Chapter 39 - System

"... is the final day before the assumed eruption"

"We dont know for sure if it's going to happen or not, but my informators are saying that it will"

"So then, let's wait! Dont forget to brighten your day with a bottle of Coco-Cool'o!"

"Also, if u're a bit too lazy to just sit and wait dont forget to check out my favourite stream..."

Lots of people were gathered near the gate Norn entered.

For some reason at least half of them were talking with their phones or just cameras.

It looked like a psychward more than anything.

However, there were some geared people here too...

"How do you know what's going to happen?"

Burly middle-aged man said looking at his youngster

"I read some novels and whatever's happening right now resembles it a lot"

One could see a hint of happiness in his words.

"If the dungeon isn't cleared in a period of time - it erupts, releasing all of the monsters in our world"

"That's why we need to close them before they do that, and this dungeon is..."

A strange expression appeared on his face as he was saying it.

It wasn't fear or anything similiar to that.

It was something closer to confusion.

"Whatever, if it's true then we'll be the first guild to defend against such a thing, so be..."

"It will definitely bring us some fame, bwhahahahah!"

Burly man didn't even let him finish as he started laughing

...

Later on that day the [Dungeon Gate] started changing it's colour.

From bright-blue to darker blue.

Then from even darker blue to almost black-blue.

Soon, the colour changed to bloody red.

As it was happening most of the "journalists" dispersed, and only geared people remained on the site.

To their surprise, however, instead of monsters they saw...

"Who the fuck is this guy? Is he an enemy?"

A human body just fell flat from the gate! 

A second or so later said human stood up, swearing.

"Fucking portals..."

As he stood up, he looked around with a dissapointed expression.

"You guys expect to clear an eruption... all by yourself?"

"You're a bit too ignorant, just saying."

He didn't even bother explaining himself as he started walking away.

"Hey, stop! Who are you!?"

He was immediately surronded by a bunch of angry men in shitty armor.

Seeing that, the guy who fell out of the portal didn't even flinch.

"You retards, i'm a hunter as well!"

He took out his [Hunter License], showing it to the nearest person...

"Norn Ashenvale, [D] rank hunter?.."

After a second or so...

"Norn Ashenvale? Aren't you the guy who entered the gate!?"

Someone else screamed nearby.

Soon after that someone ran closer to Norn, who was just standing there with an annoyed expression.

"What took you so long!? Where's the rest of your team!?"

He couldn't stop asking questions...

"Dead, i'm the last survivor. This dungeon was about surviving for a month, they didn't listen to me so that's the result."

As he was explaining it he looked somewhat lost, as he looked around frantically.

"Of course, i dont expect you to believe me, so take me to interrogation or whatever, i dont care, just stop asking stupid questions."

Saying that he raised his hands on shoulder level, as if telling the guy to put handcuffs on them.

"I dont have handcuffs and it's not like we need them if u're cooperate. Move."

He said as he started walking towards the place where Norn "registered" for this dungeon.

...

"So u're saying that your team didn't listen to you, and that's why you're the only one who survived?.."

The same man who took Norn away from the crowd was now leaning on a wall, looking at a young guy infront of him.

"No, i'm saying that those retards didn't bother listening to me because, and i quote: "It's your first dungeon, what can you know?""

"And because of that, they attacked everything left and right, wasting too much energy. I abandoned them on the 4th day because it was too dangerous to follow them."

Norn didn't bother making a pitiful expression as he was explaining it.

He was speaking from the position of power!

Obviously, his story didn't make him a hero or anything like that, he even admitted that he abandoned his team...

But so what? In the end, he's the only one who survived, so it's obvious that his method was correct all along.

As for the rest of the team? 

Norn explained that the dungeon was a maze with only one mission in it - survive for a month.

His team didn't care and just ran all over the place, attacking monsters.

In the end, they wasted too much resources and just died somewhere.

"Or at least that's what i think, i haven't seen them since day 5 or something."

He said and started blankly at the man who was questioning him.

For a few seconds silence occupied the room.

Not even breathing could be heard, as Norn forgot to breate for a second.

As he finally remembered, only breathing could be heard in the room.

"Okay, fine. If more questions arise we'll contact you. You're free to go."

Saying that the man simply left the room, not looking back.

Norn didn't bother thinkng too much about it, as his half-assed story was obviously enough to convince him.

Why did he think so?..

Well, first of all - he came out of the dungeon after a month, it was clear that surviving in a normal dungeon for a month made no sense whatsoever.

Second - who in their right mind would admit that he's a coward, unless necessary? 

Third, and most important - his story checked out. It wasn't the first report saying about such dungeons.

Thus, the investigator or whoever he was didn't have a single reason to suspect that Norn did something bad or even lied.

Yeah, the guy was a coward, but that's not a crime. 

In the end he survived and his team died, he cant really blame him for that.

And so, Norn finally left this place...

"Braindead shit fucking system CAN YOU FUCKING MOVE IT I CANT SEE SHIT"

He screamed in his own head.

In reality, from the moment he left the dungeon his whole vision was cowered with system messages.

In fact, when he started leaving the [Dungeon Gate] he couldn't even see properly and went straight for the house wall.

Maybe that was why people surrounded him, because he acted like a retard.

As for why he couldn't close it?..

Well...

[Congratulations! You've cleared [Insectoid Nest [D]]!]

[Wrong]

[Congratulations! You've cleared [Insectoid [Labyrinth] [D]]!]

[Congratulations! You've cleared [Auwiren's Playground [D]]!] 

[Calculating rewards...]

[Calculating rewards...]

[Rewards: Auwiren] [Mine]

[Rewards: +1 ALL Stats]

[Please choose bonus rewards for exceptional performance!]

[Please choose bonus rewards for exceptional performance!]

[Bonus rewards (choose one):

1. [Skull Breaker] 

2. Adamantium [100g]

3. [+3 Magic]

4. [Filthy Napkin]

]

[Bonus rewards (choose one):

1. [+1 ALL Stats]

2. [+1 ALL Stats]

3. [+1 ALL Stats]

4. [+1 ALL Stats]

]

"Fucking piece of dogshit system cant even give me proper rewards, they're the same! Choose what?!" [Weak]

[Redeemed reward: [+1 ALL Stats]]

"As for this one..."

[Redeemed reward: [+3 Magic]]

The choice was obvious. 

Norn didn't think that Adamantium was useful now, he wasn't a blacksmith and he didn't really need armor or weapons to begin with.

As for the rest of the rewards? [Filthy Napkin] sounded like a good reward for what he did in the dungeon, but Norn himself didn't think so.

And [Skull Breaker] was most likely a mace or whatever, Norn didn't need it.

As system prompts closed Norn could finally see. 

He didn't even know where he was right now, as he simply continued walking as he thought about rewards.

He couldn't choose between the [Filthy Napkin] and [+3 Magic] as... well...

There must be a reason a [Filthy Napkin] is on the same page with the rest, right?..

In reality, that was an artefact that allowed to it's used to... well... aplify the strength of nose blowing.

Yeah...

Dont think that it's an attacking artefact or whatever, originally it was used by nobility in one particular world.

It's purpose was to make it's used louder than the rest, as it was a common way of showing dissatisfaction for something.

For example, if the performance in the theater was questionable - just blow your nose and people will know that you didn't like it.

It's a good thing that Norn didn't pick it, as i doubt that he wouldn't have used it to fuck with people...

Anyway, a few minutes later Norn finally understood where he was.

He didn't have a phone for some reason, he couldn't remember where he put it.

It wasn't in his inventory, it wasn't in his pockets or whatever, so where is it? 

Norn decided to not think too much about it since he had better things to do, and he didn't even use it that much.

The only reason he needed it right now was to find where he is using GPS.

But he could clearly remember that it was with him when he entered the dungeon, so where could it go?..

...

[Open Status Window]

Name: Norn

Age: 23

Sex: Male

Race: Human

Titles: [Fearless], [Bane of Caterpillars], [Destined for Greatness], [I died, but i lived!]

Achievements: [Level 5], [Blessing of Purity], [Blessing of Love], [Blessing of Obscenity], [First Healer], [First Mage], [His eyes are on you] [Mine]

Skills: [I want to speak!], [Training Expert], [I am so happy to have you~], [Foul Desire], [Inventory]

Stats:

ATK: 3

DEFALL: 2

AGILITY: 6

STRENGTH: 3

ENDURANCE: 8

INTELLIGENCE: 39

MAGIC: 34

WILL: 93

SOUL: CANNOT BE READ [Me]

FATE: 258 [Purpose]

LUCK: 0 [No]

OVERALL POWER LEVEL: 2

"What the fuck!?"

Norn was shocked! His stats were cosmic! 

Whole 258 points in [Fate]!? 

What does that even mean though? 

He didn't know, but he had a whole 258 points! That's just perfect! 

His [Intelligence] was almost 40, [Magic] was well above 30 and [Will] was almost at a 100!

It was definitely much better than it was before! 

More than that, he didn't even read those books he had!

Even if they dont boost any stats, they definitely boost his knowledge! 

"[His eyes are on you]? What achievement is that?"

Norn pondered for a moment as he saw it.

"Whose ey... Oh! That fear guy! Must be it!" [False]

He smiled for a moment.

"Oh so that's why my will skyrocketed, because of the guy! Gotta thank him later... with beheading." [Erased]

He didn't really like it that much.

If his gaze alone was enough to disable him completely...

What about the rest of... him?

One attack would be able to wipe the whole earth clean of all the pests or something?

Isn't that a bit too much power for someone in a [D] rank dungeon?

Also, Norn only thought about it now, but why did it count for 2 dungeons?

He doesn't know what that [Insectoid Labyrinth] is, he has never been there.

Did he tell the truth about what happened inside and just forgot or something?

No, that cant be it...

The doll [Auwiren] was still in his inventory, so that couldn't be it...

Then what? 

"Maybe it's becasue i have two system and both dropped me in a random dungeon, and since i couldn't exit before clearing it..."

"The fact that i did just bugged it out and it counted as if i cleared both?" [Excuse]

"Well, if it's not that then i dont even know what happened... Well, whatever, i got rewards for both." [False]

Okay then, now that i've sorted it out i should probably go buy some food...

Norn was still not at home, he forgot that he didn't even have a fridge in his house, and he wanted to eat.

Thus, he decided to go shopping first.

It wasn't a big deal as his money were in his inventory all the time.

On the way there, however...

[[The Doll] is regenerating...] [Rest]

A system prompt appeared out of the blue.

Norn was startled for a second, but didn't mind it.

If she regenerated on her own he didn't even need to bother fixing her.

But only then...

"Wait... Wouldn't she need some adamantite to fix herself? She looked kinda sturdy..."

"Oh for fuck's sake, how could i forget!"

He fucked up once again, at least that's what he thought.

In reality the doll could simply use mana to fix herself, she wasn't just a random doll after all.

Her creator was one in a thousand years genius! [More]

No, not even that, one in a hundred thousand years! [More]

He was just that good! [True]

As such, the doll only needed mana to completely regenerate her body.

It wasn't that big of a deal since the [Inventory] had access to mana from the outside world.

Of course, if someone could see how mana moved they would ask "Where the fuck is it even going?"

But since there weren't people like that yet... or here, at least, not a single person noticed that half of the city was now void of mana...

"Well, whatever, even if she uses spoons and forks i have in my inventory i wouldn't mind..."

He couldn't sell them to Barty...