Chapter 3 - The First Floor

Xu never would have thought that the first thing that he saw once he entered the first floor was a skeleton.

As the skeleton's face dangled eerily close to his, Xu gasped and stepped back, all while unsheathing his dagger. He swung the dagger right in front of him at the skeleton's face, only to shatter the skull with a smash.

Xu looked down at his feet where the rest of the skeleton, which seemed to be connected by some sort of glue, was spread-eagle. Some parts of the bone fragments from the skull were lying in between the body of the skeleton. Xu looked up to see a big chunk of bone matter hanging from the low ceiling by a red rope.

"That was close..."

He wondered why there would be an actual skeleton hanging from the ceiling. Xu looked at it, seeing that it was quite old, with cracks and dust all over the skeleton.

This was here for years and years.

Perhaps someone had hung the person and they slowly decomposed?

Xu let out a soft sigh and stepped back, taking deep breaths to calm himself down.

Xu crouched down to poke at the skull fragments, trying to see if there was anything to salvage. A glint caught his eye from inside the ribs. Xu poked the rib bones with his knife, which immediately broke apart.

"Hmph."

Exactly where the heart would be, there was a little silver ring. Xu picked it up curiously and examined it. There wasn't much light, so he couldn't see the ring well.

However, what he could see was the dragon carving on the top of the rings, with tiny sapphires for eyes.

'Should I take it with me? Some artifacts in the Tower can either be helpful or dangerous, and this little ring could be either.'

Xu hadn't seen a ring like this before, so he decided to take it with him for now. It didn't seem to have an murderous intent and looked quite pretty. He stuffed it quickly in his waist pack.

Xu always liked pretty things.

He stood up and looked around, noting the gloominess of the cavern that he was in. The Tower had many different environments, from forests to deep caves. It looked like Xu had ended up in an underground cavern. It was dark and gloomy there, with small rocks scattered around the bumpy floors. He was in the middle of a big cave, and there were two tunnels.

Of course, it had to be a maze.

[System initiating...]

Xu froze as he heard the voice in his head.

'The system...is starting? Already?'

Usually, the system will be initiated after a few days or so. However, Xu wouldn't complain, it was a great opportunity and an advantage.

[Downloading core data...]

[Uploading core data...]

[Data fully processed.]

[Welcome, incarnation Zhao Xu.]

It was a bit underwhelming, but Xu knew that now he could gain skills and stigmas. After he completed one scenario, he would gain one free skill after some time, normal or exclusive. Normal skills could be gained anytime, such as the [Poison] which could, as its name suggests, poison people. As it got upgraded, the effects would be more severe. Exclusive skills were skills that could only be gained in scenarios, though they could be gained from the system.

Xu tightened his grip on his dagger. The first five scenarios would be in the Tower.

But the first scenario was usually really easy.

And sure enough, a blue notification panel that only he could see popped up in front of him.

+

Scenario #1 - Shadow Thief

Category: Personal

Clear Conditions: Locate the Roc's nest and steal one of their golden eggs.

Time Limit: 1 Day

Compensation: 500 coins, Golden Egg, [Character List], one skill

Failure: None

+

"...Nice."

Xu looked at the panel before closing it. He could summon it back anytime if he had any questions on how to complete the scenario.

What caught his attention was the [Character List] skill. [Character List] was a skill that everyone had and it was a skill to see other incantation's information, such as their name, stats, skills, and stigmas. Xu couldn't wait to get the skill.

'Now...the only problem is which way to the Roc's nest...'

Xu looked at the two tunnels in front of him, pondering where to go. 'My teacher always told me to go left if in doubt. Should I go left?' The left tunnel was small and narrow, with lots of crooks and crannies. He would have to crawl through there. It was inevitable that he would get scratched there, and if he got scratched, creatures could get attracted to his blood.

The right tunnel was big and spacious and it would be really easy to get through there. As Xu poked his head into the tunnel, which was more like a little walkway two or three meters long, he could actually see a huge cave, dozens of times bigger than the one was in at the time.

He could almost hear wind whistling from it.

The obvious choice was the right tunnel. Xu sat down and stared blankly at the tunnels, wishing that he had his coin with him. Heads would be left and tails would be right.

That way, he could make an easy choice.

Scritch, scratch.

"Kuok!"

Xu startled as he heard some kind of cry in the darkness. He stood up again and pressed himself against the cavern walls, holding his dagger tightly in his right hand. The cry sounded a lot like one of those huge mice.

He desperately prayed that it was one of those big mice, because they were harmless. The most that the mice could do was scratch someone and that was only when they were really angry. The mice were usually very cowardly and stupid, rather than attacking people and other creatures they preferred to run away even if the 'opponent' was ten times smaller than them.

They were categorized as one of the stupidest creatures on Earth.

And sure enough, a big mouse came scampering out of the big tunnel to his right. Xu examined the mouse, which was as big as him and adorned with gray and silvery-white fur. The fur was certainly beautiful, but the rest was not. The face was gnarled and wrinkly, with barely any fur at all. The beady black eyes were half-hidden by the folds of its face and huge teeth stuck crookedly from its lower jaw. The feet were covered in scales and the tail was a stubby and short.

The mouse was covered in scratches and it screeched anxiously as it ran straight past Xu. It tripped on its long whiskers and screeched even louder as if it was dying.

"Srreearhh!"

Xu jolted as he heard that ear-splitting screech.

The mouse was still near the entrance where it fell down. It seemed to be confused when it bumped its head, because it actually turned around and ran into the tunnel.

"Shreeeeeek!"

Xu gritted his teeth, his heart racing with fear as he clung to the wall, staring at the mouse that was bumping into the walls of the tunnel. He had a clear view of what happened next: Schreeeeee!

The mouse screamed as a huge head forced its way into the tunnel and screeched again. Xu jolted as he saw the huge golden eyes glaring at the mouse. The Roc's head was as big as Xu's body, with white feathers tipped in brown and bronze. The black slitted pupils were shocking against the narrowed golden eyes.

And there was the huge hooked beak that snapped the mouse up with a terrifying snap.

Xu stepped back against the wall as the Roc swallowed the mouse with with a crunch and stared straight at him.

Thump, thump, thump.

That was the sound of his heart beating.

He collapsed on the ground with a sigh of relief when the huge head finally drew out. Xu watched as the bird screeched again and took off, feathers falling to the ground.

So...the Roc may or may not live in the cavern. But the biggest question was: Why was the Roc in the cavern? Rocs lived in the mountains, it wouldn't make sense for one of them to live down in the tunnels.

Was there a hole where the Roc could've come in? Xu hugged his knees and pondered that. He did see a lot of light in the cavern, but he was not going into the tunnel until he was sure it was safe.

"Screeeee!"

And it wasn't safe.

Xu quickly unbuckled his waist pack. The waist pack didn't have much inter-dimensional storage space compared to others but it was bigger having one than not. Xu grabbed all of his items out of the pack, which amounted to:

- One change of clothes (Pants, shirt, underwear, socks, gloves, and a cloak)
- 5 nutrition pills
- One pack of jerky
- One pack of crackers
- 5 water bottles
- One dagger
- The silver ring
- Smoke bomb (single use)

The nutrition pills would only last a week or so, after all the nutrition pills were eaten, Xu needed to start hunting. The nutrition pills do give the person who eats it the nutrients they need, but that wouldn't be enough. That was why people also brought food that was hard to spoil, like Xu's jerky and crackers.

The first thing that he needed to find was water. The Tower was like a survival game; people needed to get food and water for themselves, all while battling ferocious beasts and plants.

There was the silver ring with the dragon engraved on it. The purpose of the ring was still unknown and Xu still didn't know why the ring was in the skeleton's rib cavity.

The smoke bomb to distract any possible enemy. However, it was a one time use and didn't release much smoke. The smoke couldn't distract a creature like the ferocious Roc, but it could distract other creatures that he may face, such as a Dire Wolf or Nightmare. Xu sighed and put everything away back in his waist pack and put around his waist again.

Xu picked up a rock and began sharpening his dagger. 'It's going to need to be sharp if I face the Roc again.' Obviously the dagger wouldn't be able to defeat the Roc, but it may be able to hurt it.

Xu stayed in the cavern for a few hours, until the light was a bit lighter. Xu sheathed his dagger and approached the small tunnel. He thought that there might be something interesting there, such as a weapon of some sort. He put on his black gloves for protection.

He got onto his hands and knees and crawled into the small tunnel, his long limbs frequently getting scraped by the jagged rocks. Thankfully, due to his clothes, none of the rocks pierced his skin.

The smaller tunnel was much longer than the other, so Xu was forced to crawl in darkness.

"F*ck."

After a few minutes of swearing and crawling, Xu once again began to doubt whether he should take this route or not. However, it was too late to turn...around.

'W-what if I get stuck here? What if there's a dead end and I can't turn around and get out?' Worries and what-ifs quickly filled Xu's mind and he slipped on a slippery rock, crashing down to the ground.

Xu barely had time to let out a shout before his entire body began to slide down due to the wet rocks and unusually smooth surface. Xu looked around with blind eyes while he tried to grasp the edge of a rock. He hung onto the rock, but suddenly...crack!

"Ahhh!"

Xu couldn't contain his shout as he fell down the tunnel that had suddenly opened into a dark and seemingly never-ending hole.

Chapter end