Everything turned into a blur as he desded in a rush of wind and shadow, the ughter of ss eg maniacally above. Krion’s stomach ed as the cold air rushed past, the weightlessness of freefall seizing his body. Desperatio him, and he sed the jagged walls for anything to slow his dest. His eyes locked onto an outcropping of stoting from the darkness. Reag out, he strained his muscles, the wind tearing at his clothes and threatening to rip him away from his trajectory.
The fingers of his right hand grazed the rough edge before the momentum of his fall ripped him away in a spin. The sudden force wrenched his arm, pain fring as he tinued his dest. Disorientated, his back bounced off another outcropping, ripping from him a grunt of pain that disappeared behind him. No more sbs of jutting stone remained in his path, but that didn’t matter as Krion got a glimpse of what was rapidly rising up to meet him.
The dim glimmer of a pool below him reflected faint light.
Gritting his teeth, Krion straightened out his body as best he could, legs log as he prepared to hit the water feet first. He crashed into the pool with a thunderous spsh, the impact f the air from his lungs. Down deep, he sank, the floor of the pool nowhere in sight. Cold and disorientated, Krion surfaced, gasping, with a hand instinctively outstretched to push away what had appeared in his vision as soon as he had made tact with the water. When it didn’t immediately go away, he took a moment to read it as he bobbed ier.
Wele to The Pit (Imperial Academy - First Year Dungeon)
Carved deep into the earth, The Pit is a testament to the malice Dungeons direct at those who dare to delve them. A crucible of darkness, this Dungeon is a test not just of the strength of the body but also the resolve of the spirit. Only those with ce, strategy, and unyielding will escape the Pit’s clutches. Will you face The Pit or be swallowed by it?
Objective(s): Defeat the Boss, ????, ????
Reended Group Size: 3-5
Reended Group Levels: 5-10
Warning! Warning! Warning!
Detected Level: 1
Detected Css: N/A
Warning! Warning! Warning!
You are under-leveled and uncssed. Survival ces are slim. Proceed with extreme caution.
Havihe notifications, he could now dismiss them. Worried about how the cold bite of the pool seemed to be seeping into his bones, Krion began making his way to the shore. The warnings told him that he was deeply fucked, but he couldn’t spare any attention to focus o the moment. Thoughts of Hatsune ed him. He had no idea what state she was in — alive, injured, or worse — but his gut told him she was already fighting for her life down here.
But deep within is chest, something burned brighter than the fear: anger. Hector and the other ss aligned with Chadwid House Bright had ered him, forced him into the Dungeon, and worse, had thrown Hatsuo this nightmare first. That was unfivable.
His arms smmed into the water as his legs thrust his body forward until he finally reached the point where he could stand in the shallows. Bck sand gripped his feet as he made his way to shore. Aure in his chest, hotter than the pain that was c through his battered body. The s’s mog ughter still echoed in his ears, their smug faces seared into his mind. He had thought Hector could be a friend, but it had all been a setup. Robbed of a choice, they had forced him into this death trap of a Dungeon, the callousness of it all making his blood boil. He had let his guard down, lulled into a false sense of security by the friendship of Valdre and Redrek. Friendships that he thought showed the Chadwicks of the Imperial Academy to be the exception, not the rule. How naive he had been. Anger fueled his every thought — a their arrogance, a much he still didn’t know, and most of all, a himself for not being strong enough to stop them.
And it might cost Hatsune everything.
As he felt himself start to get swept away iide of anger within him, the words of Alesin and Rolfun echoed in his mind like a stern reprimand. Be smart. Don’t be reckless. Pn your moves. He grimaced, hand pausing as it reached for the hilt of a on that was still back at his residence. Damn it.
“Looks like I already fot their advice,” he muttered, looking around as his eyes began to adjust to the low light around him. He could make out little of the cavernous space around him. Lumi moss was scattered here and there along the walls that surrouhe pool. In that dim light, he could make out that the level he had nded in was massive but little else. The air was thick, heavy with a musty, metallig that g to his nostrils. No sign of Hatsuher. His eyes swept over his surroundings again with a more calg gaze. He couldn’t afford to let his anger dictate his as, not in this po, he would have to be careful and use every advantage he had.
Wait a moment.
Krion’s heart skipped a beat. Thirty free stat points. How had he let them slip his mind? Silently cursing himself for the ht, he pulled up his character sheet. If there was ever a time to use them, it was now. A familiar interface flickered ience before him. Without having a on handy, his best choice was to i his points in what would maximize his odds of survival.
Name: Krion von Sturmwacht
Race: Human (Noresyn)
Css: TBD - Level 1 (Free Points = 30=>0)
Profession(s): TBD
Essence(s): TBD
Fa: Treverorum Empire - House Bcksword
Rank: S - Unnded
Aura: -
Majesty: -
Eminence: -
Strength: 54=>74
Dexterity: 49
Vitality: 65=>75
Endurance: 73
Intelligence: 57
Wisdom: 47
Charisma: 40
Luck: 16
Traits: Greater Soul Oath (Unknown - Hidden)
Skills: Greatsword Mastery (Novice)
Abilities: N/A
Imperial Academy Currencies:
Seals of Valor (0); Seals of ing (0); Seals of Brutality (0); Seals of Discovery (0); Seals of Ara (0); s of Knowledge (15); s of Service (0)
Twenty points were pced intth, and the other te into vitality. The moment he firmed his choices, a surge of energy smmed through his body like a tidal wave. The transformation was immediate — and excruciating. Muscles burned as they became more dense, and his bones ached with the strain of rapid adaption. Krion’s body felt like it was being torn apart and rebuilt at the same time.
“Thank fuck I didn’t do this before fighting those Storm Wolves,” he muttered through gritted teeth, grimag through the pain. “I’m not sure I’d have survived the shock.”
The surging ge threateo overwhelm him, but Krion forced himself to focus, and in moments, it was over. Pain gone, he focused ba the cavern around him. His eyes had adjusted more, revealing the area around him to be less empty than he had initially thought. Piles of debris littered the cavernous floor once he was a bit further away from the pool. A chaotic jumble of broken ons, rusted armor, and shattered bones made several piles around him. Going to the , it was clear to Krion they were whatever remained of those who had failed to delve the Dungeon.
He heard movement nearby.
A on. He needed a on.
Turning his attention to the debris around him, Krion sed the piles of refuse and debris, searg for anythiely usable. The dim light made it difficult to distinguish oem from another, and the first feons he grabbed were too corroded or damaged to be of any use. Broken spearheads glinted faintly, while shields y ed and cracked, their surfaces stained with a mix of blood and rust.
His foot struething solid with a dull g. He gnced down, brushing aside the surroundius. He nearly cried out in relief when he uncovered the hilt of a greatsword. The on was massive, rger than the one he had left behind, its bde nearly as long as he was tall. It was embedded in a mound of shattered metal and stos surface dull with age but surprisingly free of the heavy rust that marred the other ons he had found. The hilt was ed in worher, frayed at the edges but still sturdy. The crossguard in, unadorned, yet solid and still funal.
Krio, ing his hands around the hilt. With a deep breath, he braced himself and pulled. The greatsword came free with surprising ease, the sound of metal scraping against stone eg through the cavern. Krion staggered slightly us weight at first, but once he got a sense of its ba felt simir in his hands to the greatsword he had left behind before css. Even luckier, the edge was still sharp.
A sharp cry tore through the oppressive silence. Krion’s head shot up, his eyes widening as he spotted two shadowed shapes locked in a violent struggle that was ing in his dire. One of the figures had a set of distinctive ear-like shapes over the top of their head.
Hatsune.
Readying his greatsword, Krion rushed in their dire, steps dartiween and over piles of debris and dead dungeon divers without thought. His eyes widened in arm as he came closer, seeing Hatsuruggling to keep a monster away from her. The creature was a horrifying blend of lizard and man, its sinewy, elongated limbs covered in rough, bck scales that glistened faintly in the dim light of the moss scattered across the nearby walls. Its glowing yellow eyes tracked Hatsuh predatory focus, and a wicked, serrated bde gleamed in its cwed hands.
Hatsune moved with determined precision, her longsword fshing as she parried the monster’s relentless attacks. A jagged wound ihigh seeped blood, stainiorn leggings and pooling at her feet. Her movements, normally fluid and lightning-quick, had slowed, and her breaths came in harsh, uneven gasps.
The lizardman lunged with inhuman speed, its bde sshing downward in a brutal arc. Hatsuwisted to evade, her injured leg bug as she narrowly avoided the strike. She retaliated with a desperate upward ssh, her bde sliding along the creature’s scaly hide. It let out a hiss-like snarl, barely fazed by the gng blow. Raising the serrated bde again, it made to stab down at Hatsune’s exposed face.
With a primal roar, Krion smmed into the lizardman, carrying it up and away from Hatsune.
The mowisted its upper body around, fixing its pained gaze on Krion with predatory malice. Jerking himself to a halt, Krion heaved his shoulders to toss the smaller lizardman up into the air. Hissing, it swung its bde at him, but the blow went wide. Seizing the opening, Krion swung his greatsword up in a wide arc. The blow nded with a siing ch, sending the creature back up into the air in a spray of bck blood. When it hit the ground, it didn’t move.
“Krion!” Hatsune gasped from behind him, causing him to swing back around, greatsword ready.
A sed lizardman came running out of the darkness, a spear leveled to take the Leporine high in the chest. Hatsuruggled to rise, her trembling fingers ing around her longsword. Krion could immediately tell it was all she could do to stand, but there was a fire in her gaze. She lurched forward, swinging her on awkwardly. It was just enough to cause the sed lizardman to pull his charge up short.
“Stay back!” Krion shouted, his voice raw, but Hatsune ignored him, her determination burning through the pain she must have been feeling. He rushed to get within range.
Judging him to be the greater threat, the lizardman pivoted to sprint at Krion, a challenging hiss warbling from its throat as it bared its fangs. Before it could take more than two strides, Hatsuhrew herself into its path, her longsword defleg the leveled spear up high, exposing its vulnerable side. Krion’s blood went cold as the move cost the Leporine dearly — the lizardman’s cws raked across her arm, leaving deep, jagged gashes. She cried out in pain, but Krion forced himself to focus on the opening she had forced.
Rushing in close before it could recover, Krion shouted as he put all of his strength into a desding blow at its head. Halfway down the bde, it ected with the desperate lizardman’s neck, ly severing its head from its shoulders. The still-moving body colpsed to the ground, twitg, bck blood spraying across the dirt as it hit.
Krion’s chest heaved as he stood over the fallen lizardman, his heart pounding in his ears. Spinning around, he made sure that no more monsters were going to e rushing from the darkness, theuro Hatsune. She was leaning against a pile of stone, her face pale but defiant.
“You shouldn’t have dohat,” Krion said, his voice heavy with both anger and .
Hatsune gred back at him, her ears twitg in an irritated manner. “A you take it alone? I might be a failure of a bodyguard, but even injured, I’m not useless.”
“You’re not a failure,” Krion said, kneeling beside her. He examined her wounds, fingers gently probing to see how deep that cut ihigh was. He set the greatsword aside on the ground. “But you’re hurt, and we have a ways to go yet. We o get you patched up before more of those things show up.”
Hatsune winced but didn’t argue. Krion tried to tear strips from his school uniform, but when that didn’t work, he ripped a few free from Hatsune’s offered sleeve. The Leporine hissed in pain as he ed first the wound ihigh, then the gashes along her arm.
“What happeo your shield?”
“Broken,” she said, voice tight with pain, theured deeper into the darkness where the first lizardman’s body y. “Lost it to the first two I fought.”
“I’ll get you another oer once we get out of here,” Krion said, his voice firm. “And when we do, we’re going to make those bastards pay for what they tried to do.”
“Krion,” Hatsune said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I think we o talk about our options.”
Krion frowned. “Options? We get out of this together, that’s the only option.”
She shook her head, ears drooping. “Listen to me. I’ll only slow you down. If you leave me here, you might have a ce to get out.”
Krion’s jaw tightened. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Krion—”
“Hatsuop.” His voice was firm but not unkind. “If I was going to leave you behind, I wouldn’t have jumped in after you.”
The weight of his words huween them, and for the first time, Hatsune seemed at a loss. Her green eyes widened, her ears rising slightly as she processed what he’d said.
“You… you really mean that?” she asked softly.
“Of course I mean it,” Krion responded gently. “What kind of person would I be if I abandoned you here?”
Hatsune looked away, her cheeks tinged with faint color. “I don’t think you uand how this is supposed to work. I’m your bodyguard. It’s my job to protect you, not the other way around.”
“I know, don’t think I don’t,” Krion said, pulling her back to her feet. “But this isn’t just about roles or responsibilities. We’re in this together, Hatsune. I jumped in after you because I need you. We’ll both get stronger, but we have to survive this first.”
Hatsu her lip, her ears twitg with uainty. For a long moment, her eyes searched his face for something, but for what he could not tell. After a moment, she nodded. “Okay. Together, then. But no more reckless heroics, alright?”
Krio loose an involuntary chuckle, thinking about Alesin. She had Hatsune would have got aloogether. “No promises. But I’ll do my best to make sure that they aren’t necessary.”
“That is the best I’m going to get, isn’t it?” Hatsune said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Krion shrugged, smiling.
“You, my lord, need more bodyguards.”
“Given what has happened so far, I don’t disagree,” Krion said. “But that is for ter. Now, let’s think this through.”
He looked around the level they were on, the only things new being a crude stoaircase back along the far side and an opening he could just barely make out a bit further along the wall hem. Another room? Perhaps that was the way to the boss that had beeioned in the pop-up the System had shown to him after he hit the water.
“We’re at the bottom level,” he mused out loud. “From what I guess, the will have more of these lizardmen. We’d be running a gau just to make it back to the entrance. I didn’t fall for long before I hit the pool, so that likely is only a few floors.”
Hatsune nodded, her brows furrowing. “But with my injuries, it will be a struggle for us to fight our way through every floor. Even if we get lucky and avoid some of the groups, there is also the possibility there will be traps.”
“Exactly,” Krion said grimly. He hesitated, gng toward the opening along the wall. “But there is another option.”
Hatsune followed his gaze, her expression darkening as realization dawned. “The Boss.”
Krion nodded. “From what I uand, if we defeat it, we’ll get loot—ons, armor, perhaps even things like healing potions of some sort. Those might make it easier to get back out.”
Hatsune’s lips thinned as she sidered his words. “The Boss won’t be a pushover,” she said. “It’ll be quite a bit strohan these lizardmen we’ve killed. Do you really think we ha in our dition? You saw the information about the dungeon, the same as I. We don’t have backup, aher one of us has a css yet.”
“Right, which is why we o know what we’re w with,” Krion said, rubbing his head. “I don’t suppose you knoe share our character sheets?”
“What do you mean?” Hatsune asked with a strange look on her face. She made a flig gesture with her hand, then said, “You just share them.” Her character sheet appeared before him.
Name: Heishi Hatsune
Race: Leporine (Kennokuni)
Css: TBD - Level 3
Profession(s): TBD
Essence(s): TBD
Fa: Treverorum Empire - House Bcksword
Rank: Bonded - Bodyguard
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 27
Vitality: 19
Endurance: 24
Intelligence: 18
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 9
Luck: 11
Traits: Fleetfooted I; Keen Senses II
Skills: Longsword Mastery (Novice); Katana Mastery (Journeyman); Leather Armor Mastery (Journeyman); Scale Armor Mastery (Apprentice)
Abilities: N/A
Krion absorbed the information Hatsune shared, nodding thoughtfully. The Leporine was built for speed and endurance, while her strength was a bit more modest. He was ied iraits she had and what they meant, but right now was not the time to ask. That being said, with this only being the sed character sheet of someone else he’d seen, he couldn’t help but ask a question that had been b him.
“Are these stats typical for someone of your level?”
Hatsune bli Krion’s question, her ears twitg slightly as she processed his words. She folded her arms, her brow furrowing. “Well,” she began, a hint of pride slipping into her voice, “for someone of my rad level, they’re actually pretty good. Leporines naturally excel in speed and stamina, so my dexterity and vitality are higher than average for most people at my level. But as for strength…” She trailed off, shrugging. “It’s not my people’s strong suit, but we make up for it with our precision and endurance. As a bodyguard, I have to be quiy feet and able to outst an oppo rather than quickly overpower them.”
She titled her head, studying Krion curiously. “Why do you ask?”
Krioated, feeling slightly self-scious. “I’m still getting a feel for how stats work and what’s sidered normal.”
Hatsune raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? You’ve only just started, haven’t you? What are you, level five or six?”
“Not quite. A bit lower actually.”
The way she narrowed her eyes at him told Krion she wasn’t going to let that ent slide without an expnation.
“Why don’t I just show you.” He focused on sharing his character sheet with the Leporine.
Hatsune’s eyes traced down the character sheet she could now see. She blinked, her mouth opening and closing several times before she started giggling hysterically, ears twitg erratically on her head.
“Hatsune?”
The Leporine waved her hands, gesturing for him to be silent while she tried to piece together her thoughts. “You’re level one. You have four hundred and thirty-one points distributed across your stats.” Her voice faltered, angle ing out before she quashed it. “That’s not normal.”
“Well, it wasn’t like I started with my stats like that. I gained some additional ones over time w with my trainers on my way here to the Academy, and the ceremony I went through led me to gain some more. That is where most of my points came from.”
“Most of your points?” Hatsued incredulously, the weight of his words sinking in. She stared at him, owitg. “How do you have so many points at level one? Most races start with… what, seven to ten in each stat, and maybe a couple of extras? Even if you trained for years before ing here, that shouldn’t be possible.”
Krion scratched the back of his head, feeling awkward under her scrutiny. “ht. I fot to mention.” He gnced away, as though the part were a minor detail. “I get thirty free stat points per level.”
Silence fell betweehe quiet only broken by the faint dripping of water in the cavern. Hatsuared at him, her expression a mixture of shock, awe, and sheer disbelief.
“Thirty points per level?” she echoed, her voice almost a whisper as she began pag. “Are you serious? That’s… that’s insane! Most people are lucky to get five or six per level!”
He raised his hands defensively. “Look, I didn’t ask for it. It just… is what it is. And holy, I wouldn’t mind trading it for an actual css right now. I could use some abilities to go with these stats.”
Hatsuopped pag, staring at him with a mix of exasperation aant admiration. “Krion, do you even realize how absurd that is? You’re walking into this Dungeon as a level one, and you’re already strohan ss at level ten with a css!” She paused, a thought suddenly striking her. “How did you not beat me soundly in the sparring match earlier?”
“If I had to guess? A ck of skills or traits, and the fact my capabilities are still o me.” Krion looked down at his hands, flexing them experimentally. He did feel stronger siting in his free points. “It’s not enough though,” he said quietly. “Stats don’t mean anything if I ’t protect the people around me.” His red-gold eyes rose to meet her green ones. “So while we are going to do this together, I want you to stay behind me for the Boss fight. Alright?”
Hatsune’s expression softened, and she let out a long sigh. “Alright,” she said, her voice steadier now. “But let’s be clear: just because you’re a stat monster doesn’t mean this will be easy. We o fight smart too.”
“That’s why we’re talking strategy now. You’ve got more experience, and I’ve got the strength. Together, we’ll get out of here.”
Hatsune shook her head, a relut smile tugging at her lips. “Alright, let’s make a pn.”
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