Chapter 15
For the first time in your life you’ve experienced a life-threatening event…Hidden conditions for a title have been met: ‘Triumphant over a Life or Death Crisis.’
A strong impact has caused a significant reduction in HP.
Skeleton servant Lackey’s endurance threshold has been exceeded due to a strong impact and has been recalled.
When I first opened my eyes, I was blinded by the countless overlapping system messages. I had wondered if there was a thick fog in front of me from the white of the message background. After I had realized that all the blurry, cloud-like things were messages, I cleaned them up quite quickly and focused on carefully testing my body’s movement.
“Urgh….”
However, even when the desire to move was nothing more than a wish in the heart, my whole body felt such pain and chills. My teeth were shaking violently from the torturous aches. I hurriedly opened the inventory and retrieved a recovery potion.
The mid grade potions that I was forced to purchase before entering the <Tower of Command> were indeed helpful. First, I sprayed the potion on my (most likely) broken wrist and waited for the bones to knit themselves together. Then, the newly healed hand picked up a second potion and brought it to my lips.
I had thought that my lips were too slippery since I woken up, but later I realized that all the blood I had vomited was to blame. The potion should heal any internal injuries. Yet another bottle was used to treat my throbbing ribs.
“Where am I anyway…..?” After a full treatment, I could finally observe my surroundings.
Though the place where I fell was dim, I could roughly distinguish the nearby landscapes. A subtle orange light seeped through the round walls and softly lit the space.
As soon as my throbbing body stopped shaking from the pain, I quickly scrambled onto my feet in anticipation of possible threats.
! A New Discovery
When I braced myself against the ground to stand up, I felt something hard within the palm of my hand. I had thought it was something I had dropped, so I picked it up. Then, out of the blue, a [! New Discovery] alert message appeared. This was a message I had never seen before, and I warily pressed notification to read more. However, the explanation had only contained an utterly useless [In progress].
I thoroughly explored this unidentified object, fumbling around its smooth surface with my fingers. Fingertips eventually found a groove or perhaps a scratch and pressed it. After a click, the item began to glow with a white shine–finally there was enough light to identify the mysterious object.
It was a jewel inscribed with [light] magic often used by Treasure Hunters in Dungeon exploration. These jewels were often used as lanterns, but items with the capacity to store magic were often some of the most expensive equipment. There was no way this item was one of mine–I couldn’t afford such luxury.
So this must have been here far before my fall….Don’t tell me, if I touch it, will monsters suddenly appear?
But, even as the minutes flew by, there were no suspicious sounds. The item and the notification message simply glistened. So, I held the jewel like a torch and I shone some light on my surroundings.
First, I looked at the ground when I fell. In addition to the mottled black flecks of my dried blood, the dirt was soft and grainy–like sand. Upwards, I saw a darkness that hid the true depth of this cavern. I had no idea where I fell…but seeing the unending darkness that looked like the night sky, I had no idea how I survived what should have been instant death.
Moreover, the surroundings were incredibly spacious.
It was wide enough that I couldn’t take the space in with one panoramic glance–almost as big as the World Cup Stadium. The overall area was visible to the naked eye, as if dim lighting had been turned on. Each far off wall still had orange light leaking through, adding to the atmosphere. And it was incredibly quiet, enough to hear the anxious pounding of my heart.
For a long time I didn’t move, wondering if some event would start. However only the [New Discovery!] message kept flashing; I was forced to stand up and approach the nearest wall to observe the light that had been bothering me.
As I got closer, I could see that the light’s origin were inscriptions on the wall’s surface.
The lights produced weren’t bright enough to really illuminate the whole cavern…It reminded me a bit of school art galleries. The inscriptions were similar to the glow-in-the-dark descriptions next to the exhibited artwork. Of course, in this case there were no exhibitions; only the inscriptions alone existed…
But for there to be glowing text in a place like this…maybe it’s a hint to find some unspeakably amazing item? Well, it’s hard for someone like me–someone that’s not a Treasure Hunter–to find that hypothetical item.
I would’ve taken a photo of the inscriptions if I had a cell phone by my side…however, I valued my safety more than satiating the greed. I didn’t want to touch the shining text; though the words seemed beautiful, there was no telling what would happen if I were to disturb it.
Eventually I took one step backwards with the makeshift lantern. I slowly walked alongside the wall, but I stumbled after stubbing my toe on something hidden.
“Urk…!”
Fortunately, I had not stepped on a monster. But…something that looked just like a mage’s staff was rolling around underfoot.
To be exact, it was half a staff?
Why would there be a broken staff here? Perplexed, I search carefully around the staff. Then, I found a large corpse lying not far from the staff; my body was frozen stiff.
At first, I had thought that some cloth was covering a large bundle…but that cloth turned out to be a robe worn by the face-down corpse.
The body was fairly obscured–I could only see the back of the prostrated corpse alongside a hand that gripped onto what I assumed to be the other half of the broken staff…Frankly, even this obscured sight was terrifying. I didn’t want to get any closer.
As soon as I identified that far off lump as a corpse, the system message updated.
! A New Discovery (2)
In a Dungeon, the system offered a much needed service to alert players to possible risks or provide any additional information needed for a successful Dungeon raid.
Of course, the system does not spoon feed you all the necessary information, from one to ten. Plus, the vague or peculiar language used by the system may be slightly offensive…In any case, Users learned to pay attention and follow these guiding messages if they wished to survive.
So….if the [New Discovery] message renewed after discovering this corpse (and if I wanted to safely leave this disgusting dungeon), I had no choice but to investigate this body.
I didn’t dare touch the body with my bare hands, so I held onto the tip of the broken staff I had found earlier and cautiously poked at the body. After a few nudges, I was sure that this was indeed an unmoving corpse. As it didn’t seem particularly dangerous, I carefully walked a bit closer.
The body had almost completely decomposed into a white skeleton, but I still had no desire to see its face. Instead, I turned away from its head to the rest of its body and discovered something black wedged into its back.
Hmmm….This black wedge must have dealt the fatal blow? The size and location…the attack must have shattered the spine….
“Did a monster do this?”
! A New Discovery (3)
The discovery of the black wedge once again updated the system’s discovery message to (3). I brought the light closer to the wedge and disturbed it with the broken staff…but the message was not further renewed.
“Urgh, I guess I have to take it out.”
Eventually, with a disgusted expression, I managed to pull out the wedge. Although the corpse was mostly decomposed, it was still quite creepy to grab something stuck in a dead body.
For a moment, it seemed like my efforts were in vain. As soon as the heavy wedge was extracted, it suddenly became ash and dispersed into the air. The body, starting from the tips of its toes, began to slowly collapse as well.
It felt like watching a mirage.
Just what did this mean?
The conditions needed to summon a vengeful specter has been fulfilled.
As soon as the wedge finished disappearing, a message suddenly popped up, informing me of my achievement. Everything became dark.
Replaying the memory of the deceased: ‘Seo Dawon.’
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