itself.]
Ed was stunned, this f*cking system or dungeon was way too serious!
‘It’s my own status! You can’t be so strict!’ His thoughts met no reply this time.
‘I guess I’ll have to wait until the 24 hours are up’ He suddenly realized that he couldn’t tell how much time was left. He was a bit skeptical but he decided to try anyway.
‘Timer? Remainder? Countdown?’ He kept on trying different words that could help him solve the issue but they were all fruitless.
[The Champion is not allowed to keep track of time. This message will not repeat itself]
‘Well damn….’ He smacked his non-existent lips as he floated in silence.