Elias's jaw dropped as he saw the state of the building. It was rotten and decoying before him.
Broken windows, destroyed furniture, and to complete the whole thing, a huge hole starting from the second floor, all the way down to the basement.
So many questions raced through his head, what was this place?, how did his father acquire this?, what is this system in his head?
He took a deep breath, "okay, first things first, what is this Legacy Inn System all about?" He asked himself.
Then a blue screen appeared before him, he flinched and tried to attack, but nothing happened, information was displayed on the screen.
[Legacy Inn System.]
*Main Objective : Restore Inn to former glory.
*The system will provide the user with a quest that must be completed.
*Failure to complete quests will result in punishment.
*Users will be rewarded for quests completed.
*Some quests are required to be solo, rewards will be revoked if the rule is broken.
*Accumulation of incomplete quests will lead to physical harm to the user.
[Loading Current Quest.....Please Wait.....]
1. Grand Restoration :Repair the ground floor.
Time : unlimited.
Reward : Cleaning Equipment level : 1, 10 spirit shards.
2. First Helper : Acquire helper/Servent : 0/1. Time : 3 days.
Reward : Restoration of Mana Vine, activation of power to the building.
Quests will be updated every two days....
Then it vanishes, Elias stands there confused and surprised. He blinks slowly as his brain processes all the information.
"Alright, that was strange... so basically like the quests adventurers have..."
"Okay, so i have to complete these....interesting..." he says, breathing out heavily.
He places his back onto the wall and walks across, trying to avoid the hole. "Dont fall down, dont fall, dont fall...." he repeats.
He manages to reach the stairs, they creek as he steps on them, the wood curving inward. "Dont break." He mutters.
He walks slowly up the stairs, looking around, he notices that the whole building is completely destroyed.
He wondered how anyone could fix this, especially him. He reached the second floor and it was nightmare fuel.
The hall was dark and empty, the only sound was the creaking of the floorboards. He stepped forward, timing every step.
Inside one of the open rooms, he noticed some cat sized rats fighting a rotting snake, neither winning, just biting and eating each other.
He looked away, then he saw the huge hole in the floor. "How did this even happen?" He asked himself.
He peered down, and saw nothing, just darkness and death. He backed away, a simple "nope" escaping his lips.
Then something moved in the back, he turned and saw nothing, then it attacked, a huge rat hooked onto his clothes.
"Shit get off, get off!!!" He shouted, the rat clawed his face, he lost his balance and fell through the hole.
He screamed all the way down, he hit some of the remaining barriers, shattering upon impact.
He landed on a pile of old wood, one stabbing him through the abdomen. He blacked out immediately.
The winter birds sung their songs as the morning light beamed through the hollow openings of the building.
It shined into Elias as he slowly woke up. His eyes heavy and head pounding.
"Where...am I?" He asked himself.
He turned his head to the side, he noticed the staircase at the far end. He tried to get up but felt something scratching his stomach.
He looked forward and saw two rats trying to claw through his clothes. He raised his arm and chased them away, coughing up blood in the process.
The rats ran into the darkness,tails whipping in the air. He ran his hand through his abdomen, he winced as he made contact with the inflamed area of skin.
Closing his eyes and gritting his teeth, he turns to his side and pulls out the piece of wood.
He grunts and cries silently as blood gushes out of the wound.
Then he just… lays there, chest rising and falling too rapidly, his blood painting the wood red..
"This is how it ends?" The thought drifted through his mind, lazy and tired.
Trapped in some basement where no one would ever find him, he closed his eyes as he felt the warmth of his blood on his back.
[Grand Restoration – Progress: Incomplete]
Host vitals: Critical. Mana vein pulse detected, weak assistance possible.
Emergency Rune Unlocked: Ember's Mercy (One-time). Stabilize bleed. Cost: 2 years of lifespan.
Accept? Y/N
Elias laughed, more blood than sound.
"Damn that's just cruel, but fair."he said.
He thought Yes so hard it hurt.
Warmth bloomed in his chest, not healing, just enough mana to stop the bleeding from turning into a river.
Enough to let him breathe without drowning in his own lungs.
Enough to mana just to let him crawl away, he rolled onto his stomach.
Elbows dragged and knees scraped. Every inch toward the stairs felt like swimming through broken glass.
Rats watched from the shadows, patient, waiting for him to stop moving.
The stairs loomed ahead, steep, rotting, mocking him in every way.
Elias hooked numb fingers around the lowest step.
He pulled himself up the rotting stairs leaving a trail of blood behind him. Each time a step pressed against his abdomen was torture.
He kept going, wanting to leave this hell hole alive. He looked up and saw the top, he smiled through the pain.
His hands reached the final step atop the stairs, he gasped loudly as he pulled himself up.
He landed face first on surprisingly hard wood, completely out of energy. His vision blurred and shifted.
"Maybe..... i should just rest here....." he told himself, slowly closing eyes.
Then he heard it, the soft squishing sound. He immediately snapped back, he crawled further but it got louder.
Elias knew that sound all too well, it fueled his nightmare. "Shit not now...." he said to himself.
He looked behind, the one creature he was truly afraid of. It appeared in the light, blue hue shining dimly.
A blue slime had appeared, the size of a house cat.