[THE FIRST QUEST HAS BEEN PREPARED! WOULD YOU LIKE TO ENTER?]
The message appeared the moment Remirg Kryptos entered the shack, which he called his home.
Eyeing at the message for not less than a single second, Remirg pushed [YES].
Meanwhile, Mark raised his eyebrows and let himself smirk at the naivety of Remirg. With a malicious grin on his face (that's what it looked like), Mark extended his hands.
For Remirg, a strange glowing purple key had dropped right on his head from nowhere. It hit sharply on his head, letting off a series of curses escaping his mouth.
None the less, judging from the pain, the key was large and bulky.
Picking it up from the ground while rubbing his head at the spot of impact, Remirg Kryptos started examining the strange artifact.
It seemed to be constructed purely of obsidian and gold. The gold seemed to be forming the shapes of certain textual characters, which unfortunately, Remirg was not acquainted with. Moreover, instead of having the regular indents, the key had a smooth curve for the indent, looking like a depiction of blazing fire.
[ ITEM: KEY TO A LEVEL-Z SHADOW DUNGEON
CLASS: Z-TIER MAGICAL ARTIFACT
RETENTION OF MAGICAL POWER : 10;
RETENTION OF POISON: 0;
THE ABOVE ITEM CAN BE USED TO OPEN THE PORTAL TO A LEVEL-Z SHADOW DUNGEON.
PLAYER REQUIRES A MINIMUM OF 60 HP TO ENTER THE DUNGEON.
IF THE GIVEN REQUIREMTNS ARE MET, THE PLAYER CAN SUMMON THE DUNGEON BY INSERTING THE KEY INTO ANY DOOR. BEINGS WHO ARE "NON-PLAYER" CANNOT ENTER THE DUNGEON AND WILL BE ABLE TO USE THE DOOR NORMALLY.
BEING A Z-TIER MAGICAL ARTIFACT, THIS KEY DOESN'T HOLD ENOUGH RETENTION OF MAGICAL POWER TO SUMMON ITS OWN PORTAL.
THE KEY WILL PHYSICALLY DISAPPEAR WHEN THE DUNGEON IS CLEARED.
THE REWARDS FOR COMPLETION WOULD BE EVALUATED AS PER THE PLAYER'S PERFORMANCE.]
Skimming through the provided information once, Remirg started searching for a door.
Unfortunately, his shack didn't possess what could be called a door. His homely protection was provided by a singular fluttering cloth strapped to the opening with some kind of adhesive.
Thieves normally wouldn't want to break into a house as good as Remirg's.
Glancing around once, he found out that no living being was present around himself for a good 40 yards. The only settlement near Remirg's so-called "home" was the hut of the old lady. And luckily, the hag was out to get a few turnips for lunch.
It couldn't have been any better for him.
Sneaking inside the fence, Remirg glanced around once again, conforming that his break-in was as transparent as glass.
Satisfied that he really was his only companion, he turned around to face the small, wooden door. "Small", because it barely reached his eyes.
Crouching low, he produced the key out of his shirt, where he was hiding it.
Taking a deep breath, he inserted the key into the door. To his surprise, the key easily fit into the door, contrary to its strange indent.
Turning the key once, the door made a prominent clicking sound.
Suddenly, the seams of the door seemed to produce a light, which was the shade of palest purple, mimicking the color of the system he was possessing.
Backing off, Remirg Kryptos watched in awe as the door started to shake. Moments later, it swung open inwards, allowing a deep passage, which; Remirg was sure that never existed before.
This apparition produced a slick smile on his face. He now perfectly knew that he was not daydreaming. This... was the actual thing.... that only he solely possessed.
Meanwhile Mark, who was watching all of his actions, was now looking at Remirg with a very serious expression. This is supposed to be the protagonist's first real life-or-death situation.
And Remirg, who had never faced death before, was going to have a hard time in the dungeon. For by all means, he needed to succeed. He needed to succeed in order to fend off the upcoming catastrophe.... For that... was the original purpose he was gifted with the system...
On the other side, Remirg Kryptos was already making his way into the passage with a staggering determination.
The mortal world was slowly fading behind him as he stepped into the uneasy darkness. The only sources of light were the mysteriously suspended purple torches which were hanging over his head, providing an eerie aura to the otherworldly location.
Meanwhile, the door behind him shut with a loud bang.
Remirg Kryptos jumped at the sound of it, turning behind sharply to find that the door had vanished.
Before he could comprehend what had happened, a notification popped in front of him.
[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY ENTERED A LEVEL-Z SHADOW DUNGEON!
YOUR CURRENT STATS MATCH THE MINIMUM REQUIREMNTS.
YOU SHALL NOT LEAVE THE DUNGEON BEFORE ITS CLEARANCE.
PENALTY UPON FAILURE: DEATH]
Remirg Kryptos read the message for nearly five times before realization dawned upon him.
His eyes became wide open as cold sweat started streaming down his fair cheeks. He realized that his whole body was trembling.
The single word, "Death", in the notification was sending chills down his spine.
"Dammit! This was not what I anticipated! This is much worse than banging into the mansions of one of those geezers! This thing is literal suicide! ****!"
Mark had anticipated what he was looking. He knew that a boy who lived in the protection of his home planet would shiver at the name of death. He has yet to witness blood. But that... is what Remirg needed to overcome... he had to overcome the fear of losing... the fear of death...
____________________________________________
For Remirg Kryptos, he could do nothing else but walk forward.
Cautiously placing his nervous steps so that they made the slightest possible sound, he started to make his way in the passage.
He noticed that the passage was resembling something like an underground cave, judging from the rocky and irregular surface of the surrounding walls. The floor was comprised of moist stone covered with dense moss, which made it dangerously slippery.
He could feel no signs of life. All seemed to be eerily quiet. Even the torches' blazing fire didn't produce any sound.
Moving on for what felt like literal hours, Remirg didn't find anything. The passage seemed to stretch on forever. He felt like he had walked more than ten miles.
Something seemed to be off... Something didn't feel right...
Contracting his eyebrows in a very distinct frown, Remirg spun backwards. Carefully investigating the walls, he started touching them, apparently trying to find something.
When he found it, his eyes had already widened.
There on the wall lay the same sweat of his palms when he first touched the wall. Because never once had he touched the walls after that.
Realization struck hard. He seemed to be walking in a constant loop, passing by the same location over and over again, countless times.
Nevertheless, giving in to the fact that he couldn't do anything about the situation, he resorted to sitting down.
Laying himself down on the soft ground, Remirg started thinking hard.
Though he didn't possess any muscles or power, he did know how to use his brain. That was his one and greatest asset, which had always pulled him out of such dire situations.
"There is something that I am missing... If the corridor leads to nowhere, then there must be a secret passage or something...
Since the minimum requirements clearly stated that the player only requires HP, then any normal being should be able to find a way out of this...
There is something... that is missing..."
Hoisting himself up on the ground again with extreme care, after a considerable amount of thinking, Remirg closed his eyes.
Taking a deep breath, he started fiddling with the ceiling.
"The ground and the walls are all irregular and mossy. But the ceiling seems to bear no such protrusions. It is quite smooth. Almost like it is constructed from a different material".
A few minutes of fiddling proved his theory.
The ceiling really was made up of a different material not known to Remirg. It was as smooth as the smoothest granite found on his home world.
"Yes! At least a little progress is better than none!"
The feeling of triumph was somehow clouding his fear of the true scenario. But Mark knew better than that. He knew... this was just the start... just the start of the real thing...
Remirg Kryptos tapped the ceiling gently, trying to study the echoing sound.
It revealed to him that the ceiling was hollow. It was trying to conceal a room which was directly above the dingy passage. A huge room at that. The sound reverberating from the ceiling was deep and took more than a few seconds to echo back.
Already having determined what he had to do next, he started searching for a large and heavy object.
He can only do a single possible job. Smash through the ceiling.
Thankfully locating a large boulder lying in a singular crack in the wall, he started making his way, trying not to stagger, to the middle of the corridor.
With a lot of difficulty, he hoisted the heavy boulder over his head, imparting decent blows on the ceiling.
Mark watched in astonishment as the ceiling burst open, opening a crater large enough for Remirg, into a huge chamber.
" I thought I made sure he burst the ceiling in his 20th attempt, which took over an hour... how was he able to do it so quickly ?
Something seems different..."
But his attention was already diverted as Remirg helped himself upward the hole into the chamber.
But what lay next was something which Remirg didn't anticipate.
The Simulator had already popped him a notification.
[THE PLAYER HAS ENCOUNTERED A SHADOW BEAST!
CLASS: UNSPECIFIED;
LEVEL: Z;
MAGICAL POWER RETENTION: 15;
POISON RETENTION: 0.1;
THIS SHADOW BEAST IS COMMONLY FOUND IN THE FORESTS OF THE DISTANT PLANET OF SAR'ATH. MANY OF ITS KIND WERE MAGICALLY TRANSPORTED TO THIS DUNGEON AS A RESULT OF AN UNKNOWN SEIGE.
THE PLAYER NEEDS TO DEFEAT THIS BEAST TO ADVANCE GO THE NEXT CHAMBER!]
And there it stood, a gigantic black beast, whose tips of fur were glowing the brightest cyan.