Enigmatic Crusade

Valen wasn’t sure how long he slept. But when he woke up he felt better than he had in a long time. His body still hurt of course, so he knew he hadn’t been out for long. Despite that he felt almost free. As if he had crossed some type of threshold that had been holding him back. 

Casting Heal on his body he had only enough Essence to relieve most of his pain. White light moving around him, it cast a dim glow to his surroundings giving him an idea of where he was. It was a conical pit. The jagged damp rocks that had covered the dungeon, made up the pit as well. No monsters around him at least, he let out a sigh and sat down. Letting out a longer sigh he shook his head with a laugh. “What the fuck,” he mused. Laughing again this one actually echoed around him. His laughter reverberated against the walls above and to the side of him.  

With a shake of his head he forced his elation back as he began to feel around him. His clothes were in tatters. Eaten away by the low level black ooze. Some kind of janitor of the dungeon he knew he was lucky it was so low level, but pushed that thought away for the time being. Instead he brought up his screens. 

For so long he had been level 1, and now in only a few hours he was actually gaining levels. Granted he almost died, but it felt amazing to actually have some power. Hesitant to use his stat points he brought up the other screens to get them out of the way. 

This one had been the last one to pop up. He had heard of laws, but they were talked about sporadically. As if a friend of a friend had one. Since people didn’t like to share knowledge of their powers he wasn’t too surprised. What he did know of Laws, they were like truths of the world. Apparently he had touched on some truth about solitude there at the end. His own understanding of living and dying alone allowed him to reach this achievement somehow. 

For the time being he let the law go. It was a huge reward that had increased all stats by 1. Even his Fate had increased, which was a massive boon in his eyes. Maybe he would stop being so unlucky. Before he checked out his status screen though, Valen had another surprise waiting for him. 

Along with that Valen received his first quest ever. 

“Woah,” he mumbled, reading the screens over and over. Awakening faculties was always a shot in the dark. At least how Helen explained it. When you received a Class originally, the System would awaken a faculty for your skills, if you had any. He had awoken Holy, which had coincided with his Priest skills. The other way to awaken them was a guarded secret by most. Either being around that specific element or learning to twist your essence to that faculty were the only examples he had heard of. . 

Apparently the Black Ooze had been shadow though. Which made some sense because it ate away at him. Where Holy was mostly healing, shadow was it’s opposite, a damaging attribute. Unsure exactly what the distinction was, he still wanted to complete the quest so he could start getting shadow focused Priest Skills. 

With that he brought up his Status Screen. 

His stats higher all around thanks to his new Law, he felt good looking at the screen. He had 2 faculties now, and another interesting fact was that he had gained a Aurous scrap. He hadn’t noticed, but his minor part in helping with the spider boss had granted him a whole aurous chip. The System rewarding those that killed monsters with money was one of the best ways to make a living. More money than Valen had ever held in his life he was starting to live like a real adventurer.  

He actually wasn’t a complete pauper anymore. He had more than enough money for a night at an inn, and good food. A smile on his face, he brought up the screen he only glanced at. His Faculty screen. 

Helen and many other adventurers had explained to him that after level 1, people would gain faculty points. Depending on their class and faculties you could customize your abilities further with them. First he brought up his Holy Faculty Screen. 

Originally his plan was to get Purify, because who knew when you needed to cure a poison. But he had awoken a whole other faculty of skills. Instead he brought up the Shadow Screen. 

Each was a little weak, but the darkness around him made him want to pick Shade. He didn’t know if the faculty would help his Holy skills though, since they were opposites of one another. His best bet was to increase the damage by his Retribution, but Valen was rather annoyed with Holy. 

The faculty was usually attributed to righteousness. Holy knights, paladins, healers, all of them used Holy. But Valen was done with Raging and the Healing House. If he got out of there he wanted to break away from the guild and go on his own. With luck Peter and Claire would come with him. 

Another aspect in his life he was done with was hesitating. Spending so long worrying about what class to pick, where his stats should go, his reluctance to commit was gone. Maybe it was because of his new law, but he knew he could only rely on himself. To do that he had to start being more decisive. Without a thought he put his 3 points in Leech Life

The amount leeched raised from small amount to fair amount as he put more points into the skill. Feeling better than ever, he was ready to finally try to get out of there. Looking up he knew that it would be a long trek, which made him realize he probably didn’t have the strength to do it. But that was an old problem. He still had stat points. Though it wasn’t the best for his class, he threw a point in Strength and Endurance. 

The little guidance he had gotten from Julian had been to focus on Intelligence and Wisdom. They would somehow help him store, channel, and recover essence for his spells. But one of the many things he had gleaned from other adventurers was to do what felt right. Just because he was a Priest, didn’t mean he would always be locked into that role. With those changes he also put a point in Vitality, one in Defense, and because it had helped him so far, one in Anima. Keeping the mysterious stat as his highest stat. 

He felt at peace for the first time in a long time. The stats increasing slowly, his body felt like it had bulked up slightly. Empowering him to do what he needed to. The view around him was still pitch black, but it was time to get to work. 

First he began feeling around him. The Black Ooze was a monster that sometimes laid in wait. Cleaning up the leftovers from other monsters as it supposedly had for the Light Guard. Though it tried to kill him, it had also most likely saved him. His fall would have been a lot worse if he hit rocks instead of the gelatinous body of the monster. 

The monster’s body had supposedly disappeared once he killed it. Hoping for some type of material drops, or leftovers from other monsters that had died there he slowly felt around him. At first all he noticed was jagged rocks. Hands clasping them he tried to blindly guess everything he touched. 

Using Identify didn’t show anything so there were at least no monsters. He continued to spam the skill and feel around until finally something appeared. 

A little excited by the name he slowly moved over to it and eventually found it. A spherical core was in his grasp. Only about one inch in diameter it felt like a big marble, but was easily the most expensive thing he had ever held in his hand.

“Things are looking up,” he mumbled. The core must have been part of the Black Ooze. He should have known there would be a core, but because the monster was so low level he wasn’t positive. The monster had allowed him to gain a faculty to shadow by using the essence type on him, and now he had his very own shadow core to boot. 

“Too bad I’m an idiot,” he mumbled. One of many things Valen had always wanted was to learn a profession. Cores were the main ingredient in all professions, and finally he had his very own. He had tried so many times to become an apprentice to someone, but it never panned out. “Guess I’ll have to sell it,” he mused as he moved to put it in a pocket.

“Right,” he said, his hand only touching bare skin. “My clothes are mostly gone.” Except for a shredded pair of cheap underwear, he was mostly nude.

“This is fucking mine,” He said putting the core in his mouth. It tasted like nothing so he moved it to his cheek, and began to move away. Using Identification more he eventually found his mace as well.  His hands feeling all over it, the hammer seemed fine. Putting it in his armpit he decided he was done scavenging. 

“Where to go?” He mumbled, the dark all encompassing, he was already turned around. No other choice he put his hand up and cast Retribution. This time instead of trying to attack though he tried to drag it out. Almost use the skill lazily. He thought of the skill and a white light escaped his arm and shot out from his hand straight up. Way too fast to catch a glimpse of much he did see that there was a steep incline next to him with plenty of jagged rocks to climb. 

Moving toward the side of the pit he was in he tripped slightly but caught himself on the wall. His increased strength already felt ready to go as he gripped the cool rocks and began to climb. Unsure what he was doing he held onto the rocks with all he had. When his legs could get purchase on the hidden protrusions he was able to move more smoothly up, but it was slow going. 

When he was high enough to not feel anything else, Valen risked it and fired another Retribution straight up. Again he tried to make it slower, but the skill was an almost instant cast. The white light shot up and died out before it hit anything. It did however illuminate plenty around Valen. On the opposite side of the steep wall was another pit. This one had another ooze in it, but it was red. 

With a gulp Valen cast Identify on where it sat below him. . 

“Fuck,” he said. He would have tried with a lower level one, but he wasn’t confident against these monsters. Then again, he now had Leech Life. Pushing back his own fear he decided to go for it. More monsters, especially higher levels, meant more essence and levels. He needed every one he could get to escape this place. Taking a slow breath he pointed at the general location of the monster and used Leech Life. 

Instead of a clean sense of peace escaping him like what happened with the holy spells, Valen actually felt power this time. Like this shadow type skill was far superior than the holy ones. He didn’t see any light escape him, but he did feel something. Almost a link from him to the monster. 

Power poured into him instantly. Not a huge amount, but enough to notice. The damage he was inflicted with by the Black Ooze dimmed away as he stole life force from the Red Ooze. Switching the black core in his mouth to the other cheek he could already taste a red one coming. To help speed the process along he pointed down and cast a Retribution. The white light escaped him and red ooze reached out for him. 

“Fuck,” he said, his feet almost losing their grip on the rocks. This ooze could actually move. Like some blob of goop it had been reaching for him. Valen cast another Retribution. This time it struck the ooze that was much closer. Only about five feet away as it slowly moved up the pit towards him. 

This time though Valen noticed something odd. A darkening in the pit wall next to him. Quickly running through his odds of actually defeating a higher level monster before running out of essence, Valen scrambled toward the small cave he noticed. His hands grasping hard he could actually hear the ooze now, it’s body bubbling as it became angry. 

With a burst of strength Valen pulled himself up, casting Retribution behind him at the monster. His eyes focused on the cave wall opening he had found. The light showed the way and he climbed up into it. Unsure if he could retreat far away to regroup, he moved up into the alcove as quickly as he could. The cave turned to go further into the wall, but this time Valen noticed a light ahead. 

The walls around him were slightly illuminated. No longer as blind he was able to move slowly away from the ooze and toward the light. His hands becoming more confident, the cave leveled out and the white light became brighter and brighter. The tunnel widened until it was as tall as him, allowing him to walk. His vision filled with bright lights now, there were a few glowing mushrooms at his feet. 

His eyes were focused on the white glow ahead though. Ducking down under a dip in the roof he stood up to see his salvation. A dungeon portal. 

Just like the one he had seen only a few hours ago, this dungeon portal was a cascade of lights swirling around and moving toward the center of the flat doorway. It was smaller than the last, but it was definitely a portal. 

“An exit,” he said, his eyes wide as he stared at it. Uncaring about the ooze or mushrooms Valen slowly walked toward it. He had heard that a few dungeons had more than one entrance and exit. It could take him near where he entered, or half-way across the world for all he knew. With that possibility, he could be thrown out into a higher leveled zone out in the real world. But at the moment he could really care less. 

Wanting to cry from joy at seeing it, Valen didn’t hesitate and stepped into it. His vision turned white as he closed his eyes. When the energy engulfing him slowly disappeared he opened them again to see that he was in another cave. Instead of the cave being made up of rocks though, this one appeared to be consisting of grass. 

The side walls of the small cave were green. Where he stood was dirt, and straight ahead was an opening that looked far different than the one he had entered in. Hesitantly he walked away from the dungeon entrance. His mind reeling he walked numbly out of the little secret cave in the dirt and stepped out at the base of a tree. 

All around him were trees. Not the moss covered ones from the swamp, but giant ones with real leaves. Massive canopies hanging overhead, there was knee high grass around him. Above there was a large gap in the monstrous trees that showed the moon. The white glow of the far away rock was a welcome sight. Valen knew this was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. 

Bugs, frogs, crickets, and other minor animals sounded all around him. He was out in the real world. No giant spiders. No Raging guild or oozes. He was alone but alive. Right then that was all that mattered. Smiling wide, Valen couldn’t help but look around and marvel at the beauty of the world. He had lived through certain death. Escaped a high level dungeon and gained more than he thought possible from it. 

Spitting out the Shadow Core into his hand he began to throw it up in the air and catch it. His eyes scanning everything he felt like he was on a new world. One set aside all for himself. He had come there through a portal, for all he knew, it was a new world. One thing he did know, it was a new him. 

“Let’s fucking get to leveling,” he said. A loud roar of a beast echoed in the forest causing him to duck back into the hole. “In a bit,” he added as he sat back down.