"Saint-level artifact?" pondered Kyoma to himself. Drawing upon his knowledge from cultivation novels and other fantasy works, he knew that saints were individuals who had surpassed mortal limits and become transcendent beings, capable of flight and miraculous feats. They could sway the fate of nations with ease, split mountains with a sword, and slay dragons. "Is it possible that saints exist in this world?" Kyoma wondered. As he read the description, "Users who are unable to handle the curse contained in this ring will be cursed," he felt a sense of apprehension and held the ring closer to his eyes. "Did the hobgoblin fall victim to the curse?" Kyoma speculated that goblins, being scavengers who loved collecting shiny objects, were attracted to the ring. His theory was that this was a regular goblin's cave, as evidenced by the numerous goblins and treasures they had amassed. But one curious goblin stumbled upon the Loran's Ring, donned it, and was cursed, transforming into a mutated hobgoblin. The curse energy spread like wildfire, turning the entire cave system into a dungeon.
Kyoma's initial hypothesis was not too far off from the truth. The Loran's ring was indeed a treasured heirloom passed down through generations of the Loran clan, as he had suspected. Being a saint-level artifact, it was undoubtedly a closely guarded secret. However, time had a cruel way of dealing with even the most powerful of clans. The Loran clan eventually lost the ring, and it ended up in the possession of a goblin. The goblin, in turn, offered the ring as a gift to the dungeon master, who was a regular hobgoblin at the time. When the dungeon master put on the ring, he was cursed, and this was how the mutated hobgoblin came to be. As for the origins of the dungeon itself, that's a story for another time.
As Kyoma inspected the ring more closely, he couldn't help but marvel at its meticulous craftsmanship. Under a magnified view, he could see the intricate scales of two snakes interwoven in opposing directions, giving rise to the ring. Upon closer examination, he noticed the baleful aura surrounding the scales of the snakes. One aura was pitch black and moved in a wave-like pattern on one snake, while the other was blood red and pulsed in a rhythmic pattern like a beating heart. The longer he held the ring, the more familiar it felt, almost as if he were its rightful owner. It was like a demonic allure, luring unsuspecting prey by playing with their heartstrings. However, Kyoma was certain that the ring was alive and waiting for its destined owner. "Strange," Kyoma mumbled, struggling to put his feelings into words.
Kyoma felt a deep connection with the pitch-black aura emanating from the ring, almost as if it were his own mana. Without hesitation, he slid the ring onto his right index finger, despite the potential danger it posed. Suddenly, the previously dormant aura exploded into a fiery surge of energy that coursed through Kyoma's body and headed straight for his heart where most of his mana was concentrated. The baleful aura was so intense that Kyoma was rendered speechless, unable to even cry out in agony. The curse energy spread rapidly, igniting whenever it came into contact with Kyoma's mana, causing a series of painful mini-explosions. The pain was too much for Kyoma to bear, and he eventually lost consciousness.
"What is your purpose?" came a booming voice.
Kyoma tried to speak, but his voice was caught in his throat.
"Why is it that you seek strength?" The voice continued, relentless.
Kyoma's mind was racing. What was happening? Why was he here? What did this voice want from him?
"FOR WHOM DO YOU WIELD THIS POWER FOR?????????" The voice thundered.
"HOW MUCH ARE YOU WILLING TO SACRIFICE???????????"
The sound was so deafening that Kyoma felt it in his very soul. It was as if he was a tiny boat in the middle of a raging ocean, struggling to stay afloat. His soul felt like a small candle flickering in a stormy wind.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring into an endless abyss. He was unable to move his body and his vision was drawn deeper and deeper into the abyss. The only movement came from countless souls that were filled with resentment, trapped in the abyss. Each one was anchored to the walls in different ways - some were chained, some were impaled, and some were simply stuck. But they all had one thing in common - an overwhelming power.
Kyoma watched as the different souls cried out in pain, sadness, and anger. They surrounded the abyss, pinned to the walls by different items. It was like looking into a bottomless well, with countless living creatures trapped on the walls and screaming in agony. But this abyss was omnidirectional, warping space and time and distorting reality. 100? 1000? 10000? Kyoma could not even keep track of how many souls there were in this tormenting abyss, as each entity gave off an invisible overwhelming pressure caused by the disparity of strength between Kyoma and the souls. The more he counted, the more Kyoma felt that his head was about to burst. Just before Kyoma was about to succumb to the pressure emitted by the abyss, the familiar voice sounded out again.
"State your name, chosen one."
As soon as this voice sounded out, the endless abyss around Kyoma vanished together with the cries and maniac laughter, replaced with a space void of everything - Darkness, silence and stillness. Kyoma could feel his body move again, however, he could not see anything. He tried clearing his throat, but he could not hear a single sound. There was no taste or smell in the air either. It was like a person who have lost all five of their senses, but he had this feeling that he was able to move while he was suspended in mid-air by nothing.
"State your name, chosen one."
The entity asked its question a second time. Kyoma, who was slowly adjusting to his new environment was dumbfounded as he thought that he was hallucinating. After all, the changes were so abrupt that Kyoma could no longer understand what was going on. First, he felt that he was dragged into hell, with countless souls that were being tortured surrounding Kyoma, overstimulating his five senses. Then, he was transported into a void, leaving his overly stimulated five senses unable to sense anything. It was like taking a hot shower, and then plunging into a tub of ice water. The contrasts were too stark. "Am I dead?" Kyoma questioned himself.
"No, you're still alive. Now state your name, chosen one."
Kyoma heard the same question the third time as he finally managed to regain a sense of clarity, albeit only a small bit. "My name is Kyoma" Kyoma tried responding to that question. However, he couldn't hear his own voice nor feel his mouth moving. It was an eerie feeling, akin to being in a coma and witnessing loved ones weeping by the bedside, attempting to comfort them but unable to form words.
"Kyoma, a befitting name for the next wearer of the Loran's Ring. I have never seen a soul as pure as yours. I look forward to your future exploits."
Kyoma felt the weight of the voice as if it were a soundwave made out of lead entering his ear instead of air, and it finished speaking. When he opened his eyes, he found himself sitting cross-legged in the center of the boss room in the instance dungeon. His body was drenched in sweat and his skin was as pale as a sheet of paper. Although it felt like an eternity had passed, Kyoma knew that less than one second had elapsed in the real world, as the remaining goblin corpses around him were still disintegrating.
The three undeads rushed towards Kyoma, their worry evident as they noticed their master's injuries. The windcutter rabbit, ever so adorable, jumped onto Kyoma's lap and expressed its concern with a series of squeaks. "Haha... I'm fine," Kyoma reassured the rabbit as he gently petted it. The two dark goblins stood beside each other, resembling siblings, and were also visibly relieved that their master was okay.
Kyoma examined the ring on his index finger once again and observed a thin layer of dark, wavy aura coursing through his body, blending with his original mana. His previously murky mana now seemed to have been cleansed, flowing smoothly through his body. If his previous mana had been like thick mud, the mana he now possessed felt like pure spring water. This change was evident as his mana now flowed into deeper and narrower recesses of his body that had been unreachable before.
With the nourishment of purer mana, Kyoma's body underwent a qualitative improvement. He noticed that his thought process speed and perception of his surroundings had improved significantly. Previously, he experienced the world through a fogged pair of glasses and an ear muffler, but now he perceived it with a new, clear pair of glasses, seeing the world in 4k resolution and hearing aids that allowed him to pick up previously unnoticed sounds, such as the flapping of bats deep inside the cave and the distant drips of water from the stalactites.
Upon examining his updated statistics, Kyoma discovered that his necromancy skill "Summon undead" had been upgraded to level 2. As a result, he was now able to summon four undead creatures, up from three. Kyoma took a few moments to recover his mana before taking out the hobgoblin's horn fragment and casting "Summon undead".
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End of chapter stats
Name: Kyoma
Class: Necromancer
Level: 5
Experience points: 705/1600
Hp: 770/770
Mp: 80/132
Strength: 44
Agility: 50
Intelligence: 118
Physical resistance: 13
Passive skills: Reincarnation's Blessing (Level 1), Necromancy Mastery (Level 4)
Active skills: Summon Undead (Level 2), Appraisal (Level 2), Assimilate (Level 1), Terpsichorean Art (Level 1)
Titles: Necromancer, Killer of Lesser Field Rabbit, Killer of Goblins, Conqueror of Dungeon
Items: Serpent Fangs Dagger, Loran's Ring, Ice Magic Scroll, Leather Armor, x37 Lesser Goblin Horn, x1 Mutated Hobgoblin Horn, 100 Bronze Coins, 3 Silver Coins
Pets: Undead Windcutter Field Rabbit (Level 5), Undead Dark Goblin (Level 5), Undead Dark Goblin Archer (Level 5), Undead Mutated Hobgoblin (Level 10)