Jie Heijun once again woke with the world spinning and pain throbbing on the side of his temples. Lifting his hand to smooth the ache, he touched a wet sticky substance. The injury, likely happened when he fell into the pit. Thankfully, he survived somehow.
*Ding*
Hearing the noise like a bell sound, he looked up to the ceiling where he fell. There he saw the screen status, introducing him to a dungeon.
_Dungeon Mode Conversion_
Dungeon - [True Beginning]
Restriction - [Lv0]
Time - [1/1]
Space Distortion - [G3]
Combat Rating - [G3]
Resident - [Yes]
Treasure - [Yes]
Noticing that he enter a dungeon, everything made sense. Earlier, the pit made from the lightning strike hadn't been deep enough to cause such a long distance fall. Even more, he would never be able to survive such a fall. It was different, however, if the hole was an entrance to a dungeon.
Jie Heijun naturally knew what a dungeon was, and to be gained from entering one. It was common knowledge because of how valuable they were.
When the world would fold inward, collapsing on itself, it created space distortions. Then these space distortions would stabilize to take on the shape of a new separated dimension, which was Pocket Dimensions.
Dungeons were a type of Pocket Dimension formed by the world, which was named Dungeon Zones because it cut off the connection to other places.
Taking a farther observation, he searched for the golden glow he saw before he lost consciousness. Instead of seeing something special since the screen already confirm there was treasure, he only saw the landscape.
It was a gold color that gave off a bright shine. No rocks litter the surface, only small pillar structures. The exterior was completely smooth with a cold touch, giving the impression of being surrounded by gold ice.
When studying the surface, he spotted images of himself inspecting the area, just like looking into a room filled with mirrors. Soon the bright light seemed to dim in the dungeon.
With his eyes having the time to adjust more, a doorway leading to another section grew visible. Fixing his wounded state as much as possible, given the items he had to work with, he moved in the direction of the passage.
He also didn't forget the information from the status screen. There were likely residents, roaming around the dungeon. Without his spear, it was going to be tough, fighting barehanded.
Residents were lifeforms living inside dungeons and preferred attacking all intruders. Furthermore, they provided practitioners with a way to procure experience energy, needed to level up the body. This opportunity, let them have a chance to form new talents.
Not too long after walking through, he reached the next area. The room showed the same view. If there was a difference, it was five bats flying around. None of them seem to share the same space.
Their bodies were the size of a child's playing ball, measuring roughly twenty centimeters. Their wings, twice the length of their bodies as they hissed at one another. What made these bats unique and different was that each had fours eyes and a horn in the middle of their forehead.
While above their heads were no levels or information showing what they are, Jie Heijun knew enough about this type of Residents.
Sound Bat!
They were a type of Resident that worked solo because they lacked trust in their kind. If one were to be dying, the others would watch, or it was better to say they would listen. These Sound Bats, provided themselves vision through their ears, using echolocation.
Echolocation was additionally their way of attacking intruders. What made all this worse, the room's gold ice surface.
Jie Heijun until now, had wondered why the dungeon's exterior been made in a way to reflect things. It was all for the technique the Sound Bats used. Given that Form Qi would be in their attacks, it wasn't strange for them to make the sound attack perform a bounce quality.
In the end, this meant he would need to watch out for attacks in his blind spots. The only good thing about Sound Bats was, their bodies were similar to having fragile bodies. The attack was a lethal kind of hit since it was hard to avoid sound, but their defense was non-existent.
Keeping his calm to avoid making mistakes, Jie Heijun shot toward the Sound Bat the farthest from the rest. He took only a few steps before going for a leap action.
The bats enjoyed relying on sounds; therefore, his goal was to reduce the noise as much as possible. With the tapping from his feet, no matter how much he cut the sound, it would still find tracking him easier than in the air.
Unfortunately, echolocation worked in the air the same way it did on other things. As long as the sound touch something, it would be the same as seeing it. Despite that, in the air was still better than being apparent to one's enemy.
The only downside to this maneuver was, he could not move in the air if it did attack. Fortunately, all that was pointless because he could already judge, just how fast and strong these bats were. From his judgment, the only thing superior about them compared to him was their sound attacks.
There was no suspends when he was able to close the distance to his first opponent before it responded. Extending his arm while having his hand balled, his punch, ripped right through the bat. There was no resistance shown when his fist, came into contact.
Paper Bodies!
The nickname applied to Sound Bats. They were nothing more than the weakest of the weakest, Resident lifeforms. There combat rating being none or G3-ranked proved this.
To have a combat rating of None meant, no combat experience or having the strength of a Mortal Expert Late Stage and lesser.
To have a combat rating ranked at G3, only those with strength being equivalent to a Martial Novice Early Stage, could achieve this. Jie Heijun's combat rating was None, but this was because he wasn't in the Martial Body realm and have never defeated a Resident lifeform.
After the bat died, an Exp Stone dropped. Jie Heijun quickly pocketed it before turning his attention to the other bats. Scanning them, none of them budge an inch. It was as if, nothing happened.
Not being one to hate on luck, he chose his next target. It was a Sound Bat that didn't make a single sound, unlike the rest. Its wings were even irregular, meaning there might be problems moving fast or taking action because of an injury.
It was like, everything happening was a blessing in disguise.
A lightning strike sends him to a dungeon, the Residents were at a level he could manage, and it had a treasure waiting at the end. He didn't see any problems happening at this rate. Hopefully, it was a treasure to raise his combat potential, like a spear weapon.
As for the four bats left waiting in one place, they were sitting ducks in his eyes. There was no hope for them because of their nature to be solo. If they knew how to work together, they would have a better chance to survive. Being like animals, they should at least have survival instincts.
Sadly, they also wouldn't go against their nature. Charging at the second bat, Jie Heijun once again managed to get in close. The Sound Bat, on the other hand, moved to dodge since it didn't have time to use its attack.
Reaching out to catch its small foot, Jie Heijun gave a hard punch to its body like the first bat.
*bang*
No blood dropped as it burst into experience energy to condense and leave an Exp Stone. Grabbing the stone as if picking up money off the ground, he stuffed it away to concentrate on the last three bats.
*bang* *swoosh*
*bang*
Easy! Way to easy! How could it be this easy, when it had a combat rating for the dungeon, as a G3-ranked Dungeon Zone?
When he first fell in this place and saw his situation of being trapped, he thought he would have to fight powerful beings, that would test his limits. After seeing the opponents, and no doors to a different room, he became disappointed.
Fighting things weaker than oneself, would not help build a good foundation in the future. With life goals to grow strong and to avenge his family, he needed a solid foundation. He could not take shortcuts or cut corners.
If he did those, he would make an impossible goal become more so. In Beach Town, there were barely places to build a good starting point at, this Dungeon Zone could be said to be his last hope. Regretfully, it did not turn out how he wished.
No longer feeling excited about exploring a dungeon, he finished the last bat off easily. If he were to wish for something, it would be a wish asking for the dungeon's challenge, to be increased some. In that way, he would at least be able to test his limits while growing stronger.
Bending down to pick up the last Exp Stone he got from the Sound Bats, Jie Heijun saw something unexpected happen.
A white light, hard to see through, and made the eyes hurt, descended from the top in a circular shape. Ranging in a diameter that covered half the room.
There in the middle of the bright light, was a tremendous shape, casting a shadow to make the room grow dim even with the light shining.
Jie Heijun frowned at the display. Wasn't this too much?