[Aiden’s POV]
I entered the room; luckily the owner of the inn doesn’t disturb me since she knows I spent all day cooped up in the room. I stood in front of the mirror to have a proper look at my body after this evolution. The sigils in an inactive state looked like embedded drawings on my body.
There were two flame-like sigils around the corner of my eye. All sigils served some purpose; although new to me, it felt like they had been part of me forever. Two sigils on the back of my hands, two on both shoulders.
The sigil on the chest had a most captivating look. It looked like a sprouting tree with multiple branches connecting to sigils from all over the body.
I turned slightly to see sigils on the back too, although I couldn’t make out their design clearly, and finally sigils on both my legs too.
After inspecting all the sigils, I checked my eyes again. They were, out of all the changes, mesmerizing: hexagonal pupils in golden colors. Even I found my eyes amazing.
I got dressed and told the lady that I won’t need dinner for today; there was still some time before dinner, and I had no time to waste.
I took out the dungeon key, thinking of activating it, however, a thought came to my mind, and I stopped. I put the key nearby and sat in a meditative position.
[What happened, host?]
"Before I go charging in just because my stats are high is not a good idea, so I wanted to get a sense of my ability first. I closed my eyes and focused on activating my unique ability.
At first nothing happened; I kept my focus for a few more seconds. However, my thoughts touched something, and all the mana around me simply disappeared. I felt a loneliness like never before.
As my consciousness brushed with it 2-3 times, I finally understood that this was my unique ability. I guided that nothingness to the surface of my palm.
All the mana around me vanished again, but with a large affected area this time. But I noticed something else: the mana I provided to my palm was still there. So I don’t have to be worried about any problem related to my own Mana.
After getting a feel of my ability, I picked up the dungeon key and thought of opening a portal to it. The portal manifested in my room with swirling energies, and I stepped into it.
The portal led me to a cave filled with mana and broken stones here and there. At the same time, a system panel appeared.
[Obsidian Sanctum]
[10-floor dungeon]
[One-time entry dungeon]
[Shattered Cavern, Floor 1st]
I took a deep breath, the small stones crunching beneath my foot as I stepped forward. "So can you tell me anything about this dungeon, System?" I asked.
[No, the only thing different is the reduced number of floors and the one-time type; the rest of the mechanics are the same.]
I nodded as I kept moving forward. I had no armor and equipment. So I just wrapped some straps around my knuckles to avoid needless injuries.
A minute later, a group of three monsters appeared. I froze, seeing the shiny monsters with tough skin. The system provided with information.
[Crystal gnawer]
[Rank – Awakened]
It had shiny and tough skin with four legs and a sharp mouth; one was in immediate front and the other two on the sides.
The one in the front jumped at me; I broke out of my stupor and backed away. The other two produced some kind of grating sound.
I took a defensive stance, exhaled, and remembered, "Control, break the flow, and execute the attack."
I murmured my fighting points, which I had painstakingly learned. The monster on the left side swiped his pointed claws at me.
This time I ducked. Facing the exposed belly, I clenched my fist and put all my strength in it and punched.
The punch connected, and the next thing that happened was not in my expectations. I expected some pain in my hands, but instead, with a KTCHH...sound, it literally broke in half. The monster fell down and disintegrated.
The other two monsters hesitated a bit seeing their partner obliterated. And I was in euphoria, the first time hitting a monster, and it was decimated, to say the least. I guess I underestimated my strength.
I looked at the other two monsters, still making grating sounds. I smiled for the first time, a genuine smile. "I am not weak anymore, and I will get stronger and stronger until no one is there to call me weak." I declared.
This time I took the initiative; I ran toward the first monster. It tried to bite my head off as I ran towards it.
I avoided the bite by bending to the side and giving it a full-power punch. Its head dislodged from the body, and it fell with a THUM!!
Enraged, the last monster jumped at me in haste. Before he could reach me, a swinging kick hit it on the side, and the monster lodged itself into the wall and then disappeared in the next second.
I felt a strange sense of satisfaction in my heart; being able to defeat even an Awakened-rank monster was something I couldn’t even think about yesterday. However now, they are just one punch away from disintegration.
A system panel appeared.
[The host has killed 3 Awakened-rank monsters.]
[Host has gained 3 Origin Points (OP).]
"So, I OP per kill, huh? I need 10 OP per gacha pull, right?" I asked.
[Yes, Host]
"Well, let’s continue the hunt for OP then," I said and moved ahead. All three hadn’t dropped anything, but I confirmed it once.
The next who appeared were bug-like glowing creatures,
Mana Wisps,
in a group of 4 or 5. They threw mana shots at me; I dodged, evaded, and then attacked. One punch was all it needed to bring them down.
One of the kills even dropped Reinforced Hand Warps. My eyes shone brilliantly as I replaced my out-of-place straps and wrapped the dropped item.
My OP count was also increasing steadily.
[8 OP]
.
.
[20 OP]
I finally reached the transfer point of Floor 1, which will take me to Floor 2. It would always be guarded by a boss or mid-boss.
As I expected, a four-legged monster with a hard and shiny body with a majestic glow. It looked at me, probably trying to gauge my strength.
The system appeared with a prompt.
[Mid-Boss – Shard Crawler]
[Rank – Awakened]
I looked at him with confidence and said, "Well, come on, I don’t have all night for you."