The next thing I knew, the sound of banging woke me from a nightmare where I was imprisoned by flaming chains that never stopped burning me no matter how loud I screamed for mercy. I cracked open my bleary eyes, surprised to find the banging was someone knocking on the door of my room. I tried to remember how I had gotten here, but I couldn’t piece it all together enough for it to make sense.

  The banging on my door continued, and I carefully leveraged myself up from the bed and staggered toward the door. I was still fully dressed, and my pants were in the process of being repaired. The skin underneath still looked burned and scarred, but the excruciating pain from yesterday was lessened, so I knew some healing had occurred while I slept.

  I opened the door to see a young man standing in the doorway.

  “Sir,” the young man said, “you only paid for one night and you haven’t come down to tell us if you are staying another night or leaving. It’s well after noon and we need to know if someone else is going to be staying here.”

  I fumbled with my belt until I found a piece of silver and handed it to the young man.

  “Reserve the room for another couple days, and can you have someone bring me up a meal and a pitcher of clean water?” I asked.

  The young man grabbed the silver coin and bowed respectfully once he realized I wasn’t trying to freeload in the room. “Of course!” he said, turning and hastening down the hallway.

  I closed the door and collapsed back on the bed. The pain in my leg was manageable, so I knew I was almost finished healing. I was also starving, so my nanobots must have been busy all night repairing the wound.

  I spent the rest of the day and night recuperating. By the next morning, I was fully mended and feeling better. I thanked the innkeeper on my way out and then made my way back across the channel.

  This time, I avoided my old villa and went exploring toward the northwestern parts of the city. That direction led toward the Emperor’s enclave, so I didn’t go too close to that area—I didn’t want to get involved in even more conflict than I already was—but there was still plenty of city to explore as far away from the priests as I could get.

  I found an abandoned home that I secured for myself. It wasn’t as nice as my villa, but it was a stone home with solid walls and no damage to its thick doors. I picked a small interior room on the second floor that had no windows and cleaned it out. Then I began to explore around my new place to catalog all the dungeons I could find in the area.

  I spent the next week clearing dungeons. The first dungeon I found was in the basement of an old, abandoned bakery. I half expected bread-based enemies or some kind of pastry monster but ended up fighting through a warren of kobolds who attacked with flimsy spears and rudimentary magic. My Stealth and knife skills were enough to clear most of the dungeon without alerting any of the other nearby kobolds. The final boss, a kobold shaman and his followers, were easy to put down with my firearm.

  The next several dungeons were harder. They all had small, claustrophobic layouts like an underground warren full of monstrous rabbits, a miniature house full of creepy dolls that liked to sing as they tried to kill you, and a shadowy, ephemeral dungeon where it was difficult to tell where the walls even were. In such tight spaces, I found my firearm a bit restrictive and I couldn’t use my Dash to its full extent without room to move. Once enemies got into melee range, my revolver was more of a hindrance than a help. Thankfully, my attributes alone were enough to give me the edge, and I was able to overpower and kill anything that got too close, saving my gloves for the strongest of the enemies. I thanked the “safe zone” that made the dungeons weaker, if that was really what it did.

  By the end of the week, I had received enough experience to level to twenty in my Archer class. I also received five more gold orbs, a plethora of blue orbs, a necklace that let me see in the dark from the shadowy dungeon, and another perk. I had also leveled my Enchanter class once and received another point in memory.

  Perk obtained: Natural Weapons. When using your hands, feet, claws, teeth, or any natural part of your body to strike a foe, you strike as if your strength was increased by +2.

  I earned the perk from fighting in so many confined dungeons where I had to use my fists, knife, and gloves, I believed.

  Like my other perks from the dungeons, it wasn’t the most powerful perk in the world, but it had its uses. I found the perk system interesting. Unlike achievements, perks weren’t broad, but they could be helpful in unique situations. I rather enjoyed collecting them.

  When I finished the last dungeon, I got the announcements I had been looking forward to for days as my experience climbed higher and higher.

  Congratulations, you have received enough experience to level your Archer class. You are now level 20.

  Please choose a level 20 class skill:

  Sniper Shot: Your range is tripled and your shot penetrates most armor.

  Fan of Death: Your projectiles multiply and penetrate in a wave in front of you, dealing significant damage.

  Take Flight: You summon a pair of hawk wings, giving you temporary flight.

  Lightning Rod: A bolt of lightning strikes the location where your projectiles land.

  Stride: Your movement speed increases, obstacles bend from your path, and your step is sure and steady.

  I was disappointed to find that the interesting skills were all magic-based, such as Take Flight, Lightning Rod, and Fan of Death. That left Sniper Shot, which was useful but didn't offer a lot of diversity in its use, and Stride, which didn’t sound impressive, but given that it was a level 20 skill, I hoped it wouldn’t disappoint. I had received another point in coordination when I reached level 19, so my speed was already significant. Stride would hopefully build off that, making me even faster as I moved. That would help me stay far enough away from most things to use my firearm, I hoped.

  The sure and steady step should also be helpful. If I slipped while running, a fall could actually cause serious injury, given how fast I could move these days. Not seeing a better option, I selected Stride.

  As I did, I felt the knowledge of the skill enter me. When it finished, a second surge of knowledge began to fill my mind. I felt a heat build inside of my chest as vague images began to flash in my mind. The heat burst inside of me, flowing through my veins, down through my chest and out to the rest of my body. When it finished, I received another announcement.

  Congratulations, you have unlocked an evolution of your Archer class based on your unique use of the class. Class unlocked: Gunslinger. Your class rating is Unique. Do you wish to adopt this class now?

  I stared at the announcement. I had hoped but had no idea if it was truly a unique use of the class or if it would be recognized by this world at all. That it had . . . I was gratified beyond belief. I accepted the evolution immediately.

  Congratulations, you have earned the achievement Evolve a Unique Class. As the first person to ever evolve into a Gunslinger, you receive an upgrade to all of your Archer skills. The following changes are made:

  Dash becomes Trickster’s Dash: Dash through the air, ignoring wind resistance until you land. When you dash, you are briefly invisible until your dash ends.

  Perfect Coordination becomes Gambler’s Eye: You receive a passive boost of 20% to your coordination, your vision is improved, and you gain a sixth sense that reveals when luck may be favoring you.

  Stride becomes Swagger: Your movement speed increases, obstacles bend from your path, and your step is sure and steady. Your movements subtly intimidate others.

  I smiled at the changes. A unique class meant I could level it all the way to level 100. And the evolution of my Archer skills were all significant upgrades. That was more than I could have ever expected. The announcements weren’t finished yet, apparently.

  Congratulations, you have received enough experience to level your Gunslinger class. You are now level 1.

  Congratulations, you have received enough experience to level your Gunslinger class. You are now level 2.

  Congratulations, you have received enough experience to level your Gunslinger class. You are now level 3.

  Please choose a level 1 class skill:

  Sucker Punch: Stun an enemy with a punch of your fist.

  Elemental Adaptation: Select one element. Your bullets are infused with the essence of your element, increasing damage and having a secondary effect based on your chosen element. Elements available: fire, ice, earth, wind, demonic, eldritch, space.

  Rapid Reload: Instantly reload your revolver with the ammunition of your choice.

  Duel Me: At the start of combat, challenge a foe to a duel. The stakes of the duel are randomly selected and may include an attribute point, a percentage of all experience gained, a perk, a mutation, a skill, or an achievement. The first to surrender, retreat, or die loses. The winner of the duel permanently steals the stakes of the duel, and the loser permanently loses the stakes of the duel. This skill may only be used once a day.

  Returning Knife: Your knife can be recalled back to your hand instantly after a throw.

  Now those were some interesting skills. I could sense that all of the skills were physical, likely because I had somehow invented the unique class and couldn’t use magic. It was nice to have a complete list of skills to pick from for the first time. Sucker Punch would synergize well with my new perk, making my gauntlets and melee attacks more powerful, but it wasn’t really a necessity since most things died from my gauntlets or fists relatively quickly—at least here in the safe zone.

  Elemental Adaptation was potentially powerful, especially since I could unlock elements—such as demonic, eldritch, or space—to empower my bullets. I pushed at the skill, trying to get a sense of what the various elements would do, but I only received vague information in return. Demonic gave me the impression of illness and weakness, eldritch of some kind of twisting energy that corrupted the world around it, and space of bending and pulling reality in some way.

  That was too vague for me to take a chance on right now.

  Rapid Reload and Returning Knife were basic and uninteresting. The most fascinating of them all, and the one I knew I would pick as soon as I saw it, was Duel Me, because it would allow me to grow in power the more often I used it. It came at the risk of me losing my own attributes, perks, or skills, but if I used the skill carefully, I would be able to grow in power faster than with any of the other skills.

  I selected Duel Me and felt the knowledge of the skill enter my mind, showing me how to activate it. I immediately felt the urge to go challenge something or someone to a duel, but I refrained for now.

  Coordination +1

  Coordination +1

  I received two more attribute enhancements to coordination for levels 2 and 3 of my new Gunslinger class before running out of the experience that had been left over after hitting level 20 in Archer. Once my mind settled down from the many announcements that had hit me all at once, I made my way out into the nearby street to test my new skills.

  Trickster’s Dash was simply wonderful. I could sense myself turning invisible as I dashed around the streets, some sixth sense telling me when I vanished and reappeared. I could use it to move just a foot to the side, disappearing and reappearing in an instant. I could use it to approach an enemy unseen and unheard, since I was dashing through the air without any air resistance and I was invisible at the same time. The only sound was when I landed softly at the end of my dash. I could also use it to reach the rooftops above me like I could before, but now it was almost impossible to know where I had gone, as I didn’t have to telegraph which direction I was moving before using the skill. I could simply disappear from a complete standstill, giving no clue to where I had gone. It was a versatile and powerful new skill, without a doubt.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  My vision was also noticeably better with Gambler’s Eye, and I could already see better than a normal human could before I received the skill. I couldn’t figure out how to sense “luck,” as the skill had mentioned I would be able to do, but I would have to see if that developed later.

  Swagger was interesting. I found myself walking differently. Before I got the skill, I realized now, I walked in a very utilitarian manner. Head held high, perfect posture, arms at my side a bit like a robot. I had never realized how odd I must have looked to other people, who had a much more natural gait.

  Now, though, I walked casually, dangerously. I felt looser. It wasn’t exactly an obvious change—I could tell I wasn’t some caricature of a cowboy from a Western movie—but I was definitely carrying myself in a different way now. I felt more human and, at the same time, more deadly.

  As far as the skill itself was concerned, I practiced sprinting through the streets to test it out. I could move even faster than I could before because I had better traction on the ground as I ran. I could turn quicker, my boots refusing to slip even on the slick cobblestone roads. And the way debris and obstacles bent from my path was eerie and strange. The objects didn’t actually move—I verified that by observing a pile of stones before and after I walked through them—but at the same time as I stepped through the stones, I just happened to avoid stepping on any of them. I didn’t turn my ankle or place a foot improperly, no matter the terrain. It was as if I just happened to step perfectly between every loose stone, always maintaining my balance and speed. It disturbed my rational mind, which insisted such things were impossible. I had to force myself to let it go, lest it drive me a bit crazy as I ran.

  Finally, it was time to test my first Gunslinger skill. I tracked down a sub-boss in the city to test it out, figuring it was better to go for an easy target to start. I found a monster that I hadn’t bothered to fight before but had seen around several times now. It was a small biped almost like a goblin, except it was covered in a thick layer of fur and about a foot smaller. They smelled atrocious and were easy to avoid, but in my search for a monster to duel, I found a pack of them that had a sub-boss, so I went with them. I picked out the sub-boss from the group and activated my new skill.

  “Duel Me!” I yelled at the creature. I heard an announcement in my head as soon as I activated the skill.

  Duel activated. You and your opponent have both wagered your experience. Good luck.

  The beast immediately turned to face me. It became enraged, screaming at me in anger as if it understood what I had just done.

  Reacting quickly, I dashed forward, my revolver still holstered, and began striking and kicking the pack of monsters before the rest of them realized I was there. My enhanced strength and my perk Natural Weapons meant every strike killed one of the little monsters. When the rest of them realized what was happening, they all turned and tried to attack me, and I dashed upward, soaring up and over the pack of monsters while they piled forward to where I had been just a moment before, not realizing I was gone.

  My dash ended a few feet above and behind the pack, my skill pausing me in midair for a second. I dropped down, my body handling the fall easily, and then I turned and kicked one of the monsters into the middle of the rest of them, scattering several to the ground. I moved in to finish off the confused pack, easily killing them with only my hands and feet.

  Winner: Alexander! You are awarded 130 additional experience.

  “Hmm,” I said as the duel announcement and the smaller experience awards from the creatures entered my mind. That wasn’t as rewarding as I had hoped, but compared to the five experience I got for killing the sub-boss itself, it was actually pretty high. When I used it on more powerful creatures, hopefully the experience would be even higher.

  I was a bit concerned about how the monster had become enraged after I activated my skill and seemed to know what I had done to it. That could make it hard to use the skill while I was trying to surprise an enemy from ambush or use a sneak attack of some kind. Either way, it was an exciting skill and I was looking forward to testing it out further.

  To get me to level 20, I had completed five dungeons, putting me at fifteen of twenty for my personal quest Clear the City. I was eager to test my new Gunslinger skills in more dungeons, but it was getting late. I had just completed the dungeon that got me level 20 and didn’t want to push myself, so I turned in for the night.

  I didn’t sleep but had recently taken to practicing martial arts from my Earth now that I wasn’t expending as much energy crafting bullets every night. I had all the knowledge from Earth in my head, including knowledge of a wide variety of martial arts. It helped me gain a better sense of my own power and speed, which was especially important with how quick and strong my body was in this world. I had already been surprised by my own power too many times. And not only did it help me learn more about my own body, but it also helped me center myself again. I had felt a bit unbalanced since my night trapped in the city, and I knew I wasn’t processing the difficulty of that night properly. Spending my nights slowly going through martial arts forms, feeling the flow and strength of my body, and just living in the moment helped me find a center of calm once again.

  The next morning, I set out to find my sixteenth dungeon, full of excitement to test my new skills. I had already completed the ones closest to where I was staying, so I had to go a few streets over before I found another.

  It had become clear to me that this city was not meant to have so many dungeons in the “safe zone,” as the quest had called it. The dungeons were dangerous but manageable for someone with my attributes and my weapons. A team of skilled people who were at least level 10 in a variety of classes could clear these dungeons, but the knowledge of how to do it had faded, so people weren’t even willing to try anymore. That led to thousands of dungeons spawning, overwhelming the city as the monsters spilled out of them at night. Whatever, or whoever, had designed the system had likely intended for a safe zone to have a handful of dungeons form at a time, making them easier than the monsters outside the city as a way of giving people in the safe zones a place to practice working together and fighting in various types of terrain. The fact that the system had failed and so many dungeons had piled up meant I had an easy way to earn experience, orbs, and possible skills or perks, so it was a major benefit for me personally. I couldn’t help but wonder if the Emperor or the army felt the same, though, and that was why they didn’t help clear the city of more dungeons.

  When I finally found another dungeon, it was in the middle of a large, open pit dug into the ground next to the street. It looked like a building project had been in the works when the city was abandoned. Now it had been sitting empty and fallow for however many years. The pit was a muddy mess. The weather had turned recently. We had been getting more and more rain, and it seemed the pit had decided to save as much of it as it could. I could see one corner of the pit was unnaturally dark, indicating a dungeon had formed.

  I carefully made my way into the muddy pit, thankful for my new skill that gave me steadier footing. Without it, I would have fallen several times. I half expected a monster to jump out of the mud and attack me at any moment, but I didn’t sense any monsters nearby and didn’t think it was likely.

  As I appeared inside the dungeon, I checked to make sure there was nothing immediately threatening me and then knocked as much of the mud off my boots as I could. Feeling slightly better, I looked around me to see where I had ended up this time. I was standing on top of a large hill, surrounded by endless rolling hills in every direction for as far as I could see. The hills were covered with vibrant green grasses and low bushes, with no trees in sight. The view reminded me a bit of Scotland, and the chill wind that blew over the hills matched with the descriptions I had in my memory of that region as well.

  One of my favorite things about dungeons was having a break from the depressing scenery of the city, so despite the cold wind, I stood on top of the hill and admired the beauty around me. I took a deep breath, savoring the fresh air and the distant sun warming me ever so slightly. It was a serene environment, unbroken by the smells and look of a dying city. I felt closer to understanding what the purpose of existing was when I got to stop and enjoy moments like this.

  Sadly, nothing lasted forever, I had learned rather quickly. A distant roar echoed across the hills toward me, and a large beast from a nearby hill had stood up, staring in my direction. It was just on the edge of my Monster Hunter perk, so when it began to run in my direction, I sensed it in my mind.

  From what I could see and sense, the creature was alone. It was quite the behemoth, I noticed as it charged down its hill and began to chug its way up mine. It stood at least ten feet tall and was at least three times as wide as me. It had a green and pebbled hide that rippled with muscle as it ran. As it got closer, I noticed that the creature was covered with moss and grass that grew on its shoulders and head, almost like it was a portable flower box. Despite how thick, pebbly, and unattractive its body was, the moss and grass covering it almost made it look friendly. Of course, its constant roaring as it worked its way up the hill toward me made it clear it wasn’t.

  If I had to guess, based on the mythology from my world, I would say it was a troll.

  I waited until it was about halfway up my hill before I drew my revolver and blew out the creature’s knee with a well-placed Penetration Bullet. My empowered bullet penetrated its thick hide with ease, sending it crashing face-first into the hillside. It tried to roar again, but the sound was muffled by its head being buried in the dirt. I almost laughed at the sound.

  If mythology from Earth was anything to go by, trolls were vulnerable to fire and could regenerate from almost any other damage done to them. I unloaded the rest of my Penetration Bullets and loaded a full set of Explosive Bullets.

  When the creature managed to stand back up, I could see its knee visibly regenerating from the hole I had put in it. The beast didn’t wait, trying to stumble forward and kill me even with a half-destroyed knee. I took aim and fired an Explosive Bullet into its chest. The explosion rocked the creature backward, not quite tipping it over, but the flames rapidly caught. The troll’s outraged roar turned to a scream of fear as it tried to put the flames out on its body, which only served to spread them even more.

  I watched as the troll burned to death from a single Explosive Bullet. As I had guessed, the monster was vulnerable to fire, and it only took a single bullet to ignite the beast, which burned as if it was made of kindling. This was how many of my dungeons had been going lately. I either completely overpowered the dungeon with my revolver and the various bullets I had crafted or I faced monsters that were almost impossible for me to kill. In those cases, I had to quickly adapt and barely managed to scrape through thanks to luck and my attributes. At least this dungeon was one I could handle with my revolver. I was not a fan of the other kind at all.

  I spent a few hours hiking through the beautiful countryside, igniting trolls here and there as they helpfully charged me with an outraged roar, making it easy to set them on fire before they got anywhere near me. None of them could surprise me, thanks to my Monster Hunter perk, so even the few that were slightly more intelligent and dug themselves into the ground in an attempt to ambush me were easy to detect and kill. The sub-bosses were just more powerful versions of the standard troll, slightly bigger but still just as stupid and vulnerable to fire as the rest of them.

  The final boss, when I finally found him after wandering for several hours, was a different type of troll than the others. He was a chalky white, almost like he was made of stone, and instead of being covered in moss and grass, he seemed to be caked in a layer of white dust. As I stared at him, I decided to use my new Duel Me skill against him.

  As soon as I made that decision, a strange sensation overtook me. I felt as if a coin was flipping through the air in my mind, but I knew exactly how it would land. Was this my new sense telling me luck was on my side? I felt confident it was.

  “Duel Me!” I yelled at the boss, stepping forward and pointing my revolver at his chalky hide.

  Duel activated. You and your opponent have both wagered a perk. Good luck.

  The troll roared in outrage as the announcement washed over me. He turned and immediately charged me. I fired five rounds of Explosive Bullets at him, but as I half expected, he was immune to fire. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. I had learned that the hard way from my other dungeons; there was always some twist if things became too predictable.

  I considered what I knew of trolls from my world as I ran backward, putting space between me and the massive troll. I probably needed acid of some kind, which I didn’t have. Maybe there was some kind of acid-based enchantment I could have bought, but you couldn’t plan for every single eventuality in the world. There would always be something I didn’t expect or plan for.

  I dashed away from the boss when he got too close for comfort, reloading as I flew over the ground invisibly. The boss stopped in confusion as I vanished in front of him, looking around for where I had disappeared to. I was happy to see he seemed too stupid to understand what had happened. Once my revolver was reloaded, I dashed again until I was behind the troll and then unloaded five Penetration Bullets into the back of his knee, hoping to cripple him for a time.

  My bullets ripped through his knee, but I could already see it regenerating by the time I was done firing all six shots. The boss turned with a roar and charged me again, but I dashed away before he got close. I executed a second dash immediately after the first, but this time I launched myself forward toward the boss’s back. I appeared right behind him and slammed a golem-powered fist into his leg. My punch was strong enough to nearly sever his leg completely, pulverizing it and sending a thick spray of troll blood across the ground.

  I dashed backward, avoiding the boss as he attempted to turn and strike me. The boss managed to stay on his feet, despite his crushed limb. He slowly stumbled toward me when I reappeared. I stood still for a moment, watching as his leg began to regenerate even from the damage of my golem-powered punch.

  I sighed again. This was going to be a slog. I circled the boss, dashing away whenever he got close. Every time one of my gloves was off cooldown, I dashed in and inflicted grievous bodily injury on a part of the boss. His regeneration was insane, but it finally started to slow after I had knocked him around for over an hour. With two punches a minute for over an hour, that was an absurd amount of time for him to be able to regenerate from such devastating blows over and over.

  Finally, though, with one final golem-powered punch, he dropped to the ground, his regeneration finally exhausted.

  Winner: Alexander! You are awarded the perk Regeneration.

  Perk obtained: Regeneration. You gain the regeneration of Gromger the Mighty Troll King. Your body can regenerate from almost any wound. Injuries regenerate based on your endurance attribute and the amount of energy available to your body.

  Now that was a damn good reward. I already had a form of regeneration from my nanobots, but the perk would give me a much stronger and quicker regeneration compared to what my nanobots could do. I felt the perk kick in, and my weariness from the long fight and so many uses of my Dash faded instantly, replaced only with a mild hunger and thirst, much like when I used my nanobots extensively. I smiled at the feeling, enjoying the rush of energy the new perk provided.

  I saw the white dungeon core lying on the ground where the troll had been standing when I first approached, so I walked around the monster’s body and touched it.

  Congratulations, you have completed this dungeon. You have earned the following rewards: 2 gold cores, 9 blue cores, 1250 experience.

  I gathered the orbs, and the dungeon rapidly faded around me, leaving me standing in the muddy pit once again. The squelching of the mud around my boots as I hiked back out of the pit couldn’t dim my pleasure at stealing such a powerful perk from the boss. I could tell already that my Duel Me was the best choice I had made since coming to this world.