Well, it would've been more accurate to say that the section of the passageway behind me collapsed.
But that wouldn't have been as dramatic.
I propped myself up against the wall of the dungeon. With the cave-in, there would be no going back the way I came. I could only pray that there was another exit in this dungeon, especially as the adrenaline was leaving my body and feeling was coming back into my right leg.
Fuck, that hurts!
There was a massive gaping hole where my calf muscle was supposed to be. A large chunk of flesh had been torn straight off my leg, and I could tell that it was only going to get worse as time went on.
I took a deep breath and clenched my hands into fists, trying to resist the pain. I thought about my next steps, trying to stave my mind off the pain.
And then, a familiar blue screen popped up in front of me.
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
And more.
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
...
This went on for a good thirty seconds before the screens finally stopped coming.
It looks like all of this suffering was at least worth the reward. I quickly checked my statistics to determine how many levels I had gained and to upgrade my skills.
Thirteen levels... Not bad. Sure as hell better than slimes. Now then, the first order of business...
I browsed through the rulebook for healing skills, but most of them were locked behind classes that required you to worship a deity. It was the classic game design for most healers.
Of course, I could always take [First Aid], but I doubt anything short of magical healing would fix my immediate issue.
I certainly didn't want to devote myself to a deity this early, even if some of them were beautiful women with unbeatable curves.
As I was about to give up and settle for [First Aid], I noticed a section out of the corner of my eye.
Forbidden skills...? Why didn't I see this before?
The rulebook generally showed me whatever I was looking for, but perhaps it was deeper than that. Perhaps it showed me what I needed. It was a hypothesis I would need to test out later.
As I began browsing the skills under the "Forbidden" section, it was immediately clear why these were forbidden. Many of them involved various methods of sacrifice, gruesome ceremonies, or harming a living creature in order to use.
However, all these elaborate rituals were merely performed in order to grow and nurture the user's "Darkness" attribute by tainting their soul and subjecting them to experiences that most would consider unsavory. Unlike regular magic skills which used mana to create its effects, forbidden skills used Darkness to do so.
I stared at the screen for a few seconds before a wicked smile grew on my face.
Darkness?
It was almost as if this entire section was made for me.
Immediately, I selected the skill [Devouring Healing]. It used one's inner Darkness to forcefully extract mana from the atmosphere and convert it into life force, healing the user based on the amount of Darkness they had and creating a "dead zone" of mana where the skill was used.
Until that area's mana was naturally replenished through time, creatures inside the "dead zone" wouldn't be able to cast magic safely due to the instability in the mana density of the area.
Even though magic was cast from a mage's internal mana reserves, it still required the atmosphere to be sufficiently suffused with mana or the spell would quickly fizzle out or at worst, go awry and risk damaging the caster or their allies.
In essence, it was both a defensive and offensive ability that was ideal for countering mages. As someone who liked to deal with enemies with my fists, the skill was a perfect fit for me.
After investing the rest of my levels into my base stats, I looked over my statistic block, only to be surprised by the new value that had appeared.
[Creature Statistics]
Name: Mikado Ryuuko
Race: Human (Transmigrated)
Class: Classless
Strength: 20
Dexterity: 14
Constitution: 16
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 10
Darkness: x(s+I) = D
Skills: Rulebook (Special), Complete Analysis (Special), Transmigrator (Special), Pyromancy (Lv. 1), Devouring Healing [Forbidden] (Lv. 1)
[END]
What the hell does that mean? "x(s+I) = D"? I hope the God of Transmigration knows I nearly flunked math.
Well, whatever. As long as it works, I can figure that shit out later.
Raising my constitution to 16 had dulled the pain greatly to the point where I was no longer struck with the urge to scream. Even a massive wound like this only felt half as painful as it should've.
Which still hurt a fuckin' lot, mind you.
I waved my hand over my wound and spoke, "[Devouring Healing]."
Instantly, the wound closed as my flesh knit itself together rapidly. It was a disgusting feeling that could be likened to thousands of tiny insects crawling over your skin as needles pierced through your body.
Still, it was preferable to the alternative option of having a hole in my leg.
I couldn't exactly feel the mana in the atmosphere deplete, but I was fairly certain that the air around me had grown lighter. It almost felt brittle, as if just moving through the space around me would cause it to shatter like hot glass dropped in water.
Even so, I couldn't afford to be stuck down here for much longer. Without food or water, not even [Devouring Healing] could keep me going for long.
I picked myself up and began trudging down the long dungeon passageway. My mana had partially recovered, allowing me to light my way with familiar flame.
Earlier, my usage of [Complete Analysis] had ended up mapping out the entire dungeon. It was useful, but I couldn't afford to be inundated by the massive amount of information that had shot through my brain at the time.
However, I remembered that there was a larger dungeon room at the end of this passageway which had several doors. With any luck, there would be edible monsters to fight.
If not, I simply had to press on. Either way, I wasn't going to let my journey end here. Not by a longshot.