Kael stepped into the portal, and the world twisted.
For a second, he felt like he was falling through water and fire at the same time. Colors spun around him. His stomach flipped. Then everything stopped.
He landed hard on his knees.
He looked around, blinking. He was inside a tunnel. The walls were made of old bricks, slimy with mold and dirt. The air stank of rot, worse than the alleys of Low End. Water dripped from the ceiling. Rats squeaked somewhere in the dark.
Where am I?
Then the screen appeared again in front of his eyes.
> [DUNGEON: SEWER MAW NEST]
[RANK: F]
[OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE AND EXIT]
[WARNING: ENEMIES PRESENT]
Kael's heart raced. He was inside some kind of dungeon. He had heard stories about dungeons—hidden places full of monsters and treasures, only seen by high-level cultivators or system users. But he had never seen one himself.
And now he was in one. Alone. With no weapons. No skills.
Just pain, fear, and the system.
He moved slowly down the tunnel, keeping his body low and his ears sharp. Every step made his legs ache. His ribs still hurt from the earlier beating, and he had no idea how dangerous this place really was.
Then he heard it.
A scratching sound. Slow. Wet. Like something crawling.
Kael stopped. He held his breath.
Something was coming.
Out of the shadows ahead, a creature appeared.
It was like a giant rat—but worse. Its skin was rotting, pieces of it missing. Its eyes glowed red. Its teeth were sharp and dripping with black liquid.
[ENEMY: INFECTED SEWER RAT – LEVEL 1]
Kael took a step back.
He had no weapon.
No armor.
But then something blinked on the screen.
[WEAPON UNLOCKED: RUSTY PIPE]
Kael looked down.
Near his foot, half-hidden in the dirt, was a short piece of metal pipe. Rusty and bent—but better than nothing.
He grabbed it just as the rat lunged.
Kael swung the pipe with all his strength.
It hit the rat in the side of the head with a loud crack. The creature squealed and fell, but it wasn't dead. It twisted and tried to bite him. Kael yelled and hit it again. Once, twice, three times.
Finally, it stopped moving.
He fell back, breathing hard.
Blood pounded in his ears. His hands shook. He had never killed anything before. Not even a normal rat. But this wasn't normal. This was survival.
The system beeped again.
[ENEMY DEFEATED: INFECTED SEWER RAT]
[EXP GAINED: 10]
[LEVEL UP!]
[NEW STATS AVAILABLE]
A warm feeling passed through his body, like a wave of strength. His pain faded a little. He stood up straighter.
The system showed his new stats:
Kael – Level 2
Strength: 5
Agility: 6
Vitality: 4
Intelligence: 6
Willpower: 7
Soul: ?
[Stat Points: +3]
Kael smiled a little. It wasn't much, but he was stronger than before. He opened the screen and used 2 points on Strength and 1 on Vitality. He needed to hit harder and take more damage.
He continued through the sewer tunnel.
More rats attacked—one, then two at once. Kael fought them off, swinging the pipe with all his power. He got bitten once, and it burned like fire, but he didn't stop. He leveled up again. Then again.
Each time, his body felt less broken. His vision sharpened. His movements got quicker.
After what felt like an hour, Kael finally stopped to rest. He sat against a dry patch of wall, panting. His shirt was torn. Blood and filth covered his arms. But he was still alive.
He checked the screen.
Kael – Level 4
Strength: 8
Agility: 7
Vitality: 6
Intelligence: 6
Willpower: 7
Soul: ?
[Skills: Unlocked – 'Street Fighter Lv.1']
He opened the skill tab.
[Street Fighter Lv.1: Boosts damage with improvised weapons. +10% to attack power with non-standard weapons.]
Kael laughed. A real skill. From a system that had picked him—someone with no spirit root, no background, and no future.
"Not bad for trash," he muttered.
He got up and walked farther into the dungeon. The smell got worse. The tunnel widened into a round chamber. In the center was a pile of bones and garbage. On top of it rested a huge rat—twice the size of the others. Its eyes glowed bright red. Long claws scraped the floor. Its body pulsed with black energy.
[ENEMY: SEWER MAW – LEVEL 5 – BOSS]
Kael froze.
The rat lifted its head and sniffed the air. Then it shrieked.
Kael didn't wait. He ran to the side, just as the creature charged. Its claws slammed into the ground, leaving deep cuts in the stone. Kael jumped forward and hit it with the pipe.
It roared and knocked him flying into the wall.
Pain shot through his back. He rolled, barely able to breathe.
[Health: 20/50]
The boss was fast and strong. Kael needed to be smarter.
He stood, wiped blood from his lip, and waited. When the rat charged again, he dodged and slammed the pipe into its leg. It screeched. He hit it again and again—moving fast, striking weak spots.
After a hard fight, Kael finally stabbed the sharp end of the pipe into the creature's eye. It let out one last scream and collapsed.
[BOSS DEFEATED]
[EXP GAINED: 100]
[LEVEL UP: Level 5]
[New Skill Unlocked: Endure Pain Lv.1]
Kael fell to his knees, breathing hard. He was shaking. Exhausted. But alive.
He looked around the room and spotted a glowing circle on the ground—another portal.
The way out.
He walked to it and stopped.
Before stepping in, he looked at the screen one more time.
He wasn't a cultivator.
He didn't have a spirit root.
But he had a system.
And now, he had strength.
End of Chapter 2