Chương 4: A Taste of Progress

Adrenaline pumps as I stare at the dead goblin in shock. A chime sounds in my head, and I flip, throwing a right hook at nothing. The punch feels weak, and the pain in my arm flares up immediately.

"Gah, I'll never get used to that," I mutter as I rub my arm with my other hand. A smirk appears on my face along with an idea.

"Kevin, stop feeling the pain in your arm," I say with an excited voice. Instantly, the pain dulls to a throb. A smile grows on my face.

"Haha! No way!" My arm raises, and I flex. It still feels weak, but not like it was hit with a crowbar several times. With my arm wiggling around, I throw a few mock punches while laughing. This skill seems more diverse and powerful every time I use it.

"Alright, system, let's hear it." [You have slain Goblin lv. 1] My head snaps back to the dead goblin. I should have checked if it was dead. It didn't hurt me this time, but neglecting a living opponent is a terrible habit. [Partial experience awarded] [Partial experience awarded] I frown.

"Why can't anything in this damn system make sense?" I stroke my chin as I think. First, why are there two messages for one creature? Did it have a hidden parasite or something? No, then I would have gotten two slay messages. Secondly, why am I receiving partial experience? Where the hell is it going!? Who am I sharing it with? Myself? Realization strikes as I recall a certain line from a previous system message. [Taming Menu] [Slot 1: Kevin Shoeman (Bond: 100%)] Damn, I think I am sharing it with myself.

Wait, does this mean everybody else is going to level up twice as fast as me? My stomach sinks as I realize I'll constantly be behind everyone else. I try to ignore my fears and continue reading. [Tamer(lv. 0) > (lv. 1)]"Hah!" I say with a transformed grin"Now that's more like it!" My first taste of progress.

"Status." [Vitality: 9] [Strength: 8] [Agility: 11] [Endurance: 7] [Fortitude: 9] [Intelligence: 12] [Wisdom: 11] [Perception: 14] [Unassigned: 1] Everything looks right. My class staple seems to be wisdom and perception, so I'll probably be seeing a lot of that in the future. How do I remember what changed?

"System, from now on, can you show changes in the status since the last time I checked?" Without a response, the text changes. [Vitality: 9] [Strength: 8] [Agility: 11] [Endurance: 7] [Fortitude: 9] [Intelligence: 12] [Wisdom: 10 > 11] [Perception: 13 > 14] [Unassigned: 0 > 1] Wow! Neat. Thank you, system. I take a few moments to look at my surroundings. Would I even notice an eight percent increase in my senses? The moss in the cobblestone might be a little clearer? My foot taps on the stone a few times.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Might the echoes be a little louder? It's difficult to tell without trying it beforehand. Does it even increase by eight percent? Could it use a different formula? I give up on testing wisdom before I even start. The benefits to mana don't affect me yet, and memory is not something I know how to gauge. Maybe I should try and remember some numbers for a day? My head shakes. It's not worth my time.

More importantly, what should I do with my one unassigned point? What do I need? What I need is something like vitality to heal my arm, or fortitude to protect against threats I can't keep up with. Perhaps perception or intelligence to react to threats better. And what do I want? With a grin, I tap the number next to strength, hoping that's the way to transfer points. I can't help but remember absolutely destroying that goblin with my punch and the feeling of raw power and joy that came with it.

Plus, my only class skill seems to bolster it, ignoring some of my natural limitations when controlling my strength. The pain in my arm and the weakness that came with it are proof that my skill is able to somehow power through the restriction my body innately places on itself to prevent injury. The number increases to 9, and the feeling hits like a truck. My entire body tenses, and I fall to my hands and knees. Muscles constrict and coil. The sweet agony of power travels through my entire body.

I haven't worked out often in the past, but this reminds me of those times. The feeling is the same, but the magnitude is on an entirely different level. A groan of pleasure leaks out of my mouth. Everything grows ever so slightly lighter. It ends as quickly as it starts. A smile full of teeth bursts onto my face as I flex my non-hurt arm.

"Hahaha! Now that, I can feel!" I spend half a minute poorly imitating bodybuilder poses, appreciating the feel of my new muscles.

"Damn, magic is awesome!" I go back to reading the initial system messages. [Congratulations!] [You have cleared your first room in this instance of the dungeon and have earned more information about the solo phase] [In your variant of the dungeon (dungeon), rooms are layered in a linear format, growing more difficult as you progress] [Rewards are given for every room you clear, scaling alongside difficulty] [As a function of the solo phase, rewards may be consolidated. Consolidating will forfeit the current reward and add its value to the next room's reward] [Clear as many rooms as possible to aid in your progression as a tamer] My fingers stroke growing stubble as I read. Looking over, there's a second metal cell door, identical to the first, located on the exact opposite side of the room. I walk over and look through, seeing 2 goblins in a slightly larger room than the one I'm in. Both of them face away at a 3rd cell door, which looks like it leads into a similar room.

Alright, pretty simple setup. I'm ignoring the fact that I'll have to fight for my life several times in the near future. My eyes scan over the final message. [You have earned a reward for clearing a room] [Accept / Bank / Consolidate] Greed shines in my eyes as I read the message. I look down at the now red spikes jutting from my fists, my first reward. It ended up being useful, but if I got something like a sweater for a tiny dog or a pack of dog treats as my next reward, I would not be pleased.

Tapping consolidate, the window closes as I decide to rack up some value and maybe get some useful magical gear. What time is it, anyway? My hand mindlessly reaches into my pocket, and a small bit of panic shoots through me. Hands whip around and slap all of my pockets two at a time, finding them all empty. Running to the room I arrived in, my eyes scan all over the ground. Fuck, did I drop my phone before teleporting? I try to recall the last time I had it, having a small thought about the increase of wisdom.

The phone was in my hand as that damn chihuahua attacked me, probably causing me to drop it.

"DAMMIT!" I groan and slump down, realizing I'm not going to have my phone for an entire 4 months. Which hasn't happened since I was 13, when I got my first phone. The loss isn't too bad, as without connection to the internet, the only thing I'm missing is my photo album, flashlight, and camera. All of which I don't really need, except for one thing.

"How the hell do I tell the time?" I mutter to myself. Without warning, a blue screen appears and makes me jump slightly. [9. 61 cycles until next phase] Huh? A previous system message pops into my mind. Quickly, I scroll up to find it. [Each phase will last exactly 10 universal cycles or 27. 56 earth days] Dang, it didn't even wean me off of Earth time. It just gave the conversion in passing and said, Alright, it's the system and cycles for you now. With a grumble, I do a quick conversion.

So what, I've been here for about a day? I feel surprised. Hunger was growling at me before I got teleported. But now I'm only about equally as hungry 24 hours later. Did the system fill my stomach when it healed me? There's no way I was awake for 24 hours. How long was I unconscious after getting teleported? How long was I zoned out when I made myself calm? I shake my head of my worries and glance at the plastic bag full of food on the ground. Plopping down next to it, I rummage through for a burger and soda.

It would be smart to ration the meal, as I haven't found any source of food or water yet, but the food would likely go bad by then, so I just decide to have half a drink. In the worst case, I could always cook and eat goblins. My body shudders at the thought. Even if I'm not able to make a fire, if I increase my fortitude enough, I could probably eat it raw without risk of disease. Even if it might be absolutely abhorrent.

After about halfway through the meal, the pain in my arm slowly starts to return, proving that commanding myself doesn't last forever. The thought is comforting in the fact that I'll never lock myself in my own mind in an eternal prison by accident. After eating, I lie on the cold, damp stone floor and decide to sleep before my next fight. With the lumpy rocks on my back and adrenaline petering out, it's impossible to fall asleep. Minutes turn into hours as my mind jumbles with thoughts.

Like how the light and moss is completely even in every room. Or how no food or water has been found so far, which makes me scared in the eventuality that I only have goblins to survive on. Another concern is about the other people in this scenario. Most of them wouldn't have food and drink with them on arrival. How many of them would starve to death while being fearful of their first fight? The thought brings me to my own parents and of them possibly being in the same situation.

My mind spirals deeper and deeper as I float between being awake and asleep on the cold ground, not even 30 feet away from the first living humanoid I've ever killed. I begin to break down as all I've passed through with bravado in the last day comes washing back to me. I could have died. My parents would never see me again. Friends wouldn't even know what happened. My sobs echo quietly through the small room as the day ends. I won't break. I won't.