Chapter 7 - Sealed door

"Good," Souta said, looking at his stats. His health, mana, and stamina were all fully charged. He lost too much health and stamina in yesterday's battle. A player's normal recovery rate when not resting was one per hour, but when sleeping, their recovery rate increased by five times.

In other words, it would increase to $5 per hour. He only had 42 health, so eight hours of sleep was sufficient to restore his health to full. It's also the reason why some players will go to an inn before logging out. Players will be unable to move once they activate the sleep function in the game, forcing them to log out.

"Well, let's enter..." Souta shook his head and stepped inside the cave.

...

This dungeon was different from the last dungeon. The floor, walls, and ceiling were made of stone bricks. It looks like an abandoned underground base or labyrinth.

The torches on the wall were organized neatly so Souta could see more clearly in this place.

Souta moved his gaze ten meters away. Five ghouls were standing around doing nothing. He could see their rotten flesh clearly.

He brandished his sword and dashed forward.

Swooosh!

"Die!!" He roared as he waved his sword.

The head of the ghouls flew and crashed into the ceiling. Thick blood scattered everywhere.

Souta ignored this and he kicked the body of the ghoul that he beheaded.

Bang!

The headless ghoul crashed on the two ghouls on the left side. It immobilized the two ghouls. The other two ghouls roared as they charged at him.

Souta pulled back his sword and used the skill [Stab].

Putchi!

The sword pierced through the body of the ghoul.

He lifted up his feet and kicked the ghoul, at the same time pulling out his sword.

He then moved his other hand and swung the staff.

Bang!!

He didn't stop as he swung his sword again.

"Die!!"

...

It took him a minute before he defeated the five ghouls. With his current stats, he could defeat these monsters without any problem.

Souta looked at the paths in front of him. He frowned as he tried to recall where the Boss room was.

"Ah! I remember now! It's in the front!"

Since the boss was on the path ahead, he decided to finish the left path first. He's saving the boss for the last. That's really the way.

He would get the other good things here before fighting the boss. The things on the left path were a treasure containing skill books that he needs to get a class. While the right path was a room full of more than twenty ghouls.

Even though he knew that the right path was a room full of ghouls, he would still enter it as he needed exp and soul the most right now. He wouldn't let it escape his grasp. Those exp and soul were all his possessions. Not now, maybe later after he kills them.

"The basic requirements to get the class..."

He moved forward and killed some of the ghouls on his way until he reached a sealed metal door.

He was familiar with this door. A sealed door where a treasure chest lies behind it. Characters were neatly carved in the metal door. Below the characters were things that he knew.

A coin, book, fish, and a bed.

He couldn't understand the meaning of these characters.

"Ah~ I really need to learn how to read and write in this world," Souta muttered with a sigh. If he wasn't familiar with this dungeon then he wouldn't be able to get the treasure inside this sealed door.

If he was in the game, the system would translate these words for him.

He sighed with a helpless expression. He then rubbed his chin as he began to delve back into his memories. Some parts of his memories were fuzzy, covered with thick fog.

After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and looked at the characters.

"If I'm not wrong these characters... It means 'It wears a coat to keep its skins in working order. Transport you to other realms without a magic portal." That's what he found in his memories. It's strange that he could look back on his memories like a book.

"If I were to answer this back on earth then I would answer Virtual Capsule, but it's not in the choices below. Well, I know the answer because I already tried this back then."

He stepped forward and pressed the book on the door. He then took a step backward as he waited for the door to open.

After a few seconds, he heard a metallic sound stirring inside the door before it slowly opened. It revealed a dark room without any torches.

Souta smirked as he looked inside the dark room. If he picked the wrong answer then it would activate a trap to kill him. He died many times because of the trap back in the game.

He took a step inside the dark room. A golden treasure chest was lying in the middle of the room. The darkness couldn't hide the golden treasure chest completely.

He squatted down and slowly opened the golden treasure chest. Inside the chest were two black books.

These two black books were the skill books that he wanted to acquire. He could also get these books in the academy on the surface or some mysterious guy that sells skill books. Well, there were many ways to get the basic skill required for basic class, and going into the dungeon was one of these.

Souta held it in his hands. A row of words appeared in his vision, as soon as he touched the books.

[Do you want to learn Mana Manipulation skill for 2 skill points? Yes/No?]

[Do you want to learn Fireball spell for 2 skill points? Yes/No?]

He had 8 skill points and learning these two skills would leave him 4 skill points. He received 1 skill point every time he levels up and 4 skill points weren't a loss to him if he could learn these two skills.

'Yes,' Souta said mentally. He then saw his skill points decreased by four.

Knowledge about the two skills was poured inside his head. It made him slightly lose his balance.

[You've learned Mana Manipulation skill!]

[You've learned the Fireball spell!]

Souta took a deep breath when he read the words. He's one step closer before he could get a class.

The requirements for the Mage class were simple. A player needs to learn the skill [Mana Manipulation] and five magic spells for the class Mage. He already learned one magic spell. He just needs to learn four more spells to complete the requirements to Mage class.

But that wasn't important now. What bothered him was the strange feeling when he learned the skills. The knowledge of the skills that were poured in his head.

Souta raised his hand, emitting a faint bluish light. He had some control over the mana within his body. There is no such function in the game. The players believed that the [Mana Manipulation] skill was useless. This skill was only necessary for them and him to obtain the class Mage and learn other spells.

The feeling of this strange energy inside his body made him feel like nothing could defeat him.

He could freely control the mana inside his body. He could use it to coat his fist, legs, or his whole body when fighting an opponent.

"Really... This is getting me excited," he said, smiling. He's excited to return to the surface.

...

After he finished settling his things, he went back and go to the crossing paths before.

He finished the left path and time to exterminate the ghouls on the right path.

First, he looked at his newly acquired skills.

[Mana Manipulation] Level 1: A skill that will let you control your mana. No cost

[Fireball] Level 1: Creates a fireball that attacks the enemy. Mana cost: 5

These were enough for him. Undead was weak against fire, light, and holy type skills. This lessens the difficulty of this dungeon, no, the boss. He wouldn't use the [Fireball] against ordinary ghouls as he only had 36 mana. He would save it to finish the boss easier.

At the very least, he wouldn't suffer like when he fought the Undead Skeleton Mage before. He had a higher chance of beating a boss with additional fire type skills.

He hummed as he walked forward. He was in a good mood right now. There's no doubt about this but the other dungeons contain skill books. He would plunder them later and get the Mage class.

After a few minutes of walking, he arrived in the center of a wide room.

Bang!

The only exit behind him was closed and the walls slowly opened revealing a large number of ghouls inside.

"Grrraaa!!"

The ghouls looked at him with bloodshot eyes. They revealed their sharp nails and teeth.

Shiiing!!

Souta brandished his sword as he slowly turned around to face the ghouls.

"Don't disappoint me! Just give me a lot of experience!" he smirked.