Aaron paused, weighing his options.
If names granted power in this world, then he needed to choose carefully, the right one could mean survival. But he had no idea what determined a name's authority, or which names were considered superior.
His gaze drifted toward the floating alert still hovering before him, asking if he wished to confirm "Rat" as his name.
He spoke aloud, "System, on what basis can a name gain authority?"
...
No response came.
Silence filled the chamber. The damp stone walls groaned softly, and somewhere in the darkness, water dripped in a slow, nerve-wracking rhythm.
A faint chime echoed. Another window appeared, this time labeled [Help].
"The requested information requires higher authority."
Aaron frowned. "Then what about the name 'Aaron Smith'? What would it yield?"
Another window came, and replied to his question, "The requested information requires higher authority."
He exhaled through his nose. "So there's a requirement to unlock more details."
After thinking for a while, he shifted his question. "System, tell me my current condition and where I am and how to get out of here."
This time, the system responded briefly, outlining his physical state and his location. But when it came to escape, it remained silent.
Aaron muttered under his breath repeating the words of the system, "So, this is the Dungeon of Karmic Catacombs... a place where kingdoms send their worst criminals to suffer. Unexplored, inescapable no one has ever returned."
"Divided into nine levels or so called paths, I am currently at the first level."
He then asked more about the system, and existence of the classes that he had doubts about when he saw skills with different shade of color.
Another line of text appeared, listing its nine levels.
He read them aloud quietly:
1. Ignorance
2. Bondage
3. Awareness
4. Reflection
5. Meditation
6. Discrimination
7. Detachment
8. Revelation
9. Transcendence
Coincidentally, there were nine classes divide for skills and weapons that follow same name from Ignorance being the weakest, and strongest and rarest being Transcendence.
Did the system created such level based on the dungeon preference or it was all around everywhere, in the countries and the kingdom outside.
Aaron asked this very question, but the system gave the same response, telling him he required more authority to access the information.
Brushing the thought aside for the moment, he turned his focus to his surroundings. The dark walls were narrow, almost closing in on his small rat body. Torches were fixed along the stone, their flames flickering and lighting the path ahead.
Because of that faint light, he could see a good distance forward. The narrow passage stretched ahead, ending in a visible door.
He glanced behind him. The scene was similar, but the door in that direction looked much smaller, perhaps farther away than the one in front. Still, something about it felt wrong. His intuition told him to stay away from it.
"I will look after I become stronger," he muttered, turning his head back to the closest door.
The door before him did not seem immediately threatening, but a faint miasma seeped from its edges, though much weaker than the ominous presence that lingered on the opposite path.
As a rat, his agility had increased by a mile. He swiftly closed the distance between himself and the door. At first he almost fell every couple of meters due to the unfamiliar body, but he soon got the hang of it. The dizziness he felt while running was now almost gone, though his vision was still a little blurry.
He stood in front of the door. There was no hole or slit for him to pass through, and even the gap between the door and the floor was sealed so tightly it looked jammed.
Aaron moved around, searching for any possible way to get through. But he found nothing.
Suddenly, a question jolted through his mind. Why was he here in the first place? Why was he in a place safe enough to check his status without being attacked by the dungeon's inhabitants, even though this place was considered the most dangerous dungeon?
"Was it planned? My dissension into a rat's body?" he whispered.
But there was no way to confirm it now, so he pushed the thought aside and focused on finding an exit.
From the system's explanation, he understood the basics of the place he was currently in. This was Level One: Ignorance, the first level of the catacomb. It was the starting point and also the closest to the surface, at least in theory.
What bothered him was why the criminals thrown here had never managed to return. Level One should be the easiest, even if this dungeon was infamous for its brutality. There were other dungeons in the world far harsher in their lower levels, and yet people still managed to clear them.
What killed them all?
Or are the criminals still left and surviving in hiding?
Why didn't the adventurers and the kingdom build some sort of camp or bastion to slowly annex and battle?
Why the attempt stopped?
Even if the upper levels of this catacomb were impossible, adventurers who explored the first few levels should have at least left some traces behind, even if they all died. So he should be encountering their presence soon enough.