Chương 40: First Level

Lloyd stared in horror at his hand, which burned with a bright, violent fire, pulsating with red and yellow flames that danced in a mad rhythm, as if living creatures devouring his flesh. And suddenly Lloyd let out a soul-piercing scream, the pain so acute and all-consuming that everything else in the world simply ceased to exist for him. His scream echoed off the tunnel walls, amplifying again and again, transforming into an infernal wail that seemed capable of shattering the very stone.

Through the pain, through the red veil of torment, he forgot the plan he had been considering, forgot everything — but somehow his mind still managed to generate one useful thought. He immediately plunged his burning hand into the green slime, into that sticky, cold mass that reeked of the same characteristic smell of decay and rot that saturated this cursed place.

Through the pain it seemed to him that his hand was about to stop obeying him, that the fire wouldn't go out and would continue to burn even in this green mass, would continue to sear his flesh centimeter by centimeter, bone by bone. But his worst, most terrible fears never came to pass. The hand went out almost instantly once it touched the green slime, the flames extinguished with a quiet, wet hiss, leaving behind only an acrid, black smoke rising from the surface of that strange, living mass.

Lloyd breathed heavily and lifted his burned hand, examining the damage done. Fortunately, his hand hadn't suffered serious injury — there were burns, of course, blistering the skin, but not nearly as severe as they could have been. The skin had darkened, blackened to charcoal in places, but the joints remained intact, his fingers moved, though each movement sent sharp pain through them.

"So that's what an Echo is. Not a pleasant thing" Lloyd sighed heavily, leaning on one hand, and turned his gaze to the flames still rising from the monster's remains in enormous tongues of fire, illuminating the entire tunnel with an orange, dancing light. Already the creature's body had nearly completely burned away, transformed into ash and embers that slowly scattered across the floor in a fine grey layer, dispersing into the air.

"Such is the power of Relics... Even an ordinary person managed to defeat such a Monster using one" He watched the flames, which were beginning to subside and fade, and a single question formed in his mind, tightening around his chest.

"And what do I do next?" But the answer didn't make him wait long. Suddenly a sound emanated from the flames — not a rumble, not a crack, but something in between, as if matter itself was transitioning from one state to another, as if reality itself was cracking at the seams here. Lloyd took a step back, instinctively on guard, feeling every hair on his body stand on end.

There, in the center of the flames, something began to grow — something like stone, rising from the earth, piercing through the fire, and beside it appeared much smaller stones, like shards of broken glass. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. And suddenly, in a single second, all the fire simply vanished, as if it had never been, as though someone had swallowed it.

After the last wisps of smoke dispersed, Lloyd could finally make out what had suddenly appeared before him. It was a crystal. An enormous white crystal three meters tall, towering over the ground like a skyscraper, shining with such pure, such piercingly white light that it seemed as though an angel himself had descended from the heavens bearing this divine gift for a mortal who had survived the impossible.

This light was so brilliant that Lloyd involuntarily closed his eyes, then slowly opened them again, growing accustomed to this radiant magnificence. Beside this majestic crystal lay a heap of significantly smaller crystals, just as beautiful but not nearly as bright, not nearly as all-consuming in their splendor. They shimmered with a soft, warm light, creating around the great crystal an aura of radiance, like a court surrounding a queen.

In such a grim dungeon, amid grey stone marked by traces of decay and destruction, amid the omnipresent green slime and the stench of rot, their majesty was only heightened by contrast, only became brighter and more evident, as if the embodiment of hope in this hell. Lloyd couldn't restrain himself — as though forgetting about the pain, about his wounds, about his own body broken by battle, he spoke, his voice trembling with emotion: — Could it really be him...

Lloyd swallowed hard, feeling his throat constrict, as if barely enough saliva remained, as if each word came with difficulty. — The Crystal of Return. It was incredibly hard for him to suppress the smile spreading across his face. With joy welling up in waves, flooding every cell of his body, he forgot about everything in the world. Lloyd was simply happy that his nightmare, lasting several days and nights spent in fear and agony, had finally ended.

That he had passed through this hellish pit and emerged alive, disfigured, exhausted, but alive. He moved toward the crystal, but each step sent pain through his entire body, pain that now seemed almost pleasant in a way, the pain of a living being that had survived death. His whole body ached from exhaustion and accumulated wounds, his hand burned with fire, throbbed with sharp, pulsating pain that he felt in every nerve.

But it seemed Lloyd, in his joy, wasn't paying as much attention to the pain, or perhaps the pain had simply retreated before the wave of relief and triumph that washed over him. He simply walked toward the crystal, as if his legs were carrying him there of their own accord, as if it was his destiny. As he drew closer, the crystal's light grew brighter, warmer, enveloping his body as though it were a living thing welcoming him after a long, desperate journey.

The air around the crystal seemed purer, fresher, as if all the miasmas of this cursed place had been banished by its radiance. And now he stood right before it. Up close the crystal seemed even more majestic, even more magnificent, its white light literally blinding his eyes, reflecting off every facet, every sharp edge, creating rainbows of light dancing before his vision.

Lloyd didn't hesitate, reaching out his left hand, nearly touching its surface, feeling the warmth radiating from the crystal searing the tips of his fingers. But then, from nowhere, as if directly from within his own mind, from the depths of his consciousness, came a familiar, stern female voice, cold and official, like the voice of fate itself. [Congratulations! You have reached the first level.]