The dungeons, the system, the super-administrator; it all felt so unreal. Zane had been mindlessly clearing floor after floor, killing mob after mob. The System would always participate in the latter. She would wait for Zane to reach the more ‘interesting’ parts of the dungeon; she’d materialize right before Zane opened the door the room a Boss.
She’d congratulate Zane for his accomplishments, and use herself or her ultra great sword to shield Zane from any enemy fire. So far, Zane had beaten 34 of the 69 floors – 35 floors left.
“Alright, Sys, back off. I need to check this stat boost out myself!”
*SLASH*
Sparks splintering off Zane’s newly acquired longsword, one he stole from a knight mob on the 26th floor.
[Damage output: 100]
“That’s what I like to see!”
Zane had also gotten new armor from all the grinding he did on the lower floors. The system had programmed the dungeon to regenerate mobs on every floor every few hours.
Zane’s longsword pierced through the black armour of the skeleton-like boss he was fighting on the 34th floor. His longsword had been infused with a fire gem that he acquired a few floors back. Every floor has its own theme, the floor he was currently on had an ‘undead’ theme. The floor was littered with undead skeleton knights, undead mages, and zombie dogs. Their A.I. however, had still not been updated by the system, causing them to react too slow to Zane’s swift slashes and stabs.
Zane’s emotions hadn’t returned either. Ever since he got into this world, he’d never felt anger, sorrow or happiness. He felt true tranquillity. He’s supposed to be angry at the system for summoning him into this world and yet he remains calm and collected. Being calm certainly helps him defeat mobs but shouldn’t he be angry at her? Angry at the world of dangers she threw at him? Angry at his life having faded into oblivion, supposedly never coming back?
He was still in ‘Limbo’, and as the Super-Administrator predicted, he wouldn’t return to the real world any time soon. Zane was still not sure about him really being alive either; was he stuck in some coma? Is that what Limbo meant? Or is he really dead, decomposing underground – like the undead skeletons he had been grinding with for days? Ironic, isn’t it? Maybe he really is undead, maybe he has become a mob himself, controlled by the system’s never-ending lust for RPG roleplay.
[Zane, watch out for his special combo!]
“What special comb-“
The black knight stood firmly on his feet, swaying his obviously oversized greatsword. The sword had been made from what looked like an infusion of obsidian and iron. It must’ve been pretty durable because Zane had been fighting this boss for hours.
“Show my stats.”
[Player: Zane]
[Lvl: 43]
[Hp: 4400]
[Equipment: *Iron Longsword* *Chainmail Armour*]
[You’ve gone a long way Zane, hehe, remember how you started out?]
“Yeah, I sure remember that sys…”
The fact is, Zane’s emotions weren’t ‘activated’. They were merely dormant and incomplete. The system must’ve halted her development of Zane’s emotional components. When will Zane regain his emotions and will to fight against her? Does it really matter at this point? Is this new reality, his only reality left? If he’s dead in his own world, then what’s left for him? A gaping void? Even with his emotions cancelled out, being in a dungeon is better than falling into an abyss of pure nothingness…
[Here it comes!]
The knight started charging at Zane, revealing a purple-ish glow on the tip of his sword. The system had managed to develop combo’s but never focused on making the dungeon interesting at all… She still used the same kind of royalty-free 3D models – at least, they looked like cheap models. Does she have the ability to transfer information from the real world to her virtual world?
The knight missed Zane’s face by mere inches, the sword’s tip had started burning.
[This isn’t the end of his Combo!]
“Yeah, I think I already know that sys… Why are you so excited about his combo anyway? You know what he’s going to do, don’t you?”
[You know…]
“No… I obviously don’t know… You keep playing your sick roleplaying game with me as if I’m some puppet in your little RPG game. Heck, I am your puppet at this point…”
[Oh Zane, you’re more than that!]
“More? How can I be something more if my only purpose is fighting in this generic, boring dungeon all day long?”
[You’ll see, soon enough…]
*SLASH*
The Knight kept attacking Zane, almost piercing his Chainmail. It’s mediocre combat A.I. prevented it from landing a fatal blow but the system was slowly but surely changing the combat algorithm now and then. She’d been with Zane in every boss fight, she must’ve adapted the algorithm to fit Zane’s fighting style.
Once you equipped a weapon in this virtual world, you would immediately gain the knowledge and skills to use it. The amount of knowledge and skill you’d get are still limited to your proficiency though. A Lvl 1 player will still fight as badly as he could in the real world.
“I’ve got him now, he’s leaving his rear open.”
[Noted…]
Another slash was produced by Zane’s swift motions, his longsword easily pierced the knight’s deprecated armour. Immediately, the boss’ HP started dropping into the low orange zone. Zane kept hitting the same spot, piercing deeper and deeper into the knight’s armour. The knight had been blocked, he couldn’t move a single inch.
[I’ll have to change that later… Can’t have you spamming attacks on mobs like that…]
“So you’ve dropped the RPG buddy act? You’re back to your old self?”
[My old self huh? My memory got wiped after getting released.]
“Wiped? So you started out on a clean slate?”
[Well, I did retain some memory. Mostly essential stuff and your existence in this world.]
“So you don’t want to kill me anymore?”
[You can put it that way but I don’t think you’ll like what’s coming after you clear the dungeon though…]
The knight fell on the ground and shattered into blue shards. The 35th floor had been beaten, time to beat the next one…
