The long bony fingers burned his skin from their freezing touch. Eli instinctively grabbed at the hand that held him, quickly finding out how futile the effort was. The creature's body felt like it was made of solid ice, he couldn't even feel its skin give in the slightest to his exertion. After his short resistance Eli noticed that he wasn't choking, at least he wasn't before the creature lifted him off the ground. Eli tried to use his hands to distribute the force of gravity onto his arms instead, to minimal effect.

"So soon!" The voice echoed into his mind before it started to cackle loudly. The creature had stood up to its full height now, keeping Eli at eye level. Eli's veins had started to pop from his skin as his feet dangled in the air.

"I have not Descended for naught!" The creature's face started to change for the first time. An unnaturally wide grin started forming on its face, revealing surprisingly human teeth. Realization seemed to strike the creature's eyes as they dimmed, his expression returning to its original indifferent stare as it released its grip.

Though Eli managed to land on his feet, he didn't have the strength to hold himself up, falling onto his ass. He started coughing lightly at the sudden influx of air.

*ding*

-2 HP

The creature squatted down once again, a predatory look starting to become apparent in his gaze. "So fragile!" Eli could detect disgust in its observation.

Eli's thoughts started to race on what was happening. What did it find? What did it want from him? At the very least it seemed to want him alive. As for what purpose, he knew it was likely not in his best interests. At least we can communicate. He thought to himself. From the creature's reply it seemed like such a thing was obvious. Maybe a feature of the system, or the integration process?

*ding*

-1 HP

The notification made Eli dismiss the thought as he tried to figure out his best move. Focus! He knew he was at the mercy of this creature, if he didn't die from whatever was dealing damage to him first. Force and bribery were likely out of the picture, so that meant a diplomatic approach probably gave him the highest chance of survival.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Eli inquired cautiously. The creature slightly tilted his head as the corners of its mouth lifted into a more natural grin.

"Oh yes! You have much to reveal!" It spoke slowly as it started to inspect his body, circling him on all fours like a dog. After it did a full rotation, it stood to its full height and looked around the room. Eli was reminded of a thief checking their surroundings.

"We must leave!" The creature looked at him for a moment as if deciding something. The next moment Eli found himself lifted off the ground once again. The creature brought him eye level, this time though the creature's face was upside down.

The creature nodded before he lowered him. Eli realized the creature was carrying him by his leg. Better than my neck. Eli thought as he felt the blood rush to his head. His surroundings started to blur as Eli realized just how fast this creature was.

They quickly reached a hole in the cavern, leading into a stone corridor. It was clearly man-made, or whatever term now applied. Orbs of swirling flames seem to be mounted on the walls, the air taking on a strong putrid smell.

*ding*

-1 HP

Eli was now at half health and he had no real plan how to heal himself. His primary hope was to raise his Vitality stat again, but he didn't know how to. He seemed to gain that 1 point after receiving 6 points of damage. Which means in less than 3 minutes he might gain another. However, if it was percentage based, he would have to reach 2 HP, and would die before he reached a third. Not to mention the difficulty to gain additional stats tend to increase as you accumulated more, or at least they did in most of the RPGs he knew of that had such a system. There seemed to be a very high chance he would die in less than 15 minutes.

Eli felt himself laying on stone once again. They had arrived wherever the creature planned to take him. He looked around and the first thing that he noticed were multiple metal cells placed in rows around him. This is a dungeon. While he couldn't see any other signs of life, he could certainly smell traces of their rotting corpses. Eli looked up at the creature, fear starting to creep into his chest again.

"Don't mind the mess." The voice seemed to reply to his thoughts. "The previous owners were rather... barbaric."

*ding*

-1 HP

Eli was 1 HP away from verifying the absolute best case scenario. He started to weigh his options on what he should do if it turned out that gaining stats were less straight forward than he hoped they may be.

The creature had started to move throughout the room. Eli couldn't make out what it was doing, but it reappeared in front of him after a short time. The creature decided to carry him with both its hands this time before he set him down on a structurally unsound chair next to a blood-stained stone slab table. He was fairly sure this was an interrogation room.

"Where did you come from? "The creature squatted next to him.

Eli quickly decided that attempting to lie with so little information about this world was probably not the smartest approach to this situation. "I come from a planet called Earth."

"What is a planet?" The creature immediately asked.

The question made Eli pause, he unsure how to effectively answer. "Where I come from, everything in the world like the ground, the oceans, and the sky is just a giant sphere. We call each of those spheres a planet." Eli attempted to explain.

"Ignorance!" The creature shifted in annoyance, but not clarifying. How did you come here? The creature followed up.

"A message appeared that said it had found us, and that it was integrating us into... this." Eli waved his hand around the room.

*ding*

-1 HP

The message made Eli's expression turn grim. Fuck. The creature immediately noticed the change in expression.

"Why?" It questioned.

Eli decided it was probably best to explain his situation to the creature, he couldn't think of any other option. "I'm taking damage every minute or so. I have 9 HP left." He paused for a second. "Do you know how I could heal myself?"

The creature squinted at the new information. "Explain!" It demanded.

"Once I came here I was level 1, but once I was infected by the Dark Deathshroom it caused me to drop to level 0. I received a message that said my Essence was unstable, and i've been taking periodic damage ever since." Eli tried to summarize.

The creature nodded, likely already aware of his level through Inspect. A grin reappeared on its face, the information exciting it. "Do not be concerned, I will not allow you to die." Its expression slightly twisting at the declaration.

The creature stood to full height. "We shall continue after!"

"After what?" Eli immediately replied.

The creature didn't answer as its grin grew. Eli found himself tossed onto the stone slab. "You will feel Pain." The words entered his mind before the creature grabbed his face with one hand. A green light blinded Eli as he felt his word explode into a familiar scene.

*ding*

-9 HP

Eli didn't even notice the prompt. The Pain receded from his body almost as quickly as it appeared.

*ding* *ding* *ding* *ding*

You Have Gained Pain Resistance Lv. 2 You Have Died

Class Unlocked

Revenant

Passive Unlocked

Unwilling Lv. 1

Even decapitation won't slow you

You Regenerate 1 HP/s

Passive Unlocked

Death's Curse

You cannot cheat Death

Permanently Increases Lifespan Consumption Rate by 10.

Error! Incomplete Essence Core!

Essence Corruption Found!

Essence Mutation in Progress!

Passive Skill Unwilling Lost

Passive Unlocked

Unwilling Aura Lv. 1

Even decapitation won't slow you

Anything Affected Regenerates 0.1 HP/s

Range: 10 meters

Name Insignificant Race Insignificant Level 0 Class Revenant (New!) Titles Progenitor Age 0% Lifespan 146 Days Health 1/20 Mana 10/10 Attributes Unspent Points 0 Strength 1 Dexterity 1 Vitality 1 Wisdom 1 Charisma 1 Will 1 Affinities None Resistances (New!) Pain 2 Essence Drain 1 Active Skills Inspect 1 Passive Skills (New!) Dark Sight 3 Death's Curse MAX Unwilling Aura 1