Chapter 2: First Steps into the Abyss
The celebratory dinner was a special kind of torture. I pushed food around my plate, forcing smiles and nodding at the right moments while my father and Kaelen spoke of futures bright with promise.
"That S+ skill, Aiden!" Kaelen's eyes shone with an excitement I hadn't seen in years. "The Lightning Rush... the stats say it's not just speed. It's a burst of kinetic force. I could be a vanguard, a striker!"
"I've already spoken to the Ironheart Guild," my father added, his voice thick with pride. "They're eager to have him. A trial run in the F-rank 'Vine-Tangled Thicket' tomorrow. Just to get his bearings."
The Vine-Tangled Thicket. A beginner's dungeon. Mostly low-level plant-based monsters. But even the safest dungeons held unpredictable variables. A mutated root stranglebeast. A stray spore-drone from a deeper section. My grip tightened on my fork.
"That's... great, Kaelen," I managed, my voice softer than I intended. "Just be careful."
He reached over, squeezing my shoulder. "I'm doing this for us. I'll be careful, I promise. You'll be walking before you know it."
The guilt was a physical weight in my stomach. If only he knew that the power to heal myself was already coursing through me, slow and steady as a growing root. But revealing that would mean revealing everything else—the shadows, the daggers, the terrifying truth of my existence. I couldn't shatter the hope in his eyes. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
Later, the house fell silent. The familiar, rhythmic sounds of my father's snoring and Kaelen's deep, even breaths signaled it was time. The moonlight streamed through my window, painting a silver rectangle on the floor.
I closed my eyes, not to sleep, but to focus. In my mind, a map unfolded—a shimmering, three-dimensional lattice of every dungeon, rift, and tower whose data had been publicly logged. It was an instinctive knowledge granted by Dungeon Walker. I bypassed the F-rank dungeons. Too many newbie parties, too many eyes. My gaze fell on a C-rank instance on the city's outskirts: the "Howling Caves."
It was a perfect testing ground. C-rank was considered serious business, requiring a coordinated party of at least level 30s. No one would expect a solo entrant, especially not one like me. The monsters would be a real challenge.
" Target: Howling Caves. Proceed? "
A silent, mental command. Yes.
The world dissolved. There was no sound, no grand teleportation light. It was as if the space around me simply decided to be somewhere else. One moment, I was in my moonlit room; the next, I was standing on damp, cold stone. The air was thick with the smell of wet rock, decay, and a faint, bestial musk.
I was standing. My legs, for the first time in over a year, held my weight without a tremor. The World Tree's Blessing had been working tirelessly, and in the confines of a dungeon, away from prying eyes, I could finally let it. The feeling was electric, a surge of freedom so potent it made my head spin.
But there was no time to revel in it. A low, guttural growl echoed from the tunnel ahead. I summoned my daggers. The Umbral Blades materialized in my hands with a whisper of coalescing darkness, their forms drinking the faint luminescence of the glowing moss on the walls.
[ Mana: 1250/1250 ]
[ Shadow Power: 100% ]
A pair of creatures emerged from the shadows—Cave Gnawlers, Level 32. They were the size of large dogs, with matted fur, powerful jaws, and claws that scraped against the stone. Their beady red eyes locked onto me.
My heart hammered against my ribs. This was real. This wasn't a dream.
The first Gnawler lunged. Instinct took over. I didn't think; I moved. My body flowed into the Umbral Blade Dance. I sidestepped, the monster's claws whistling past where my head had been. My right dagger lashed out in a dark arc, slicing cleanly through its thick neck.
[ Defeated Cave Gnawler (Lv. 32). Experience Gained. ]
[ Apocalypse's Greed Activated. +0.01 to Agility. ]
There was no time to process the notification. The second Gnawler was already in mid-air, jaws wide. I dropped into a crouch and thrust upwards with both blades, crossing them in an 'X' through its exposed underbelly. It fell in a silent, twitching heap.
[ Defeated Cave Gnawler (Lv. 32). Experience Gained. ]
[ Apocalypse's Greed Activated. +0.01 to Strength. ]
I stood there, panting, the adrenaline crashing through my system. It was over in seconds. I had done it. I had killed. And a small, almost insignificant part of my power had grown.
I ventured deeper, my movements becoming more fluid, more confident. I was a ghost in the caverns. I learned to use the shadows themselves, activating the merge function to phase through a patrol of Gnawlers, my form becoming insubstantial smoke for a precious few seconds.
[ Mana: 1140/1250 ]
The cost was high, but my regeneration was already ticking it back up.
It was in a larger cavern that I found them. A party of four hunters, their armor scuffed and battered. They were cornered, their backs against a giant mushroom cap. A Gnawler Pack Leader, Level 45, a hulking brute twice the size of the others, was leading the assault, while its smaller kin harried their flanks. A woman with a broken shield arm was trying to cast a healing spell, her face pale with pain and concentration.
"Form a circle! Liam, watch your left!" their leader, a man with a greatsword, bellowed.
But it was futile. The Pack Leader charged, easily deflecting the greatsword with a swipe of its paw. It loomed over the healer, jaws dripping saliva.
This was it. The reason I was here.
I didn't make a sound. I used Dungeon Walker not to enter, but to move. I vanished from the shadows behind my and reappeared in a deeper patch of darkness directly behind the Pack Leader. The transition used a chunk of my mana, but the effect was instantaneous.
To the struggling party, I simply materialized from nothingness.
I activated Veil of the Nameless God. A smooth, featureless white mask formed over my face, cold against my skin. In the same motion, as the beast reared up to deliver the final blow, I leaped.
"Wha—?!" the leader gasped.
My shadow-wreathed daggers became a blur of darkness. I didn't just stab; I danced. I slid between its legs, severing tendons. I sprang off the cavern wall, driving a blade deep into its shoulder. I merged with a shadow on its own body to avoid a crushing bite, reappearing on its back to plunge both daggers into the base of its skull.
The Pack Leader roared in confusion and agony, swiping at a foe that was no longer there. It was too fast, too agile for its size, but against my fluid, teleporting style, it was a lumbering giant. After a final, brutal flurry of strikes, the monster collapsed, dissolving into motes of light.
[ Defeated Gnawler Pack Leader (Lv. 45). Experience Gained. ]
[ Apocalypse's Greed Activated. +0.01 to Spirit. ]
The remaining Gnawlers, without their leader, faltered. I turned my masked gaze towards them, and they scattered into the tunnels.
Silence descended, broken only by the heavy breathing of the hunters. They stared at me, a mixture of awe, terror, and profound relief on their faces. I was just a silhouette in the gloom, a boy with a void-white mask and daggers of night, standing perfectly still.
The leader found his voice first. "You... you saved us. Who are you?"
I said nothing. I simply looked at them for a moment longer, ensuring the healer was stabilizing her arm. My work was done.
I took a step back, into a deep pool of shadow cast by a stalagmite. I let the darkness embrace me, activating Dungeon Walker to return home.
To them, I simply faded away, vanishing as silently as I had appeared.
Back in my room, the familiar confines felt both comforting and alien. The scent of the dungeon—damp and death—still clung to me. I dismissed my daggers and mask, the shadows flowing back into my skin. I looked at my status screen, the notifications from the night scrolling past.
It was a start. A meager one. 0.03 total stat points and a handful of experience. But I had done it. I had taken my first step.
I slipped back into my bed, the illusion of the frail younger brother perfectly restored. As I closed my eyes, the final image in my mind wasn't of the monsters I'd slain, but of the stunned, grateful faces of those hunters.
They had seen a ghost. And a legend, I knew, had begun to stir in the darkness. But for now, it was a legend that needed to sleep. Tomorrow, my brother would take his first steps into a Thicket. And I would be watching.