[Ding! Pornstar System installing...]
The words rang inside Max's mind.
What is this…?
[Pornstar System has successfully been installed.]
[Good afternoon, Host.]
Afternoon? Is it already noon? Max mused as he slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was the cracked ceiling of the dungeon.
He turned his neck to the side and saw blood everywhere. Torn scraps of cloth. His clothes. His blood.
He sucked in a sharp breath and jerked upright, eyes snapping to his shoulder.
"My arm—!!"
His breath became unsteady, but then it slowed when he saw his arm was there.
He felt no pain. No missing limb. No burning agony. He let out a shaky sigh of relief, thats when everything slammed back into his memory.
He'd been pushed by Liam. Nearly torn apart by starving demon hounds. Then fortunately got saved by a horned naked woman at the last second.
[Precisely, Host. You formed a contract with the Sovereign Matriarch to fight the goddess and the entire world on her behalf.]
Max squinted at the translucent words hovering in the air.
"So… you read my mind now too?" He sighed tiredly. "Never mind. What exactly are you?"
[Your consciousness is linked to mine. Any question you think of, I will answer. I am the Pornstar System; a power created by the Sovereign Matriarch to help you fulfill your destined mission.]
Sovereign Matriarch… so that's what that terrifyingly luscious woman is called.
Pushing the questions aside, Max stood up and picked up his phone from the ground, and shoved it into his barely holding trouser pocket. Then he picked up his eyeglasses too.
They were cracked, but he took them anyway. Though he knew his mom would be furious if she saw them like this after using grocery money to buy them for him.
"I'm pathetic…" he muttered, slipping them on.
His vision blurred.
He winced and took them off.
The world snapped into perfect clarity.
He put them on again, and everything blurred once more. That's when he tossed them to the ground.
"No way."
His hands trembled as he stared across the dungeon. Every crack in the walls. Every speck of dust in the air. Even the shadows moving far off in the darkness.
"I can see… without glasses?"
Far better than he ever could before.
His chest swelled with excitement. Clear vision wasn't something most people appreciated, but to him, it felt like a miracle.
[The Sovereign Matriarch healed you of all wounds and illnesses. That includes your eyesight, so you may undergo the Trial of Unholy Ascension in optimal condition.]
Trial of Unholy Ascension…?
[You were promised an opportunity to grow strong, not free power. You will undergo intense training in a secret dungeon made especially for you. There, you will grow in strength and as a Pornstar.]
It happens in novels, right? The weakest awakens a broken skill and becomes the strongest overnight.
But clearly, that kind of plot was not meant for someone like him.
He wasn't promised power.
Only a chance to gain it.
"…System," Max said slowly, clenching his fist. "How do I access these trials?"
A screen formed before him and a key materialized from nothing. He caught it.
[When ready, use this dimensional key to unlock the dungeon from anywhere.]
As he examined the intricate patterns on the key, the invisibility barrier surrounding him finally peeled away. An hour had passed.
Now, he was visible.
And the dungeon noticed.
Low-level monsters began crawling out from hiding, ant chimeras, mutated spiders, warped rats.
It was like he was the last piece of food in a starving pit.
Strangely… he could feel them now.
Their presence.
Their hunger.
Their killing intent.
And strangest of all, he felt calm.
Something inside him had changed. The Max from a few hours ago would've been shaking on the floor with his tail between his legs, if he had one.
Now?
He stored the key back inside his system inventory and and picked up one of the swords the boys had dropped earlier, gripping it tightly.
There was no way he was dying here after barely surviving the fangs of the demon hounds.
The monsters surged forward all at once, lungsing for the kill.
Jhst when Max thought of swinging the sword, purplish, tattoo-like lines formed across his right arm as his veins bulged violently, a surge of strength exploding through his muscles, far greater than anything he had ever felt before.
He cleaved through the ant chimeras, slicing them clean in half. Their bodies pixelated into light and dropped small crystals.
He crushed the rats next.
The dungeon turned into a slaughterhouse.
[Ding!]
[New Title Acquired: Demon Sword Master Lv1!]
[Duration: 1 hour]
[Cooldown: 1 hour]
[Effect: Any sword you touch becomes a demon sword, damage and stats ×2]
[Skill Acquired: Air Slash!]
The screen vanished just as two massive mutated spiders crawled forward.
Max smiled.
"Let's test it."
"Air Slash!"
He slashed the air.
A navy-blue crescent of compressed force tore forward, fast and vicious. The spiders barely reacted before it ripped clean through them. Their bodies collapsed in pieces.
More spiders fired webs.
He saw everything.
Dodged everything.
His movements flowed, light as a feather, yet every strike carried crushing power.
"Air Slash!"
More bodies fell.
Then his legs buckled as he fell on one knee.
[WARNING!]
[Host mana critically low.]
[Complete mana exhaustion will result in permanent death.]
His bones felt like melted wax. But the monsters, seeing his overwhelming display of power and superiority now hesitated to attack him.
They backed away.
This boy was no longer prey. He wasn't the same loser from before.
Max looked at his right hand too, unable to comprehend the strength it carried. The tattoos on it began disappearing.
Using his sword like a cane, Max gathered the dropped mana crystals and limped toward the dungeon exit.
Inside wasn't safe anymore. If he got attacked, he wouldn't be able to fight back.
Along the way, he saw blood trails and chunks of torn flesh.
Liam and the others.....they didn't make it out after all, huh?
At the entrance, the bags they'd forced him to carry still lay there.
So none of them made it out?
He sat down, opened them, ate the food inside, and changed into their spare clothes; a black hoodie, black sweatpants and removed his rags.
There after, he collapsed under the shade of a tree outside.
He meant to rest for an hour.
His body took three.
When he woke, dawn was only a few hours away.
Jumping to his feet, he decided to run back home. But when he reached his neighborhood, he was greeted by the wail of people crying.
When he got closer, he noticed a picture of him in front of burning candles, sitting on top of a box surrounded by lots of flowers.
His mother, his father, and his young brother were all sobbing, crying their lungs out.
This was his funeral.
Then two luxurious-looking cars stopped by. From the first one came out....
…Wait? Liam? He's still alive?
From the second car came Sharon. They were dressed like some kind of nobles, and each of them had escorts standing behind them.
Liam walked forward with a briefcase and placed it before the crowd.
"As many of you may know, I am Liam Morris, the hunter who discovered black mana crystals. Though Max Willson was not an official party member, he was a close friend. I donate this money to his family. My condolences."
Max's fists trembled violently.
Close friend?
"You pushed me to die—!" he whispered under his teeth.
"BRING BACK MY SON!" his mother wailed. "This money won't bring back my Max!"
She kicked the briefcase away.
Liam scoffed and turned his back.
"Your son was useless. He'd never earn this in a lifetime. Be grateful or leave it for someone else. I don't beg poor people to become rich."
He returned to his car.
Max trembled with rage.
How did Liam become rich? And how could he speak like that to elders?
He almost stepped forward, feeling an overwhelming urge to go and punch the bastard in the face and break his nose. But then....
[Do not reveal yourself, Host.]
[The WOA must not know you survived. [Without a purity gauge, they can't keep tabs on you or control you like they do everyone else.]
[But if they discover you're still alive now, your family would be endangered.]
His fists shook with barely contained rage, but then he exhaled slowly.
"…Fine," he whispered. "I'll come back when I'm strong enough."
For Liam.
For Sharon.
For the WOA.
For the church.
For the goddess's ridiculous purity rules.
[Excellent! Shall we begin the true journey?]
"After dawn," Max replied softly. "There's one last thing I need to do first."
TBC