Chapter 2 - [Soul Blood Earring]

Souta checked the exp that he received from killing the skeleton soldier.

Level: 1(52/100)

He only needed to kill one skeleton soldier before he levels up.

He stood up and armed himself with a short rusty sword that he got from the skeleton soldier. He looked ahead and saw that there were two paths in front of him.

He pondered what he should choose. In the end, he decided to go to the left path. He couldn't describe it but this dungeon was somewhat familiar to him. It feels like he came here before.

He walked carefully as he stepped forward and entered the left path. The path was dark and the torches on the walls could barely illuminate the area.

He already guessed that this was the dungeon of an undead monster. The boss of this dungeon must be a powerful skeleton knight or mage. If it's a lich then there's no way that he could conquer this dungeon within five days. Lich was a powerful undead and it's level hover between thirty to forty. It was a boss-type monster that can be found in a mid-level dungeon or high-level dungeon.

He wasn't sure if this was a high-level dungeon just from seeing one skeleton soldier. But... the system wouldn't give him such a low reward if this was really a high-level dungeon. It must be a low-level dungeon if he would receive such reward. One must know that the higher the reward the more dangerous the quest.

Souta saw a corpse of a goblin laying down in the pool of blood. He had an idea that the group of goblin tried to invade this dungeon but were killed in the process. That's must be the reason why his body(goblin) was inside this dungeon when he woke up.

"This smell is making me puke." Souta pinched his nose. The goblin smells like a rotten fish. It's not his first time smelling this kind of thing.

Virtual reality could make people feel like they were really in another world. The game could copy a person's five senses and Souta would set it to the maximum so that he could really feel that he was in another world. He could smell the blood, feel the wind, and saw the bloody scene inside the game like they were real. The other people would at least turn off their sense of pain or red blood but he hadn't. When someone cut him in the game he would feel extreme pain, and when he cut someone in the game he would see the bloody scene that he made.

He ignored the corpse as he walked ahead of it. Then, he saw a wooden door five meters away from him. He slowly approached it while carefully looking if there were any traps.

He placed his palm on the door and slowly pushed it. He took a peek inside and saw that there were three skeleton soldiers inside the room.

"Three at the same time? I could handle it as I have a sword now and could use the skill [Stab]." Souta muttered while looking at the sword in his hand.

He went inside the room without making any sound. He doesn't want to alert the skeleton soldiers yet. He needed to swiftly take out one of the skeleton soldiers to decrease the burden of fighting them.

He observed the three skeleton soldiers as he clenched his fingers around the handle of the sword.

"One... Two... Three... Go!"

Souta pounced at one of the skeleton soldiers. He quickly raised his sword above his head and swiftly swung it down at the skeleton soldier.

Bang!!

"Die!" Souta then pulled back his sword and used [Stab].

Swoosh!!

Bang!!

The tip of the sword hit the forehead of the skeleton causing various cracks to appear.

The skeleton soldier fell down but Souta knew that it was still alive. He still hasn't heard the system prompt inside his head yet.

He raised his feet and heavily stomped the skeleton soldier on the ground. He then once again slashed the sword in his hand on the skeleton.

The bones in the neck of the skeleton weren't sturdy enough to stay till when a metal like a piece of sword crashed into it. The bones cracked and the skull was separated from the body as it rolled on the ground. The cracks on the forehead of the skeleton spread out before it crumbled down.

All of this happened in just a few seconds.

[You've received 51 exp from killing Skeleton soldier!]

[You've level up!]

[All attributes increased by 1!]

[You've received 2 attribute points!]

[You've received 1 skill point!]

Souta was sure now that he eliminated the first skeleton soldier. He then saw the other two skeleton soldiers charging at him.

One at his left while the other one was at his right.

Two on one, huh?

The skeleton on his left side slashed its sword.

Swooosh!!

"Ha!" Souta raised his sword and parried the sword of the skeleton soldier. Then, he threw a punch on the rib cage of the skeleton.

Bang!

He then quickly crouched down as a sword passed above him.

"That's close!" He tripped the skeleton soldier with his foot before he smashed his elbow on its skull.

Bang!

He doesn't have time to finish the skeleton soldier as the other skeleton already made its way in front of him.

"Ha!" Souta shouted as he forcefully swung his sword.

Clang!

Both his and the skeleton soldier's sword collided causing a metallic sound to echoed in the whole area.

Souta was forced back by the skeleton soldier's strength. His level was lower than skeleton soldier so it was natural that the stats of the skeleton was higher than him. He knew that his strength was weak that's why he needs to rely on his sword. The added damage of the sword was enough to cause a crack on the skeleton even if it wasn't a blunt weapon.

He gritted his teeth and bent his knees.

Swoosh!!

He used the skill [Dash] as he charged straight towards the skeleton while pointing his sword at it.

Clang!

His sword crashed the few ribs of the skeleton soldier. He then grabbed it's spine as he kicked the feet of the skeleton.

Bang!

The skeleton was smashed on the ground and when he was about to finish it, he senses someone behind him.

"Hmm?"

He immediately rolled his body sideways.

Clang!

He lifted up his head and looked ahead. He saw the other skeleton soldier and he squinted his eyes.

He dashed and slid on the ground while slashing his sword on the knee of the skeleton soldier. He then kicked the ground as he flew in the mid-air. Along with the force of gravity, he elbowed the skull of the skeleton soldier causing it to crack.

[You've received 54 exp from killing Skeleton soldier!]

He ignored the system prompt as he quickly moved his body and dashed to the other skeleton soldier.

"This is the end!" He smashed his elbow on the skull of the remaining skeleton soldier with all of his might.

Bang!

[You've received 51 exp from killing Skeleton soldier!]

The skeleton soldiers slowly turned into ashes fading in the air as it leaves its weapons.

"Ha~" Souta breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the system. He slumped down on the ground as his tense muscles finally relax.

He looked at the system interface and saw that he level up to 2. He still needs to kill two skeleton soldiers before he level up to 3.

Level: 2(105/200)

"I'm extremely tired!" Souta muttered as he looked at the rough ceiling.

"Let's rest for an hour."

Souta moved his body at the corner of the room. He leaned his back on the walls while pondering his next move.

He lifted his head and observed the whole room. The whole room was wide and dark. There's only one lantern at the center of the ceiling that could barely illuminate the entire room. He looked around and found that there were other four lanterns at the corner of the room but there's no light coming out of it.

"This is...? A secret room!!" His gamer sense was tingling right now. He had an idea that this was a secret room. There's no doubt about it. He just needed to solve this puzzle.

He immediately got up and observed the whole room. He felt a sense of nostalgia. It feels that he was familiar with this room but he couldn't remember if he went here before in the game.

After a dozen minutes, he found something.

He was standing in front of the walls while tracing his palm at the cold wall.

"This is the secret door but I couldn't open it..." He rubbed his chin while looking at the wall in front of him. He then looked back at the four lanterns at the corner of the room. An idea came into his mind as this was familiar to him but he couldn't remember where he completed this dungeon.

He lit up the four lanterns of the room and it illuminated the whole room but nothing happens.

"Hmm...? There's still one thing that I need to do."

He looked up and extinguished the fire on the lantern on the ceiling, the first lantern that was lighting up the room.

Boom!!

Suddenly, the ground shook.

Souta looked back and saw that the secret door was slowly opening.

"As I thought..."

He walked forward and saw a dark narrow path. He didn't think twice as he directly stepped forward. He felt the mana here in this room was too dense, making his chest heavy.

He tapped the walls and found that this was no ordinary rock. The mana here made the walls harder than the rest making it a precious stone called Mana Stone. From the looks of it, it looks like a high-grade mana stone, no, he thinks that these walls shouldn't be called stone.

After walking for five minutes, Souta arrived in front of a metal door. He opened it and looked inside the room.

There's nothing inside the room except a golden treasure chest in the center of the room. The treasure chest was emitting golden light.

Souta's eyes lit up when he saw the golden treasure chest.

He approached it and slowly opened the golden chest. There's a lone silver earring with black orb as its design inside the chest.

"This...?" He finally remembers what it is. This earring was one of his pieces of equipment in the game. One of his powerful set in the game, the [Soul Blood Earring].

He's lucky that he found this in the early game.

He picked it up and directly wear it on his ear.

"Ah!" He felt an overwhelming power went inside his body.

[Soul Blood Earring]: A powerful Universal Treasure. It could harvest the soul of every creature to increase the wearers' power.

Skill 1: [Harvester of the Soul]: It could collect the soul of every dead creature. Soul collected: 0/100.

Skill 2: (locked)

Effect: +10 strength, +10 vitality, +10 intelligence

Souta looked at the detailed information of the [Soul Blood Earring]. He still couldn't use skill 2 as it needs the other pair of earrings. The [Harvester of the Soul] was a skill to collect the soul of every dead creature. He couldn't directly collect the soul of a living creature. He needs the soul of a newly killed creature that hasn't left its body. If he collected 100 souls he could use it to increase one of his attributes by 10 but every time he uses it the soul requirement gets higher.

"This earring feels nostalgic..." Souta said with a smirked on his face.

It's time to harvest the soul inside this dungeon.