"Arrgghhh", As a familiar wave of pain surged through his body, Bittu couldn't help but emit a muffled cry, his agony palpable even through the strained sounds escaping his lips.
[You have used an undistributed stat. Perception: F -> E]
[You have used an undistributed stat. Agility: D -> C]
"... Cough.... Argh.... Cough..."
'I see'
'Each evolution in my stats seems to trigger this excruciating pain.'
His trait was gradually making him indifferent to pain, to ignore his fate that was full of anything but suffering, at least until now, thus he could think.
Even when the soul tearing pain assaulted all of his being, he used this chance to know his condition better. Since he didn't want to make any more mistake, he didn't put any stat into his spirit stat, but into the others. This was also why he used one of the stat into his perception.
This stat which has given him something similar to the sixth sense was definitely very useful in the long term and it was almost like one of his important senses so, he wanted to make it as useful as he could.
As he contemplated his next move, a sudden dizziness swept over him, the world spinning in a disorienting whirl. Something ethereal seemed to beckon to him, a latent power stirring within, seeking integration with his being.
His intuition, dormant yet potent, responded to the evolution of his perception, attempting to awaken and merge with his consciousness. After a while, slowly, as clarity returned to his senses, Bittu noticed a remarkable shift.
His vision sharpened, details once obscured, now vivid and clear. Not only that, but his hearing became more acute, the gentle whispers of the breeze and distant echoes resonating with newfound clarity. Even the scent of blood, thick in the air, assaulted his senses with heightened intensity.
Elation washed over him as Bittu grasped the true extent of his perception stat's influence. "So it is actually related to my senses," he marveled at this newfound information.
"Looks like I need to focus on this stat too, alongside my agility stat.", Bittu said with seriousness as he knew that to stay alive he need to kill his opponent and in this dungeon with his dagger, the only things he need to focus on were his agility and now perception.
Bittu then looked around and closed his eyes to see how much he could see, or rather feel, with his enhanced perception.
One meter
Two meters
Three meters
Four meters
Five meters
....
Ten meters
"Ten meters it is.", Bittu thought as he felt his perception expand for about five meters than it was before. He could feel all the things in his perception clearer than before. Before, he could only feel something coming his way, but right now, he could not only feel but also see. Even though it wasn't that clear but he could make things out with the shape of the things, like the door near the end of his perception.
"..."
"Wait?! A door?", Bittu said with confusion and cautiousness. He focused his senses on the door, ready to act at a moment's notice, trying to figure out what it was for. But his newly developed perception was still not evolved enough to let him know what the door was made up, let alone the interior of the door.
"What is the door doing here?"
Time passed with Bittu standing still, unable to decide if he should enter or not?
Curiosity consumed him. Curiosity about what was inside that gate? Why was a gate there in the first place? Why did he only see it now and not before?
*step*
He took a step towards the gate as curiosity finally took over his cautious.
But,
Badump!
Right then goosebumps covered all around his body as a chill run down his spine. He felt dread as he felt his heart skip a heartbeat. He instinctively did a backflip to distance himself from the gate.
"Danger! ", Bittu spoke with utter seriousness and dread as he said, "That place is very dangerous."
Bittu opened his eyes and with his enhanced vision concentrated on the door that he was unaware of until now.
In his eyes appeared a weathered oak gate. Its surface, etched with age-old runes and carvings, tells tales of forgotten and lost civilizations. Iron hinges, rusted with time, now hung upon the door that acted as an evidence to its ancient aura.
"....."
Bittu looked at the gate intensely. He should have already turned around after the realization he had had earlier, but he had this inexplicable urge to go inside. It felt like if he turned around, he would regret it, like he would lose something that could be of enormous help. His very being was also responding to the call, telling him to go inside.
"..."
After what felt like an eternity, Bittu sucked in a deep breath as he whispered to no one in particular with hesitation, "If I want, I can turn around but... inside there is something I... Need. I can feel that. "
".... Sigh.... "
"Let's see... What my skill was warning me about and take what is inside." Bittu thought, still vexed if he made the right choice or should he just leave?
"Moreover, the skill may be wrong.", he thought, because his very being was urging him to go inside and take whatever it is.
He moved as he arrived before the gate. Putting both his hands on both its side, Bittu opened the gate that was closed until this very moment for God knows how long.
*creak*
*creak*
The door opened!
....
Darkness!
In the silence of the place, utter darkness was all Bittu could see inside. Nothing came in his sight. He was baffled as he spoke." Why is it so dark in the room?"
Bittu, cautious since his earlier warning by his skill, didn't walk inside when he saw the interior that was pitch black.
"How would I fight if something comes after me in this place?", Bittu had a serious thought because this could be a huge problem. Unable to see would result in a huge decline in his combat powers.
"....."
"Putting the stat into perception was the right choice.", he thought, finding an alternative that he could use inside.
He still didn't back off because that urge to go inside and take that thing increased by a huge margin the moment the gate opened. He took in the bloody air that was all around him as he steadied his heart and entered the gate.
*step*
*step*
*step*
Bittu entered into the room. But the moment he entered it, he heard a sound that made his heart race faster.
*creak*
*creak*
BOOM!
The door closed on its own before Bittu could even react. All it took was the moment for him to turn around to see that the door was already closed.
Badump!
Goosebumps once again covered his entire being as his senses tingled, warning him of the threat that was all around. His heart shook like a drum as blood surged through his veins with its utmost speed, as if a horse had let loose.
Bittu, with a heavy look and sweaty back, turned around, only to find skeletons upon skeletons, in an endless number before him in his perception. Before this, he couldn't even sense them, even when he was just before them, but now he could. His only saving grace was that these were Lv. 1 skeleton, and he figured it out by the status that appeared the moment he focused ahead of him.
[Skeleton Lv. 1
Strength-> G
Agility-> G
Stamina-> ∞
Constitution-> G
Perception-> G
Spirit-> G
Description : An ancient being that was awakened from its slumber because of an intruder.]
"Is this hell?!", Bittu shouted with a forced smile as he watched slowly all the skeletons around him get an ethereal blue glow in their eye as if they were waking up from their slumber.
....
"Huff... Huff... Huff..."
He took deep breaths as he sliced the skull of one of the skeleton that was behind him.
[You have killed a Lv. 1 skeleton.]
Bittu ignored the notification, just as he had done for the past twenty minutes. Currently, he has already killed more than a hundred skeletons that were around him.
"How many....huff....more....huff....are there?", Bittu spoke as exhaustion washed over him. He then sliced the skeleton that was around him, but then he suddenly felt his skin tingle. He immediately back filled to escape the encirclement of the skeletons.
Bittu raised his head as he looked at the endless skeletons that were around him. He was only alive till now because these skeletons didn't come at him at once but in the span of some time, almost as if they were programmed, the difference being five seconds, with twenty skeletons coming at him initially.
He then slashed the three skeletons that were before him and used that chance to see his soul power.
[Soul power: 254 /500] -> [soul power: 280 /500]
'They haven't even crossed three hundred.", Bittu thought vexed since if his stat doesn't rise up fast, he would be in serious trouble because he has already exhausted himself.
He slashed to his right, then to his left, and then whirled as he killed ten more skeletons. The skeletons kept on coming at him and Bittu because of his dagger wasn't overwhelmed by their numbers.
Just like that, he killed and killed and killed the skeletons. These skeletons, being just Lv. 1, couldn't do anything to him with small hits, so he hasn't called his cards out to help defend against them and was just focusing on killing them.
...
After about an hour, Bittu was currently looking at the sight before with a very serious gaze. Right now, there were no Lv. 1 skeletons but Lv. 2 skeletons all around him and the first twenty were once again coming towards him.