After Liam checked over his status one last time and was happy with what he had he spoke to the Village Chief once again.
"Chief Ronald I have reached level 10 of Tier 0 and would like to take the test to upgrade."
"Excellent, another one who has reached level 10. Okay to tier up you will need to go through a dungeon alone. Their are 4 difficulty modes to choose from and they are easy, moderate, hard and hell. Needless to say hell mode is just that and I wouldn't recommend you try it. There is also a stat buff reward for finishing the dungeon which will add on to you tier up buff once your done."
"What's a tier Up buff? And what's the stat rewards for finishing the difficulty modes?" Liam was curious as to what he could expect as a reward for finishing the dungeons as more stats can help him in the long run.
"Right, every time someone goes up a tier they are granted additional stats, it's like they are powering up as a being." This was kind of lost on Liam as he still didn't understand that the residents of the game world believe that they could reach a higher tier of being even reaching godhood if they constantly went up the tiers. "At the Tier 0 to 1 upgrade you get a flat 5 points to every stat no matter your class. As this is the starting point of a person's ascent through the tiers there is no difference to what they can get. However once you Tier Up from 1 to 2 your class plays a significant role in how much extra power you get."
Liam thought about this for a little while and thought it made some sense, as he still didn't know certain information about the Tier Up process he decided to leave his thoughts at that for now.
"Moving on to the dungeon itself, as I said early you get extra stats for finishing the dungeon depending on the difficulty. Easy mode will give you 1 point to each of you stats, moderate is 2 and hard mode is 5." Chief Ronald paused there as he contemplated over whether to inform Liam of the hell mode prizes, in the end he realised he still had to say as that was his job. "As for hell difficulty you gain 15 points in all stats for finishing it, but I must warn you again that it is beyond difficult to even finish that mode. Nobody as completed it in over 10000 years."
Liam was stunned at the amount of stats gain from the hell difficulty. He clenched his hand into a fist in slight excitement at the possibility of finishing the dungeon and gain all those extra points. Although he knew it was going to be hard he figured that it was worth a try. He has to at least give it a go, right?
"Village Chief, I will attempt the hell mode dungeon."
Chief Ronald's mouth was agape with shock after hearing Liam say that. In fact he though he misheard. "Young man could you repeat that? I didn't quite catch what you said."
"I would like to try the hell dungeon please."
Chief Ronald now realised he hadn't mistaken what he heard and tried to persuade Liam against it to no avail. He could only let out a long sigh before he pulled out a square token.
The token in Chief Ronald's hand glowed faint before a slightly sinister laughter came from it and a black portal slowly started opening. The air around the portal started to have an ominous feel to it and it gradually increased as the portal grew larger. In a matter of moments the portal was large enough to fit a person through. It was completely pitch black give off a very sinistee feeling and Liam could swear he saw small skulls roaming about the surface of the portal.
"Okay the portal to the dungeon is now open. Quickly go in as it can't be maintained for long. Be careful as you can't leave until you finish the dungeon. Even if you die!"
"What!? You didn't mention that before!" Liam shouted. The thought of being stuck in the dungeon even if he dies was unbearable especially since he wouldn't be able to power up any while in there.
"Haha" Chief Ronald laughed embarrassingly as he had actually forgot a crucial detail. "Once you choose a difficulty it can't be changed either."
"Fuck!" Liam was cursing the village chief over and over in his heart hearing that and knew he was now stuck. He looked at the portal shimmering with ominous light and gritted his teeth before walking over to the portal. "Screw it. I might as well just do it since there is no other choice."
Liam got close to the portal and could feel the hairs on his arm stand up. Knowing full well that he couldn't turn back now he gritted his teeth again and stepped through the portal. As soon as he was gone the portal let out an ominous shriek before collapsing and disappearing as if it was never there.
"Good luck young man. Your certainly going to need it."