"Let's see what the accomplishments are going to give me."
[You have made an accomplishment by being the first to kill the Corpse Golem: +1 to all core stats.]
"I was the first?" Daemon paused. "Then this isn't one of the four dungeons." He was curious where he was and if this was a new and undiscovered dungeon. " Let's see the second accomplishment."
[You have made an accomplishment by solo killing the Corpse Golem: +1 to all core stats.]
"Hmmm… that's interesting. I got an accomplishment by solo killing the Corps Golem." He turned the implication over carefully. He could no longer claim the first-kill accomplishment on the four known dungeons — someone else had beaten him to those. But solo kills were a different matter entirely. Four dungeons, four potential accomplishments, each worth +1 to all core stats.
And as a human for every level I get my stats increase +2 in [INT], [END], +1 in [STR], [DEX], [PER], [SPR], [MAG] and +1 Free Point.
Well now I know where all my stats have come from. It is time to see the equipment.
As he touched the equipment icon, a seamless and faceless mask appeared in his hand. It was the same grey as the Corpse Golem's flesh, and upon closer inspection it seemed to be composed of countless faint, shifting features that never quite settled into anything recognizable, giving it a deeply unsettling appearance.
"A mask with no holes for eyes. How am I supposed to use this?"
[Blessing of an Abomination]
Rank: Unique
Type: Garment
"Let our curse be your blessing."
Description: The world saw a horror; the "unknown man" saw a prisoner. While others brought fire and hate, the "unknown man" brought a promise of rest. In the moment the Abomination's life faded, the agonizing screams that had defined its existence turned into a whisper of profound gratitude. This item is the crystallized essence of that gratitude—a curse turned inside out to protect the one who dared to be kind.
Grants the ability to integrate and fuse with the user's body. Due to its nature, the mask does not obstruct vision when worn and increases the other senses. It regenerates from damage it may take with the help of the user.Item Skills[Body Preservation]
Type: Passive
Description: Stitches the user's vitality together. Grants high resistance to dismemberment and bleeding effects. The user's physical form becomes "locked" preventing physical corruption, slowing aging, and rejecting unwanted mutations.
[Will of Anguish]
Type: Passive
Description: The residual will of the Golem acts as a shield. The user gains massive resistance to both physical and mental pain. While the body still takes damage, the mind remains calm and focused, ignoring the debilitating effects of agony or fear.
[Proof of Existence]
Type: Active
Description: The mask shifts its features to mirror any of the individuals who were once part of the Corpse Golem. This allows the user to perfectly mimic the appearance and voice of these lost souls.
Requirements: N/A
Restrictions: Soul-Bound to Daemon.
Daemon stared at the description for a long moment.
"Never mind how I am supposed to use it." He turned the mask over in his hands once more. "I've hit the jackpot." A pause. "I'm starting to love that abomination."
Daemon equipped it and the mask responded immediately, it morphed and glued to his face. Fusing seamlessly no pressure, no obstruction to his vision whatsoever as if it had always belonged there. When it finished settling, it had changed, taking on small differences that made immense.
It was now a half-face masquerade mask, divided vertically down the center, concealing the full face with a lower edge cut in angular lines that suggested a strong jawline. The shifting features had stilled. It looked deliberate now. Finished.
Daemon couldn't see himself, but he could feel the difference in the way the air moved around him. Something had changed in how he occupied the space.
What he didn't know was what he looked like — the Mask combined with the Title lent him the quiet, unsettling presence of someone who radiated authority and madness in equal measure, as though he were a man who had already decided how everything would end and found the outcome agreeable.
"Now that I have finished looking through everything, it is time to leave."
He collected his backpack, his shield, his axe, and his sword from where he had left them on the ground. Everything accounted for. He tried to remove the mask but it wouldn't come off but the moment he thought about removing it the mask integrated into his face and body.
"This is a little disturbing, but it works and I doubt it can be stolen this way"
He turned toward the portal and walked through without hesitation. He had seen enough of this place.
As he passed to the portal, a familiar feeling struck him the same that he got when he had entered the tower, a cool refreshing feeling. "So this is normal when you go through a portal?"
As he got out the portal Daemon scanned his surroundings. A dark and narrow alley.
The portal was closing behind him, but Daemon was looking like an idiot still failing to register what happened.
The first thing that reached him was the noise — voices, movement, the low hum of a crowd operating at a higher pitch than normal. The second thing was the light. Cool blue-white, emanating from clusters of crystals set into ancient stone walls that stretched high above him.
"Where is this?"
He stepped out of the alley and understood immediately. The Hidden City of the Fallen stretched before him — vast, carved from stone that looked like it had existed long before humanity had, lit by light crystals that bathed everything in that distinctive glow. Awakeners moved through wide corridors and open plazas in groups, armed and alert.
What Daemon failed to notice at first was just how alert they were. Too alert.
Daemon was perplexed. If he had completed a dungeon, he should have been transported back to somewhere near its entrance — somewhere in the Basement. Not here. Not directly into the city.
"What the hell is going one, can for one time things go normal, just once!
Daemon frowned. The Hidden City of the Fallen was louder than he expected.
The city was everything the name failed to prepare you for.
He stopped a passing Awakener — a young woman moving with the flow. "Excuse me, what's going on? Everyone looks like they're expecting an attack."
"That would have been far less stressful than this whole fiasco," said the woman.
She glanced at him, and paused for half a second longer than was polite. "Where have you been? The whole city has been in a frenzy for the last few hours." She lowered her voice slightly. "Someone cleared the underground of the Ascension Spire. Solo at that."
"I'm sorry — I've barely entered the Tower. This is my first time in the city," said Daemon.
"No wonder you don't know," the woman said. "Well you should at least know what the Ascension Spire is."
Daemon looked past her. He could see it from where he stood —The Ascension Spire was a tower-like construction situated exactly in the center of the city.
It was enormous and it did not have a visible end as it was piercing straight through the dome overhead where the city was situated and disappearing into whatever lay beyond.
"Yes. When an Awakener thinks he is ready and has gained enough levels, classes, and equipment, they can choose to ascend the Spire and leave the Basement and finally enter the first floor of the Tower. From there they can continue climbing or return home."
Daemon said in the same flat and monotonous tone he remembered his teacher for the mandatory classes explaining the basics of the Tower.