Boran looked at his hand for a moment, then shook it. "Boran Apaydın."
William glanced at his shield. "What is your class?"
"Tank."
William's expression changed for a moment. It was small, but Boran saw it.
"What?" Boran asked.
William took a deep breath. "A pure Tank?."
Boran laughed once. "Just Tank. What’s the matter?"
"I didn't mean it in a bad way," William said quickly. "I think the Tank class is powerful. But many parties, especially at low levels, don't really understand what to do with a Tank."
Boran stared at the Mission Board.
That answer hurt, but it was better than comfort.
William continued, "Actually, my guild has a similar problem with Tanks."
Boran turned back to him. "You have a guild?"
"Yes. The Crimson Lion."
"Cool name. Can I join?"
The question came out before Boran thought about it. He regretted it immediately.
"I don't think so."
Boran's face tightened.
"Because I'm a Tank."
“Look, I’m not the guild master,” William said. “I have to follow the rules and protocols.” Then he added, “And we have other requirements—System experience, class affinity, and a certain combat style. But the main issue is the defensive classes.”
At least he said it clearly.
"What kind of guild doesn't use Tanks?"
"Our strategy relies on high damage and quick position changes," William explained. "Ranged and mage classes weaken enemies fast. Agile melee classes strike at critical moments and withdraw. We try not to take damage in the first place."
"So, I guess your motto is: the best defense is a good offense?"
"Exactly! Did you read our guild description?"
Boran looked away.
William was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "I'm sorry. I know that isn't what you wanted to hear."
"It's fine."
"Would you like me to add you as a friend?" William asked. "I can't team up with you for missions, but if you have questions about the System, guilds, or class affinity, I can answer when I have time."
Boran looked at the object. "Why?"
William shrugged slightly. "Because you're new. And because someone should have explained things before using you like that."
"That makes me sound pitiful."
"Maybe," William said, smiling faintly. "But everyone starts somewhere. I asked stupid questions too."
Boran stared at him for a few seconds.
"You really can't team up?"
"Unfortunately not," William said. "I'm in a guild. I can't freely take missions with people outside it."
Boran nodded.
A blue notification appeared in front of him.
[The Ashborn William Bennet [Pact of the Pale Mist Warlock] has sent you a friend request.]
[Accept?]
Boran looked at the class name.
"Pact of the Pale Mist Warlock?"
William smiled modestly. "It sounds more dramatic than it is."
"What level are you?"
"Eighty-nine," William said.
"Whoa—that’s pretty high."
William gave a soft laugh. “You’ll get used to numbers like that. I know a lot of people with absurdly high levels.”
Boran pressed accept.
[Friend Added: William Bennet]
"Good," William said. "If you need help understanding something, send a message."
"What should I do now?"
William looked at the Mission Board. "For now? Don't rush into another party. Think about what went wrong. Then choose your next mission carefully."
"That's all?"
"That's usually enough for one bad day."
Boran let out a tired breath.
William took a step back. "I should go. I have guild matters to handle."
"Okay."
"Good luck, Boran."
"Thanks."
William turned to leave, then stopped.
"And don't let one bad party decide what your class is worth," he said. "That part is yours to find out."
Then he walked into the crowd.
Boran stayed alone in front of the Mission Board.
The board kept changing in front of him. Missions came and went, and people also came and went, but Boran just stood there and watched the letters move. William said he should not rush to another party, and that was easy because Boran did not want another party right now. He opened the filter and set it to solo missions, low combat risk, and resource gathering.
[FILTER APPLIED: Solo missions only]
[Combat Risk: Low]
[Resource / Gathering missions prioritized]
The board became smaller, leaving only a few weak jobs like moss scraping, broken timber collection, and glowcap harvest. The rewards were small, but they looked safe, and for a moment he almost picked one of them. Then he saw another mission.
[F-RANK RESOURCE ACCESS: TWILIGHT PIT OUTER RING]
Location: Twilight Pit - Portal 11-B
Party Size: 1-3 Adventurers Recommended
Objective: Gather approved low-tier dungeon materials from the outer ring. Combat not required for completion.
Estimated Duration: 2-6 hours
Difficulty: Low to Moderate for F-Rank
Reward: 40 Gold, 70 XP
Additional Notes: Stay within marked outer passages. Do not enter lower pits. Hostile entities may appear if deeper routes are entered.
Boran knew the name Twilight Pit. Dark Crawlers. Gloomy Hunters. Bone Walkers. Some Guardian boss deeper inside. He was not going there to fight them. No way. He needed materials for his shield, and he needed gold. That was all. He opened the mission details.
[RESOURCE ACCESS DETAILS: TWILIGHT PIT OUTER RING]
Required Objective: Collect 10 approved material units.
Approved Material: Any listed dungeon material found in the outer ring.
Optional materials may be retained by the adventurer unless marked restricted.
Warning: Carry a light source.
Boran looked at his balance. He needed supplies before he did anything stupid, or at least before he did something only a little stupid.
[Current Balance: 118 Gold]
The supply stall outside the transit wing was busy, but Boran waited. When his turn came, the stall keeper looked at him and asked what he needed.
“Light,” Boran said.
The man put some things on the counter and explained them quickly. Torches were one gold each. Glowstick charms were five gold each. A basic lantern was twenty gold, and oil was extra. Boran looked at the lantern for a second, then bought it with one bottle of oil. He also bought two glowstick charms because if the lantern broke, he still wanted to see. Then he added a small knife, one bandage roll, and twenty meters of rope after remembering the Root Shield. The price hurt.
[Payment sent: 43 Gold]
[Current Balance: 75 Gold]
He put everything in his inventory, returned to the board, and accepted the mission before he could change his mind.
[MISSION ACCEPTED: TWILIGHT PIT OUTER RING RESOURCE ACCESS]
[PORTAL ASSIGNMENT: PORTAL 11-B - TWILIGHT PIT]
[MISSION TIMER: 12:00:00]
Portal 11-B looked bad. Boran looked at the level for a while because he was still Level 2.
[PORTAL 11-B: TWILIGHT PIT]
Recommended Level: 3-8
Active Missions: 2
“Resource mission,” he said to himself. “Not combat.”
A group of adventurers walked past him, and one of them looked over.
“Solo?” the man asked.
Boran answered yes. The adventurer told him to stay on blue marks because red marks went down, then added that if he heard clicking from above, he should not look up with his mouth open. The adventurer laughed and left. Boran did not like that joke. Maybe it was not a joke.
He summoned the Burrowguard Shield, lit the lantern, and stepped through. Cold air hit him at once. His boots landed on wet stone, and the cave smelled damp and old, like a basement, but a very bad basement. Blue moss glowed on the walls, and the lantern light made the shadows look weird. Water dripped somewhere in the distance, again and again, and every drip echoed through the tunnel.
[MISSION ZONE ENTERED: TWILIGHT PIT - OUTER RING]
[OBJECTIVE: Collect 10 Approved Material Units]
[PROGRESS: 0/10]
[TIME REMAINING: 11:59:41]
There was a blue mark on the wall, so Boran followed it. When the path split into three, left had blue, middle had nothing, and right had a red mark. He went left. He kept the shield up and the lantern low while walking past puddles and wet stones. Soon his Botanist skill showed him something.
[Phosphor Mushroom]
Common dungeon fungus. Emits faint natural light.
Approved Mission Material: Yes
The mushrooms glowed blue near the wall. Boran cut them with the small knife and put them in his inventory.
[Phosphor Mushroom Bundle obtained]
[PROGRESS: 1/10]
It was easy, maybe too easy. After that, he just gathered whatever the System allowed: moss from the wall, small stone pieces, more glowing mushrooms, one black scale thing stuck between rocks, and anything else that looked useful. The System did not care about separate categories.
[Approved Material obtained]
[PROGRESS: 4/10]
[Approved Material obtained]
[PROGRESS: 7/10]
[Approved Material obtained]
[PROGRESS: 10/10]
[MISSION OBJECTIVE COMPLETE]
[Exit portal available from current route marker.]
It took about an hour.
“That was quick,” Boran said.
Too quick. The blue window flickered, then broke apart into little squares of light.
[BETA CONTENT DETECTED]
[User System Version: 8.0.0-beta]
[Mission package mismatch detected]
[Standard resource access objective incompatible with beta progression route]
The blue mark on the wall turned violet, and then the mission changed.
[MISSION UPDATED]
[TWILIGHT PIT - BETA ROUTE]
[OBJECTIVE 1: Kill 20 Dark Crawlers]
[OBJECTIVE 2: Kill 20 Gloomy Hunters]
[OBJECTIVE 3: Kill 20 Bone Walkers / Bone Archers]
[OBJECTIVE 4: Eternal Guardian - Kill Mur-Azar]
[Exit portal disabled]
Boran stared at it.
“What do you mean, exit portal disabled?! Am I stuck here again?”
The System did not answer, so he shouted at it too.
“Answer me, goddammit! First you force me to upgrade to beta, then you force me to pick Tank, now you force me into another quest? Stop messing with me!”
He pressed emergency exit.
[Emergency Exit Unavailable]
Boran stood there with the lantern in one hand and shield on his other arm, trying not to panic. It did not work very well.
“Why does this keep happening?”
His voice echoed back through the tunnel: why does this keep happening, happening, happening. He swallowed and forced himself to think. Bone Shield Form needed bone fragments. There were bones here. If he was stuck in Twilight Pit, maybe Bone Shield would help. That was not a good plan, but it was a plan, and he needed one before his brain started running in circles. He stepped toward a bone pile and reached down.
When his hand touched a bone, the ground cracked. A skeletal hand came out of the wet stone, and Boran jumped back so fast he almost dropped the lantern. More bones came out after it. A skull rose from the ground, blue light burning in the empty eyes, and it pulled a broken bow out with it.
[Bone Archer - Level 3]
[HP: 35/35]
The Bone Archer raised the bow. Boran was too slow. An arrow flew past his face, missed by almost nothing, and hit the wall behind him. Boran froze for half a second.
“That almost hit my eye.”
The Bone Archer made another arrow from pale light and bone dust. This time Boran raised his shield. The arrow hit the Burrowguard Shield with a sharp crack, but nothing happened. No pain. No HP loss. The shield did not even lose durability.
[Natural Projectile Guard]
Note: Shields naturally counter normal arrows and other physical projectiles if they are not magical or skill-powered.
Boran blinked.
“Wait.”
The skeleton fired again. Crack.
[Blocked]
Another arrow came right after it. Crack.
[Blocked]
The mission was still terrible, and he was still trapped, but this was useful. Arrow hits shield. No damage.
“Okay,” Boran said. “I can use that.”
The Bone Archer tried to back away, but Boran followed with the shield raised. Another arrow hit the shield and broke.
[Blocked]
The skeleton backed into the wall, so Boran swung the Burrowguard Shield like a heavy door. The edge hit the skeleton's ribs.
[Bone Archer HP: 33/35]
Boran stared at the number.
“Two damage?”
The skeleton raised the bow again, so Boran hit it again.
[Bone Archer HP: 31/35]
It fired from close range. Crack.
[Blocked]
Boran bashed it again.
[Bone Archer HP: 29/35]
He looked at the health bar, then at the skeleton, then at his shield.
“This will take time...”
And it did. The fight became stupid after that. The skeleton fired, Boran blocked, and then Boran hit it for two damage. Again and again. Arrow, block, shield hit, two damage. The skeleton kept trying to move away, but the tunnel was too narrow, so Boran kept walking after it with the shield up. It was not scary anymore, not really, but it was slow and annoying. His arm started to ache from holding the shield and swinging it.
A few minutes later, the Bone Archer had almost no health left. Boran blocked one more arrow, stepped in, and shoved the shield forward. The skull cracked against the wall.
[Bone Archer HP: 0/35]
[BONE ARCHER DEFEATED]
[+35 XP]
[OBJECTIVE 3 PROGRESS: 1/20]
The bones fell down in a pile. Boran breathed out. No mana used. No damage taken. But it took forever.
“Seventeen hits,” he muttered. “For one skeleton.”
Still, he killed it alone. A loot window appeared.
[Bone Fragment x2 obtained]
He picked them up and looked down the tunnel again.
“One by one,” Boran said.
It did not make the mission easy, but now he knew something. If a Bone Archer was alone, he could kill it. Slowly.
The tunnel stayed quiet after that. He picked up the Bone Fragment and put it into his inventory, then checked the mission window again.
[OBJECTIVE 1: Kill 20 Dark Crawlers]
[OBJECTIVE 2: Kill 20 Gloomy Hunters]
[OBJECTIVE 3: Kill 20 Bone Walkers / Bone Archers: 1/20]
[OBJECTIVE 4: Eternal Guardian - Kill Mur-Azar]
Dark Crawlers. He remembered them from the old Twilight Pit mission description he had read on the forum before. Long, pale-gray things that crawled low to the ground.
He moved forward slowly, following the violet mark now instead of the old blue one. The passage bent downward. The stone became wetter, and the air smelled worse, not only mold now but something sharp, almost like metal and rotten eggs mixed together. Blue moss glowed on the ceiling in broken patches. Some places were bright enough to see without the lantern, but other parts were black, and in those places the lantern showed too little and too much at the same time. Every rock looked like a head. Every shadow looked like a monster.
A soft wet sound came from ahead.
Boran stopped.
It came again. Slap. Drag. Slap. Drag. Something moving over stone with a heavy body. He lowered the lantern a little and raised the Burrowguard Shield. His first thought was to back away. His second thought was that backing away forever would not finish anything. He moved until the tunnel opened into a small chamber with three broken pillars and a shallow pit in the center. The pit was full of dark water. On the far wall, something pale moved.
[Dark Crawler - Level 3]
[HP: 48/48]
The creature was longer than Boran expected—close to 2.5 meters. Its body was pale gray and slick, with muscles shifting under the skin like ropes. It had no eyes, only two deep pits at the front of its head, and a faint fluid leaked from them in thin streams. Its mouth opened more sideways than downward, revealing long teeth with dark liquid strung between them.
Boran gripped his shield tighter.
“So this is a Dark Crawler,” he muttered.
The Dark Crawler opened its mouth a little wider and made a short clicking sound. It was not loud, but the sound bounced strangely through the chamber. Click. Click. Click.
“It sees with sound,” he whispered.
The Dark Crawler turned toward him at once.
He moved sideways until his back was near one of the broken pillars.
The crawler lunged.
It was fast. Too fast. Boran barely got the shield up before the head slammed into it. The impact shoved him backward, but his shoulder hit the pillar and stopped him. Pain ran through his arm, but the shield held. The creature’s teeth scraped across the Burrowguard Shield with a horrible grinding sound.
[HP: 83/85]
Two damage. That was not bad. That was actually good. Boran pushed the shield forward and tried to bash the crawler before it moved away, but it twisted out of reach with disgusting smoothness. Its body bent almost in half, and the tongue flicked again. Then the throat swelled.
The crawler spat dark liquid in a short burst. Boran raised the shield, but the spray spread wide. Most of it hit the shield and hissed, but some splashed over the edge and touched his sleeve. Heat bit into his forearm.
[HP: 78/85]
[Damage over time resisted by Constitution]
Boran shook his arm even.
“I need to watch its throat,” he muttered.
The crawler curved again. He stepped behind the broken pillar just as the next lunge came. The creature hit stone instead of him, and its head cracked against the side with a wet thud.
[Dark Crawler HP: 42/48]
The crawler recoiled, head pits leaking more fluid now. Boran slam his shield down.
[Dark Crawler HP: 40/48]
The creature spat again, but Boran was already moving around the pillar. The dark liquid splashed stone and began to smoke. He kept the shield angled, not flat. If the spit hit straight, it spread over the top and edges. If it hit the angle, most of it slid off to the side.
The crawler clicked. Its head snapped toward him anyway.
It lunged low, aiming for his legs. He moved. The head scraped past the lower edge of the Burrowguard Shield and slammed into the base of the pillar.
[Dark Crawler HP: 34/48]
Six damage from the pillar. Boran understood it more clearly now. His own shield hits were almost nothing. The crawler's speed was the weapon. He just had to make that weapon hit the wrong thing.
The crawler twisted back and spat again. This time Boran ducked behind the shield and turned the surface away. The poison splashed across the front and smoked, but the shield did not melt. Maybe the poison was not strong enough. Maybe the Burrowguard Shield was just ugly and stubborn. Boran decided not to question good news.
The fight became a pattern after that. He kept a pillar or wall behind him when he could. He never stood in the center of the chamber. When the crawler curved back, he prepared for the lunge. When its throat swelled, he angled the shield and moved sideways. When it clicked, he knew it was checking where he was. The sound always came before the creature corrected its aim.
It still scratched him. It still splashed poison on his clothes twice. His arm burned, and his shoulder ached from every impact. But Boran did not waste mana on it. If he used skills every time he got scared, he would have nothing left later. So he kept doing the ugly, simple thing. Stand near stone. Let it click. Wait. Move. Make it hit the wall. And bonk it with the shield.
[DARK CRAWLER DEFEATED]
[+50 XP]
[OBJECTIVE 1 PROGRESS: 1/20]
Boran leaned against the wall and breathed through his teeth. The poison burns on his arm and neck hurt, but they were not spreading anymore.
[HP: 70/85]
A loot window appeared.
[Dark Scale x1 obtained]
Dark Scale: A rare material from Dark Crawlers. Contains weak poisonous essence. Useful for poison-resistant crafting and alchemy.
Boran took the scale and put it into his inventory. A rare material should have made him happy, and it did, a little. But mostly he was thinking about the fight. The Dark Crawler was not impossible. It was also not something he could fight stupidly. If he let it spit freely, he would die. If he stood in open ground, he would die. If he tried to kill it only with shield hits, he would be there forever.
“I’m hungry…”
He’d forgotten to buy rations.
His stomach made a small sound right after he said it. Boran looked at the dead Dark Crawler. The body lay twisted near the pillar, pale skin torn in places, dark fluid leaking from its mouth and head pits. It looked disgusting. It looked poisonous.
But he was not in a normal place, and he was not carrying food.
Boran stared at the crawler for a while.
“Can I eat this?”
[Survival check available]
[Target: Dark Crawler Corpse]
[Warning: Poison organs present]
[Meat can be consumed if separated without rupturing the poison sac.]
[Required: Careful cutting, removal of contaminated tissue, full cooking recommended.]
“So it is food,” he muttered. Then he looked at the dark liquid smoking lightly on the stone.
The idea of eating dungeon worm meat made his stomach turn, but hunger was already pushing against his disgust. He opened his inventory and checked what he had. Common Wood Pieces from Sunfield Grove were still there. Not many, but enough to burn if he was careful. He also had the small utility knife he bought before coming here.
Boran pulled out three pieces of wood first and placed them on the driest part of the chamber floor. Dry was a generous word. Everything in Twilight Pit was wet, cold, and slightly slimy. The wood from Sunfield Grove was better than anything he could find here, but even that felt damp in his hand now because of the cave air. He used the knife to shave thin curls from one piece, making a small pile of wood dust and strips.
“Come on,” he whispered. “Just fire. I only need fire.”
Boran opened the lantern and stared at the small flame inside. It was made for light, not cooking, but flame was flame. He shaved more wood, then touched the thinnest curl to the lantern flame. It blackened, smoked, and died.
He tried again, this time adding one drop of lantern oil to the wood shavings. Not a lot. One drop spread through the curled wood. He touched it to the flame again.
This time, the shaving caught.
He cupped his hands around it and slowly lowered it into the prepared pile. Smoke rose immediately, making his eyes water. He leaned back, coughed once, then carefully fed it more shavings. The flame shrank, grew, shrank again, then finally grabbed the edge of a thicker wood piece.
[Small campfire created]
“Finally.”
The System marked a spot on the crawler’s underside with a faint orange outline.
[Poison sac detected]
[Do not puncture]
[Recommended cut path highlighted]
A thin blue line appeared along the creature’s side. Boran swallowed and took out the knife.
“I really don’t want to do this.”
He did it anyway.
The knife went through the skin with more resistance than he expected. The outer layer was tough, almost like thick hide, but beneath it the meat was pale and soft. Boran followed the blue line slowly. Too slow, probably, but he did not want poison spilling into the meat. Dark fluid pulsed inside the sac near the throat, trapped in a swollen black-green organ that looked ready to burst if he breathed on it wrong.
Boran stopped cutting whenever the line moved near it. He changed angle. Cut shallow. Pulled skin aside. Cut again. His fingers slipped twice, and once the knife point came too close to the poison sac.
He pulled the knife back and started from the other side. After several ugly minutes, he managed to remove a strip of meat from the crawler’s flank without touching the sac.
[Dark Crawler Meat x1 obtained]
[Cooking required]
The meat smelled strange. Like raw fish mixed with wet stone. Boran cut two thinner pieces from the strip because he did not trust the middle to cook properly. Then he looked for a skewer and realized he had nothing good. He used the knife to sharpen a narrow piece of wood from his inventory. It was not made for cooking, but it was wood and it was pointy. That was enough for today’s standards.
He pushed the meat onto the wooden skewer and held it over the fire.
The first few seconds were awful. The surface tightened and curled. Clear liquid dripped into the fire and hissed. A bitter smell rose up, and Boran leaned away, worried he had just made poison smoke. The System did not warn him, so he kept holding it there. Slowly the pale meat turned gray-white, then slightly brown at the edges. It did not look delicious.
Boran rotated the skewer carefully.
[Dark Crawler Meat cooked]
[Edible]
[Taste quality: Poor]
“Poor is fine,” Boran said.
Then he blew on it and took the smallest bite possible.
The taste was bad. Chewy, bitter, and oily in a way meat should not be oily. It stuck between his teeth and left a cold aftertaste even though it was hot. Boran closed his eyes for a second and forced himself to swallow.
When the first skewer was gone, Boran cut another piece. Carefully. He cooked enough to keep moving, not enough to feel full. There was no point wasting all his wood here. He still needed light, warmth, and maybe fire later.
After he finished, he scraped the knife clean on stone, then wiped it with his shirt. He did not like using his shirt like that, but he liked the idea of poison on his knife even less.
He kicked loose dirt over the worst of the poison puddle, then moved away from the corpse and sat near the small fire until the wood burned low. The chamber was still dangerous. The mission was still impossible-looking. But now he knew Dark Crawlers were not only enemies. They were also food, if he was careful enough.
It needed nineteen more crawlers after this. Also nineteen more bone enemies. Also twenty Gloomy Hunters. Also a Guardian.
Boran sighed.