Ethan woke up. A splitting headache consumed him. He felt as if someone was playing the maracas with his brain. It was not a pleasant experience. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, aiming to clear his vision. He looked at his surroundings, his eyes widening.
He was in what he thought to be a cave. The walls were rough and jagged, a mixture of grey and black stone. From the ceiling, droplets of water seeped through, falling to the ground and forming a small pool of water in one corner. The constant dripping of the water into the small pool irritated him to no end. On the walls of the cave, white crystals shone, their glow illuminating the space.
He began to wonder how he ended up here. He tried recalling, only to find his memory hazy. He only remembered a giant eye staring at him, then uttering something before banishing him here. He sighed. He didn't know what that was, but he knew it was never in the game, and something deep inside told him this wasn't the last he would ever see of the eye.
He stood up, instantly surprised. He remembered his ankle being sprained, but now he could move it freely—it had healed. He suspected the involvement of the giant eyeball in this. Suddenly, the system panel opened up in front of him, displaying a couple of strings of messages.
Ethan felt like tearing his skin off. Wishing Stones were the most precious thing in the game. They were extremely rare, and throughout Kael's lifetime of playing the game, he had only managed to get one—and the process to gain one was too excruciating to think about. Now he had been given three, but two were already used????
Just like the name suggested, they offered a single person one wish within reason. With three, he was guaranteed to survive the apocalypse—hell, survive was an understatement. He would have thrived and conquered.
Once again, he suspected that eye. He couldn't even see its name, as it was being blurred out. That meant it was too powerful for him at this moment. And this shit about being sent to a "separated experience"? It had just sent him to a bloody fucking dungeon. It had wasted one of the most precious resources to send him to a bloody fucking dungeon.
He felt like crying. Dungeons were fragments of a different world, attracted by the apocalypse. They were quite common in the apocalypse but were also quite dangerous. They were also separated into grades, F to SSS. Judging by the surroundings, he could bet he was in the lowest grade—an F-grade dungeon.
But that didn't make it better. Dungeons were dangerous, especially for him, as he was at a measly Level 2. FUCK, he screamed internally. He had eventually planned to enter a dungeon, but it was too early for him right now—he was too underleveled. System, he called.
Name: Ethan Kraneal
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Level: 2
Skills: N/A
Patron: N/A
HP: 200/200
Mana: 100/100
Quirk: N/A
Skills: N/A
—-------------------
Strength: 4
Stamina: 2
Speed: 5
Endurance: 3
Vitality: 2
Wisdom: 6
Intelligence: 6
Perception: 3
INVENTORY
He saw there was a new subsection in the system, and he clicked it.
Inventory:
1x Wishing Stone
1x Mystic Relic Roulette Wheel
Seeing what was there made him smile a bit. He had one Wishing Stone left, and although not as good as three, it would still be useful. The roulette wheel made him smile even more. Relics were a very important part of the base game—essentially items that could be used, ranging from Common all the way to Mystic. A Mystic Roulette Wheel was guaranteed to give him a Mystic-level item. With that, he shouldn't have any problem clearing this dungeon.
But when he clicked on it, something unexpected happened.
He swallowed hard. It was fine, he thought. He still had the Wishing Stone. He clicked on it, only to be thoroughly disappointed.
FUCK, he thought. Without those two, he might as well be dead.