Chương 42: True Name

Lloyd was overwhelmed with joy, a sharp, burning joy of one who had triumphed against all odds. That the entire path he had walked, this entire nightmare that had lasted for days, had not been in vain. That he had finally achieved his goal and become a Player, a true Player, possessing a power that would change his life forever. Every step, every blow, every moment of pain and despair — all of it had led him here, to this moment, to this triumph.

Lloyd looked around at the small pieces of flesh that still smoldered with a weak flame, slowly burning away in the pure light emanating from the white crystal. The smoke rose upward in spirals, dissolving into the air, leaving behind only a faint, acrid smell of burned meat, mixed with that same characteristic stench of decay that permeated the entire tunnel.

Despite this repulsive odor, it seemed to Lloyd that the air here had become slightly cleaner, slightly lighter, as if the very magic of the crystal was purifying this cursed place.

"Well, I suppose if I had thrown the fire bomb not into the center of it, this wouldn't have killed it. Well, I had no margin for error" A barely noticeable smile appeared on Lloyd's face — not joyful, but rather appreciative, the smile of a man who understands how close he came to death, and how much luck played a role in his salvation. His blood still hummed with adrenaline, his muscles still trembled from the strain, his body still remembered the pain and fear of those final seconds before the explosion.

Lloyd felt different. Something inside him had changed, something fundamental. His body, though ravaged by wounds, now seemed stronger, lighter, as if he had shed a burden he had carried his entire life. New strength flowed through his veins, filling every cell with energy. Suddenly a violet window appeared before him, materializing just as abruptly as before, as if reality itself was tearing open to show him this information.

The window glowed with a cold, almost malevolent radiance, contrasting with the warm, divine light of the crystal behind him. This window seemed foreign in this sacred place, seemed to carry some hidden meaning, some warning. Lloyd couldn't even say whether this information was good or would bring him misfortune... [You have received True Name: Soul Boy] Lloyd grimaced, feeling something inside him clench from mixed emotions, from disappointment that immediately dampened his wave of joy.

"On one hand, it's good that I received it, but on the other..." He read the information in the window again, read this strange, uninspiring name several times, hoping that perhaps he had misunderstood something. But the words remained the same.

"Soul Boy? Seriously? Who would be afraid of my True Name when they heard it? It sounds like the name of some teenage comic book character, not the name of a powerful being. It sounds... stupid. Almost ridiculous" Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Lloyd tilted his head, feeling a wave of sadness mixed with growing disappointment. His moment of triumph seemed spoiled by this absurd name, this True Name that sounded like a joke, like mockery of his achievements.

He had expected something heroic, something fearsome, but instead he got... Soul Boy. It sounded like the name of a failed boxer or a rock musician from the provinces. But then, suddenly, the voice of the system rang out, piercing and clear, like the tolling of a bell cutting through the tunnel's silence, and a new window appeared, a window with the next reward. [You have received skill: Soul Collector] Lloyd's eyes flashed with interest, and disappointment began to retreat before a new wave of curiosity.

Now this sounded much better. This sounded like something truly powerful.

"Now that sounds more epic" Lloyd hadn't even had time to open his statistics to see what his first skill did when the system's voice rang out again, one after another, as if the system was rushing to give him everything he was owed, as if hurrying to complete the initiation process, as if it knew time was short. An almost mad smile appeared on Lloyd's face, and his eyebrows rose from surprise and growing excitement. He felt like he was in a dream, as if all this was happening to someone else, not him.

Each new window brought with it a wave of new emotions, a new understanding of his power.

"This is already better" [You have received skill: Hand of the Forgotten King] Lloyd was ready to burst with happiness, ready to jump, ready to scream with joy, though his body barely kept him on his feet, exhausted, wounded, at the limit of his strength. In this moment it seemed to him that he could fly, that he could move mountains, that he could do anything.

"Not only did I get a second skill on the first tier, but it also sounds epic. Hand of the Forgotten King... that sounds like something truly powerful, like something ancient and terrible, like the legacy of some ancient rulers" Lloyd turned to the majestic crystal behind him, its light still flooding the entire tunnel with soft, warm radiance, making this place look like a sanctuary, a place of power, a temple where something new and unknown was being born.

The crystal seemed like a symbol of his transformation, a symbol that he was no longer just an ordinary man lost in a dungeon. — Today is definitely my day! But the moment those words left his lips, sharp, burning pain awakened in his right hand — that same pain from the burns that he had almost forgotten in his euphoria. A wave of suffering ran through his body, reminding him that he was far from fully recovered, that his body was still mortal, still vulnerable, despite all this new strength.

"Well, almost" And then the system's voice rang out again, cold and impersonal, like the voice of death itself, and a new window appeared before Lloyd, and this window explained everything. Absolutely everything. It explained why he had received a second skill on the first tier, why the system had distributed rewards so generously, as if compensating for something, as if preparing him for something terrible.

Lloyd slowly read the text in the window, his gaze becoming increasingly tense, his expression transitioning from joy to confusion, and then to pure horror, to the realization of something that turned his entire world upside down. The words in the window seemed carved from stone, seemed unchangeable, seemed like a verdict. His hands began to tremble as he understood what this information meant, what consequences it could have, how it could change his entire life, his entire future in this cursed dungeon.

The crystal's light suddenly didn't seem so bright, not so salvation-bringing anymore. The tunnel around him seemed hostile, threatening, full of hidden dangers. His joy, his triumph, his hope for a better future — all of it collapsed in an instant, destroyed by a single line of text.

"Oh no, no, no, this can't be true..."