As Damien downed a pint of the strongest alcohol they had, he looked idly through a list of items and nearly spat out his drink.
[Yin-Yang Acupuncture-10,000 origin points]
[Bone washing pill-50,000 origin points]
[Ghost manifestation talisman, 200,000 origin points]
What insane prices! Which money-crazed bastard designed this system, huh? Fuck, not letting a person live…
Damien was a millionaire right now though, so he bought a few of the pills and talismans just out of curiosity. The pills were described as your basic bitch talent-enhancing pills but those were always useful, right?.
They were actually useless to him.
[You already possess the highest tier of bodily talent]
When an inquiry was made the system then elaborated like this,[Your Imperial Divine Dragon physique is the highest tier of all existing Dragon-related physiques barring that of the Dragon God Okeanos himself. All bottlenecks from mortal to the Divine Flame realm will be nonexistent for you]
Damien wasn't especially interested. He continued to look through the items until he caught sight of a non-assuming key.
[Dungeon key. Class E. ]
A dungeon, huh. Again? The last time he dived into a dungeon he didn't even find a single slime girl so he was a bit annoyed at seeing this. It brought up bitter memories.
He checked the description. [Creates an instant dungeon] Well, that was a bit obvious. But he was curious, so he bought it for a whopping 500,000 origin points. He only had like 5 mil to work with, so it made his heart bleed.
All those hard-earned points and he's splurging on fucking keys, of all things. There better be a hot android maid at the end ready to suck his dick at the end of it. He rubbed his chin at the thought. Fucking an android isn't cheating, right? It's basically a sex doll, really.
Wait, were androids the half human ones? Or was that a cyborg?
Damien was actually entertaining such irreverent thoughts, as if there was any chance of there actually being a hot android waiting for him.
No, well, there is a chance. Small. But it wasn't impossible. And he's pretty lucky...hmm…
He looked at the key in hand.
[Do you wish to use the Dungeon key? Yes/No]
Fuck it, he's bored anyway. He hit yes and the key made an audible crack, shatting into a thousand glowing pieces before disappearing.
Immediately all the music stopped. His drink, which he'd raised to down the last mouthfuls of, was suddenly gone.
He sighed. "That's disappointing."
Damien looked over his shoulder, feeling multiple hostile presences. [You have encountered multiple enemies]
It wasn't just a few. Seemingly every human being previously in the club had been replaced by tall, fully armored figures brandishing swords. Somehow the space in the room appeared to have expanded to fit them all.
Above each of their head were the words [Armored Soldier]
He felt the corner of his lip rise. "What are you waitin for, an invitation? Come and die already."
They came like a tide. Damien moved. Faster than words, faster than thought. His body seemed to flicker as he went from the barstool to the leading soldier as if by teleportation. He slammed into the cold metal soldier with enough force to send it flying back and into the others. A clearing was created as every soldier in front of him was knocked down like pinballs.
It didn't last even a second before vanishing. Innumerable metal soldiers filled in the ranks of the fallen. Damien didn't think about his next series of actions, he simply did it. Like a madman he charged into the thick of them. Like he did the first night he came to this world, Damien grabbed on of the soldiers by the arm and started beating motherfuckers with another motherfucker. Always a solid tactic.
He whipped the captured soldier around and crushed scores of them with a single swing.
[6 Soldiers destroyed...10 Soldiers destroyed….17….]
He easily reached the double digits.
"You weak sons of a bitch, come on!" He snarled. "Fight me!" He lashed out with a leg and directly shattered the armor of yet another soldier. They were empty. Bloodless. Motioned by who knew what magic or force.
"At least make me feel something!"
Damien was annoyed. Impatient. Angry. Maybe it was the wait of the past few weeks. Maybe it was something else.
Perhaps it was the air. Ever since he arrived on this planet, he was aware of it. How the flavor was just...bad. This world lacked something his home didn't, something that made the atmosphere here disgusting to him.
Mary. It lacked Mary.
This annoyance...he knew what it was, deep down. It was withdrawal. A world without Mary tasted foul, like dirt and oil. There was no hint of earthy sweetness at the tip of his tongue, no lingering flavors of citrus and spice that he'd always believed he was only imagining before.
It's only now that he understood. That wasn't his imagination at all, it was simply the taste of Mary. She was the Holy Strain and the world itself was infused with her.
Parting from that was unbearable. It hurt more than a lost limb. He hated being away from her, plain and simple. He was already itching to get back and only barely contained his irritation.
The separation was like quitting hard drugs cold turkey. He'd wake in a cold sweat with his skin feeling clammy. His heart would beat irregularly like he was having an attack. It made him want to claw at his chest and tear it out. Once, he'd even woke and caught himself reaching for Vera. Why, he didn't know. But the girl had been by his side so often these days that he'd forgotten he could no longer hold her. She was also something this world didn't have.
It was comforting being with them. That wasn't something he'd thought of before, but after the change in their relationship he started becoming too used to having them around.
And it wasn't only that. Ever since he got that message he was tickled by a twinge of regret. When he died he had a lot of time to think. Purgatory had little to offer but time. And pain. And madness. But those came later. First it was the horror of being alone with his own thoughts. He believed he'd come to terms with never seeing any of his past family again. He may not have had a great relationship with them, honestly. But still. They were his blood. And he did love his sister, even if she didn't seem to care much for him herself.
The message, however, brought it all back. That and more. His aching head, flashing with faces and places he didn't know or didn't think he knew, for one. Or maybe he just couldn't remember. Perhaps this was just a family, a life, he hadn't said goodbye to yet.
Fuck, but he really did miss those two grass heads…
Piles of broken, empty armor lay at his feet. The number had thinned drastically."You aren't even enough for me to vent on." He shook his head in disappointment.
Forget it. This was just the start of the dungeon, wasn't it? Surely there was something that could give him a challenge.
He's just going to have to go and find it.
After that? He'll deal with this hateful sense of mourning. Preferably with something stronger than that piss water.