Jace's POV

The bloody hall was deserted as Jace laboriously pulled himself to his feet, wincing at the shooting pain in his entire body. His health had dropped noticeably, and his stamina was practically empty. He waited, hoping someone from the guild would come and rescue him, but nobody came.

When the monster first came at him, he thought it would be his inevitable demise. There was no way he would have survived from such high rank disparity. Yet, here he was, half dead, his wounded body covered with thin horizontal striations in pale ochre.

What was that monster's deal? A single spell? For someone who purposefully killed all of his minions? Is he not looking down on me too much? I heard dungeon guardians were arrogant, even though this was the first one I saw.

He didn't know what kind of attack that monster used, it was his first time seeing something like that. There might have been an additional effect but all he was feeling was the sharp surges of pain shooting inside his body everytime he tried to move a limb.

Jace slowly limped across the hollow hall, heading for the nearest corridor. He had learned from Jeanie that the dungeon monsters will respawn, if you left those cores lying around and he wasn't hopeful about his chances of convincing himself to let him search for cores in his bruised and battered state.

He trudged his way through the darkened corridors and passing two different halls, far away from that monster as possible, passing several groups of the newly spawned centipedes. He kept his guard up and walked while activating stealth, not wanting to catch their attention. The centipedes, not so bright when it came to night viewing, let him through without paying any attention when he reached the archway to next castle hall. The next hall was crawled down by hundreds of centipedes. They crawled here and there, slithering over the top of each other, clacking their bladed mandibles over the bloodied floor.

Jace was in no mood to approached anything here, not when he is literally red on his hp and stamina. He would've been able to take on a small group of two to five, but not in this situation. His opinion of dungeon monsters was riding pretty low at the moment, and he just wanted to find a safe spot to rest and lick his wounds. His thoughts had cooled a little bit, but he was still fuming. The target of his anger had shifted slightly, however.

Idiot, idiot, idiot! I should have known that throwing myself in dungeon like that was a bad idea. I got angry and and jumped straight inside. Damn it! I should've ran straight towards the city and requested for guild's help. We might have been able to make it in time... I could have... saved them.

Fighting back the tears forming inside his bloodshot eyes, he kept himself going with sheer stubbornness until he found a pair of stairways leading down the corridor. There were no signs of the centipedes, so he got down on his knees and tried to peer down the stairs. Nothing. There was just another empty hallway. He wriggled himself down the stairs, until he was hidden from both the hallways. He didn't want to fight until he was regenerated, so he pulled himself onto a larger tread near the newel post and curled up to take a rest.

Jace shivered from the cool air mixed with blood mana as he closed his eyes, thoughts spiraling in a dark vortex of anger and self-reproach.

***

Alec stood there, a dark mist surrounding his previous human body, silently gazing under his feet.

His face, calm. His head, empty.

There were beings among the shadows below. Beings who walked without flesh among the shadows. All around Alec, whispering amongst each other. Voices, loud enough to make him wish he could scream, silent enough to seem a whisper.

They knew, he was there.

From the center of shadow storm, as thunder roared and dark flames danced, shadows descended.

Whispers.

The longer he listened, the more he understood.

Their whispers were like ten thousand words, each tumbling over-top one another, cascading as if a dam giving way to the oncoming flood. Thoughts and images all wrapped up among a language no mortal should ever know.

LEAVE!

It was there, they wanted him to leave.

THIS IS NO PLACE FOR A MORTAL SOUL!

Criteria Met

He could hear them, as they shouted.

He wasn't supposed to be here.

Deep down his chest, he heard it, as something gripped his very existence.

This is not our time yet.

First Stigma: Invoked!

That was the last thing he heard when his consciousness, yet again, plunged into darkness.

***

Alec groaned as he opened his eyes in the darkened corridor. Pain surging through his head and body as he tried to push himself to his feet.

What happened? He looked around to access his surroundings. Nothing was in sight except for a glinting red crystal surrounding by a heap of dust.

His eyes shifted towards his own body. His entire body was drenched in dry blood. It healed? The hole in his chest when the centipede dug through him was not there anymore. Wait.. How?

All he remembered was darkness, when a sudden disembodied beep woke him up.

Wait! Beep?

He quickly shifted his eyes above his head, towards the long awaiting notifications screen.

Defeated [Sanguis Scolopendra Lv12]!

Additional experience is awarded for defeating an opponent two times your level!

Level up! 6→7

STRENGTH +5

ENDURANCE +1

VITALITY +3

MIND +5

CLARITY +1

AGILITY +4

ADDITIONAL STAT POINTS +4

SKILL POINTS +1

Level up! 7→8

STRENGTH +4

ENDURANCE +2

VITALITY +3

MIND +4

CLARITY +2

AGILITY +4

ADDITIONAL STAT POINTS +4

SKILL POINTS +1

Warning: You have used an amount of mana too high for your restricted level!

Lack of mana has temporarily degraded your physical stats!

Lack of mana has temporarily degraded your mental stats!

You have used up all your mana.

Instance [Mana Starvation] has been activated! Your consciousness will be forcefully forfeited to avoid further damage.

Warning: Your health is dangerously low.

Instance [Emergency Regeneration] has been activated! Your consciousness will be forcefully forfeited to avoid further damage.

Criteria Met!

First Stigma- Invoked!

Only two levels from twice as powerful opponent? That's kinda disappointing.

Sounds like I didn't die after-

His gaze suddenly shifted towards the lower part of the screen and his eyes widened.

Wait... When? How?

He quickly pulled up his status screen.

Alec Jones

Species: Puerulus Antitheus Feles

Race: Ancesant

Constellation: Inanis Praenuntius

Potential: [Perfect]

Status:

Level: 8

HP: 270/270

MP: 78/120

SP: 280/280

STRENGTH: 41

ENDURANCE: 16

VITALITY: 27

MIND: 59

WISDOM: 9

CLARITY: 15

AGILITY: 37

Available stat points: 28

Available Skill Points: 3

Species abilities:

Blood Claws lv1

Mana Bite lv1

Blood Bullet lv1

Space Step lv1

Blood Chains lv1

Racial attributes:

Dimensional space access lv1

Mystic lv1

Language comprehension lv Max

Stellar abilities:

System interference

Path of Stars [Exclusive]

Stigma generation:

S1: Gaze Of The Depth

S2:[Unavailable][No Stellar Essence Detected]

S3:[Unavailable][Unlock s2 first]

S4:[Unavailable][Unlock s3 first]

S5:[Unavailable][Unlock s4 first]

S6:[Unavailable][Unlock s5 first]

He remembered when the screen first gave him an option whether he wanted to have a stigma or not.

But, it was no longer there. Wasn't my consent necessary for engraving my soul?

He looked up to the status screen. Then why? Can the system make decision on it's own? If not, Did I do it subconsciously? I can't agree on any of these possibilities.

What's done was done. It was not like even if system tried to control his body, he would be able to refuse it. Whoever made the system was a not being he would ever be able to oppose. He decided to roll with it and pulled up his stigma information.