Shit…
A young boy in his mid teens thought, as an arrow came with a silent whistle at his face, grazing his cheeks.
This boy was Kain.
Blood drizzled from his wound, but it was nothing compared to the many injuries on his body.
Ignoring the pain, he quickly rolled towards a tree and hid behind it from his attackers.
He peeked slightly from the tree and saw his attackers, yes plural meaning there were more then one attackers after him.
Though, his attackers can hardly be called people, considering how they looked and the name on their head.
[Hollow Puppets: Archers]
Yes, they were named puppets, for they looked human if not for the fact that their body looked like it was carved out of stone and their mouth, nose and eyes, especially eyes were hollow.
Before Kain could even count how many of them there were, a spear came flying with the speed high enough to create a howling sound and landed on the tree, piercing the tree's trunk just a few inches from impaling his head to the said trunk.
Kain stared with wide-eyes towards the spear stuck in the tree before quickly shifting his gaze towards its source.
There was another group of [Hollow Puppets], these were [Spearmen] causing a frown to appear in his eyes, before it deepened even further.
Kain was surrounded from all four sides by more than 20 [Hollow Puppets], who were coming closer each second.
…I guess, this is as far as I can go without going this time.
As Kain thought that, he took out a parchment from his utility belt, on the parchment was a magic circle, and with all his might tore it into two pieces.
Soon, a white magic circle appeared below his feet, with multiple layers and thousands of inscriptions and it slowly started glowing brightly by the second.
While the light was glowing brightly, another spear came towards him, but this time a bit more aware he parried the spear with his sword.
Ugh…this is why it is recommended to have a class before even thinking of challenging a dungeon, any dungeon.
He thought as his hand was nearly ripped off in that deflection, yet he clenched his hands around the sword tightly and was ready for another attack.
But he didn't have to stay in that situation for long before the magic circle reached peak brightness, illuminating the forest like a small sun before fading away directly.
With the light, the magic circle and along with Kain also faded i.e. he disappeared from his position.
===
In some form of a dorm room, this time not inside a dungeon the same magic circle appeared on ground once again before illuminating the forest.
Before fading away, Kain appeared from the luminous light with his hand still clenching on the sword.
But after he realised that he was finally outside of the dungeon, he knelt down on the ground with his sword pointed towards the floor as he leaned on it for support, panting for his life.
Haah…Haah…
Soon, his breathing calmed down as he reached for his utility belt once again removing a vial of lime green liquid and downing its contents.
Soon, the minor injuries he had recovered visibly and some color also returned on his face, and for the major injuries, well, he didn't have any cause: If he did then the magic circle would have been used right away.
After finally relaxing a bit, he stood up, walking towards the dorm bed as he flopped down on it, throwing the sword to his right.
Not because he was tired, the health potion was enough to recover it, but because he was internally frustrated as it can be seen with his grinding teeth and knitted brows.
"...Four down, Six remaining."
He said, counting the numbers of more parchments he had to access that dungeon, he was not talking about the return parchments which he had used to escape from the dungeon, exiting in his room.
He was talking about another batch of parchments which he used to enter the dungeon, so in total he had 20 parchments, 10 for entering and 10 for exiting each, meaning 10 tries out of which only 6 remained now.
The cost of these 10 tries were astronomical, excluding the price which he had spent to find the said dungeon.
"Not to mention, I was so close this time."
He was not talking about clearing the dungeon, not exactly, he was talking about one step further, claiming the dungeon, which was both simple and hard.
Simple being, he did not have to slay any of the dungeon monsters and frankly he can't, not without a class and his human strength.
Hard because the requirements to claim the dungeon required him to stay in that hell hole for at least 24 hours and he can't even survive more than 12 hours, this was the luckiest run with 20 hours.
And claiming the dungeon wasn't even his real goal.
Haaaah…
Kain was just about to get up, to clean himself and possibly get back to work when something he didn't expect happened.
[Do you accept the Tutorial Quest for Class: Dungeon Conqueror?]
Kain just stared at the blue holographic screen for a few seconds as if his brain functioning had shut down making him incapable of processing what he was seeing.
Next moment, he sat straight on his bed without a change of muscle on his face as he rubbed his eyes once then looked at the screen, he continued the second time, the third and even the fourth.
He moved on towards pinching his cheeks, the pain was there but he still ignored it and just stared at the notification.
Huuuuh…Haaah…
He took in a deep breath and let it out, continuing the cycle without blinking his eyes, as if he was staring at a sacred treasure which would disappear if he took his eyes off of it.
"...Finally…"
He finally closed his eyes, but opened it again, the screen was still there.
"FINALLY!!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!"
After screaming out the same word again, he started laughing maniacly.
Gladly, he lived in this room alone and there was no guest present, or they might have just taken him to the mental ward fearing for his safety as well as their own.
"10 YEARS!! I spent ten bloody years for this day and finally…finally this screen presents itself to me…"
Yes, for the past 10 years Kian had wanted to see this screen, not this screen exactly but its contents which is [Class: Dungeon Conqueror].
To gain this class, he tried out thousands of methods, read tens of thousands of books and searched for at least a hundred thousand leads.
[Dungeon Obsessed], [Dungeon Scholar], [Dungeon Researcher] and what not classes he had rejected since the age of 6 for his sight was placed on this class and this class alone.
Even the risk of entering the accursed dungeon of [Hollow Puppets] without any class was one of the extreme leads he had followed, spending not only an insane amount of money but also risking his life.
"But it seems, this lead was the one which actually made this class available."
While he had expected that he would have to conquer i.e. claim the dungeon, but gladly his efforts were rewarded early without him having to risk his life more.
Since my reincarnation into this world, I've been planning day-and-night before finally setting my sights on this class, one which would provide me the most benefits and become the core of my next steps.
Yes, Kain was not some child genius whose cognitive and worldly experience had been developed way earlier in the age, he was reincarnated into this world from Earth.
Since then, he has spent the 15 years of his life, which is also his current age, learning about this world, its medieval era, its geography and environment, its system, especially one of the many things that earth lacked, Classes.
"Accept."
Kain presented his intent, and the interface complied, by changing the contents.
[Are you sure you want to accept Dungeon Conqueror as your first class?]
This is the only occasion throughout one's life that the system asks for two-step verification, because even it knows how special one's first class is.
It cannot be changed once acquired, it can only be evolved, and many times the entire future of one belongs to the first class, including the subclasses, though he was an exception belonging to the human race and unlocking a ruling/lord category class, even if a half-one.
Though, this is all just nerd talk, let's move forward.
"Yes."
Kain would be a fool to refuse something which he had worked hard for the past 10 years, after all that intensive planning and simulations.
[Congratulations for unlocking Class: Dungeon Conqueror temporarily!!]
[To unlock the class permanently, please complete the tutorial quest!!]
—
[Tutorial Quest: Conquer the Dungeon!]
Conditions:
- Enter a dungeon
- Get a quest to conquer the dungeon and fulfill the quest.
- Exit the dungeon
Rewards:
- Class: Dungeon Conqueror Unlocked Permanently
- Tutorial Quest Completion Rewards.
Time limit: 30 days
Penalty: Death
—
A huge interface appeared, not like the one which was used to present dialogues, it showcases the [Tutorial Quest] which he needs to complete to unlock the class.
He wasn't overly surprised by the quest, considering he had spent the past 10 years learning everything about the class, the tutorial quest was one of the common facts he knew about it.
Even the death penalty was within his expectations, usually others might not face such severe consequences for the same class, at most the class would become unavailable to them.
The death penalty was due to his identity as a member of the human race and the class being a lord category class.
…Though, it was still within expectations. I would have been more surprised, rather angry if it would have been anything else.
Yes, the death penalty signifies that he was on the right track, or else he might have gotten a toned down version of the class, like those of people from other races.
"Regardless, there is another thing which would confirm whether I have gotten the class as planned."
"[Profile]"
Kain excitedly said that, as another huge interface appeared in front of him, replacing the one with the tutorial quest.