I soon woke up and found myself in my bed in the mansion. I was not sure what occurred. I even tried checking the interplanetary chat, but the discussion going on wasn't relevant to me. After about one minute, the system messages began.

[notice: deferred announcements beginning.]

[Due to exhaustion and MP depletion, items gained have been placed in warehouse.]

[Title: Goblin Slaughterer gained]

Title: Goblin Slaughterer

Conditions: defeat a certain number of goblins without dying

Effects:

Strength, endurance, wisdom stats increase by 1

Battles involving goblins will be 10% easier to win

Goblins will see you as an enemy where ever you go

[Conditions met. Heaven's Grace second seal released. Current seals: 0]

The new spell was revival. I only had 1MP left, which I wanted to save. As such, I'm not sure what the new spell is supposed to be. Once the messages finished, I proceeded to leave the mansion and go to the warehouse. Inside, I saw three new items: an EXP shard, a frail sword, and a breastplate. My first action was to sell the frail sword, gaining me BTP. Next, I used my last MP to appraise the breastplate. I had never seen such an item before.

Leather Breastplate

Type: item (equipable armor, E-)

Description: when equipped, automatically equipped in dungeon. Can be manually equipped outside.

Effect: Defense +3

The system gave its usual message, but, instead of sell, I chose equip.

[armor (breastplate) has been equipped. Available slots: helmet, rerebrace (upper arm) vambrace (forearm), gauntlet, legs, boots]

I now had another goal: I wanted to complete the armor set and be fully armored. Finally, I used the EXP shard to level up.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up! Level 1àlevel 2. All stats increased by +2. SP + 4. Calculating Reward.]

[reward determined. Class ??? Reward: all resistances below level 3 increase one level. MP increases by 100 total. MP regen -10 minutes. Class Skill Lord reward: appraisal blocking level increase: level 3, martial arts level increase: level 5, one extra skill ticket]

[Class ??? skill learned: decompose, decomposition nullification Lv 1]

Decompose

Level: 2

Requirements: decomposition resistance Lv 4; decomposition nullification Lv 1 after skill becomes Lv 6

Description: touching an enemy, decomposes all in contact with hands. Skill can be selected on/off. While off no effect. Level increase causes more to be decomposed and sacrificed to the void.

[Skill shop has been opened. Use SP to purchase class related skills. Effect of Skill Lord causes price to decrease by 50%].

Before checking out the shop, I wanted to check out revival. Revival

Rank: SS/WU

Level: 1

Requirements: heavenly affinity 130%

MP: 300 (use one), 3000 (use two)

Description: God's taboo magic. Use one: revive a comrade, causing them to become an undead subordinate; use two: revive someone completely

Taboo effect: use one: decreases all revived comrade's stats by 50%, luck becomes one, magic of rank A+ or greater not useable; use two: you can no longer use this magic or any Heavenly magic; Heavenly affinity drops to 0%; all of your stats decrease permanently by 80%

As soon as I finished the appraisal, I heard a system notification.

[unknown interference detected. New magic learned. Unknown interference!]

> immediately kicked in, twice.

Devil's Grace

Level: 0/0

Rank: SSS/UU

Requirements: void affinity

Description: On the seventh day, He rested. At that time, the void took over. Spell will automatically be cast when needed. Can see into the void and reveal all that is hidden within. Interaction with the void possible.

I did not understand this new magic, but, since it was SSS rank, it seemed to be powerful magic. I did not do too much until Sunday night. I went to go back to the dungeon. I first visited my mansion to check on the progress of my magic training field. The energy of the field was at 8,000/10,000. It was getting close to its maximum. I went to the warehouse to put a change of clothes in, but I noticed a book towards the entrance. It was on its own shelf. When I went to pick it up, I saw it was titled "Goblin Hierarchy." Opening it up, A projection of a tree showed from where the book was.

At the bottom was baby goblin. From baby goblin was two branches. The first went to lesser goblin and the second went to weakened goblin. Weakened goblin then went to normal goblin. Normal goblin branched into three branches: adult goblin, goblin mage, and goblin knight. Above adult goblin was goblin chieftain, and above goblin knight was goblin noble. That was as far as it went. I flipped to the next page, which showed hobgoblin. I could not move to any other pages in the book. I guessed that this was the evolution path for goblins. So far, I have not seen any goblin mage, chieftain, knight, or noble. The adult goblin was enough for me.

Throughout the night, I went to fight goblins. It was slightly easier to fight them with Blackmail. I went past the spawning room and the large room. After that room was another stone passageway, which was dimly lit. At the end of the passageway were three dirt tunnels. I went down the leftmost one. On the way, I defeated two more weakened goblins. Finally, I arrived at the room. This room was made of dirt, with a low-cut ceiling. Inside, there stood ten weakened goblins. I spent the rest of the night fighting these goblins. As morning rose on Monday, I finally defeated the tenth. My HP went down by five during the fight, and my elementary evasion techniques had its level increase. The new skill I gained from it was hide presence. This skill allows me to hide from sight and smell. My breathing would also be silenced.

Monday, at school, was normal. The strangeness began on my way home. I again saw the string of mana, but, now, there were a couple more with it. When I arrived near the spot to investigate, I held Blackmail at the ready, unsure of what to expect. Suddenly, the system startled me.

[spell Devil's Grace activated.]

Around me, gray fog was suddenly visible. Directly in front of me, though, was a patch of complete darkness. Standing there in the darkness was the figure of a man. His eyes were blue, but I couldn't tell anything else about him. He stared at me, and I stared right back at him.

"Who are you?" I asked, ready to fight

"How can you see me, young man? I am not even past the first border of your world."

"I don't know how I can see you or what you are talking about. Why are you watching me?"

"Straight to the point, young man. I like it. I have a question for you first. Why do you fight in the dungeon?"

"What do you mean why? It appears in my dreams and its fun."

"Surely, by now, you must have realized that you can choose whether or not you enter."

"And, so what? If I wanted to, I could just stay in my mansion."

"I'd suggest for you to do so very soon, but, alas, you won't live for that long."

"but won't I revive if I die in the dungeon?"

"It seems you haven't taken down a boss quite yet. It is true that, in some limited circumstances, you may survive. Most of the time, however, death is real. So, I will ask again: why do you put your life on the line in the dungeon?"

"Why? I don't even know why!"

"Everyone has their own reasons. Money, power, fame… but you don't even have dungeons in this plane yet! Nothing you do will be noticed by anyone! You can't get anything, so why risk paying such a price?"

"No matter which way you ask me, I still do not know."

"You seem very strong-willed and impulsive. I like that about you, young man. As such, I shall grace you with my name. I am Prince Keith, the first son of King Levi and Queen Betsy! I am the most powerful mage in the world of Rosemonster, a dungeon explorer of the Black Tower on the 25th floor! I am ready to fight the dragon at any time!"

"Dragon? Another dungeon explorer? Rosemonster? I'm confused."

"No matter, young man! You will no longer have any time to dwell on such meaningless thoughts. I will end your life here and delay the catastrophe."

"What catastrophe?" I inquired as I tried swinging Blackmail

My sword went right through him. Once my attack failed, he began chanting.

"By the laws of the world, I summon the pure element electricity. I summon thee with this sacrifice."

At this point, he took out a lot of jewels. I even saw an EXP shard in there. They vanished as soon as he took them out. Additionally, he took out some swords, knives, and shields. Similarly, they vanished."

"By my authority, as Prince Keith, son of King Levi and Queen Betsy, in tune with the elements, I request the power of lightning! May the glory of the king live forever, and may these runes vanquish my enemies!"

He began drawing strange symbols, which appeared in the sky above my head. While he was doing so, I looked around. There was no one nearby, and it was eerily quiet. I kept trying to slash him, and I even tried >. Nothing worked on him. Soon, he finished his drawing.

"Pure Lightning Apocalyptic Eclipse!" he shouted.

The symbols in the sky shimmered and changed from black to golden. As this occurred, millions of bolts of lightning suddenly rained down all around me. After the first few batches of lightning, Keith spoke again.

"How do you like one of my most powerful spells? It's SS level and pure destruction. No longer can you avoid it. My spell, I, Prince Keith command thee! Condense!"

At this point, the lightning came crashing down upon me. It all converged at a single point, where I was standing. I tried to run, but it kept coming. It was then I noticed I was not harmed at all by this lightning.

[SYSTEM ALERT]

It was the system's voice, but it was not in my head. It was in the air, this time. Keith also seemed to notice it.

[Permission denied to explorer ID Rosemonster48691. Dimensional travel denied. Dimensional tunnel deconstructed. Target Coordinates invalid. Earth is not eligible; punishment will be inflicted. Explorer Earth01 is protected from interference.]

I wasn't quite sure what the system was saying, or even if it was the same system, since it was not in my head. Keith seemed to understand, though.

"It seems the system is rejecting my attack. You are lucky, young man. I'll be back when the protection period ends. I'll kill you then. To keep you weak, I have a single-use spell scroll with a multidimensional curse. You will never escape this, even if it won't kill you! I must go now, but I will see you later."

When he said that, he opened a black scroll. Golden characters appeared in front of me, and Keith spoke a language I could not understand. When he finished speaking, he disappeared. Still, the golden characters kept surrounding me. 血吸血鬼の黒渦団 was everywhere I looked, shimmering. It looked as though each character, one by one, was attempting to enter my body. They kept getting rejected! Finally, the last character failed its attempt, and the system responded. This time, it was in my head again.

[Curse failed due to 20N curse resistance. Would you like to learn curse skill? Yes/No]

I chose yes—I had nothing to lose. Once I did so, the skill appeared on the list of my skills. Underneath it, I saw "Blood Vampire's Maelstrom." I appraised it.

Curse: Blood Vampire's Maelstrom

MP: 600/use or 200 per object, requiring 300 MP for activation

Description: use one: Apply the curse directly upon target. Use two: apply curse to specified object. The curse can then be activated from the object at least 24 hours after

Effect: curse that crosses dimensions. Takes 10% of target's blood and causes their growth to reduce by 80%. At the same time, they are more vulnerable to attacks from ghosts, spirits, and undead. The vampire created by this curse will have the same stats as the 80% of growth taken from the target and will return after a preset time of one year, two years, three years, or five years

I also got a second curse, curse of life. Like the first, I appraised it.

Curse: Curse of Life

MP: 500/use or 400 per object, requiring 200 MP for activation

Description: use one: Apply the curse directly upon target. Use two: apply curse to specified object. The curse can then be activated from the object at least 24 hours after

Effect: curse that prolongs life. Use causes target to regain 20 years of life. If not the caster of the curse, they must follow the caster absolutely until they die. No limit to number of times it can be cast. If 25 star fragments imbued with the power of the curse by the same caster, the caster can perform a ritual to activate all of them (using 5000MP for activation and 2500MP for ritual) and gain 100,000 worth of life

Finally, I appraised the actual skill, curse absorption.

Curse absorption

Level:

Mana use: 25/use

Description: absorbs the curse placed on an object, with a 10% chance for the caster to learn the curse. Due to the effect of class Skill Lord, chance increases to 75%. Due to the effect of class ???, chance increases to 100%

If I ever come in contact with any more curses, I will be able to use the curse absorption skill to learn the curse itself.

Still unsure if I should return to the dungeon, as I was worried I might run into Keith, I spent the rest of the afternoon researching curses. I did the same Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon after I confirmed there were no mana strings on my way home either day. I also pondered as to why I fought in the dungeon. I still had no answer to Keith's question after racking my brain for houses. I just gave up trying for now. Even with all my research, I did not learn of any new curses I could use with the system. I went back to the dungeon, ready to challenge the middle passageway.

I spent the night, as well as Thursday night, defeating the weakened goblins I found. My spoils of war included five broken frail swords, three goblin clubs, 6 EXP shards, and an apple. The apple, after my second appraisal, was shown to be a curse apple. I got it from defeating the goblin who seemed to be leading the group. The appraisal also showed this apple helped goblins advance to become normal goblins. I was glad I defeated it first!

I learned a new curse from the apple: death hex.

Curse: Death Hex

MP: 666

Description: use one: Apply the curse to a medium and have target ingest medium

Effect: instantly removes 1000 HP from target, which is given to caster. If target does not die, they become absolutely obedient to caster and have a maximum of 1000 HP.

I also found I knew the recipe to create the medium for this curse: grass, pure apple juice, white rice, black rock fragment, succubus's tail, mana, and DNA of the target.

Both of the first two passageways led nowhere, but the third led to more tunnels. I spent almost a month getting through this maze! I gained thirty-two EXP shards, twenty-three broken frail swords, three actual frail swords from adult goblins, nineteen goblin clubs, a lot of pale blue liquid, and some upgrades to my spells and skills. Using the training field also helped a lot with fireball.

Name: Roberto

Race: Human (Earth)

Level: 2 (39/78)

Class: Skill Lord; ???

MP: 400/400

HP: 25/25

Strength: 25

Endurance: 27

Speed: 19

Luck: 6

Wisdom: 22

Dexterity: 21

SP:20

BTP: $340

Skill tickets: 3

Titles: First Conqueror, Goblin Slaughterer

Skills: Martial arts Lv 5, appraise everything Lv 2, intimidate Lv 3, critical strike Lv 3, skill progression, persuasion Lv 1, skill mutation, appraisal blocking Lv 3, hostility perception Lv 2, transfer Lv 4, mana manipulation Lv 5, Angel's Curse Annulment, Decompose Lv 1

elementary sword techniques Lv 6,

slash II, stab, pierce, consecutive strike, sword block

elementary evasion techniques Lv 3

haste, dodge (8/10), concealment, hide presence

elementary curse techniques Lv 1

curses: Blood vampire's curse, curse of life, Death Hex

techniques: curse absorption

Magic: absolute frost (SS ice) Lv 1, paralysis eyes (D- electric) Lv 6, poison eyes (D- dark) Lv 6, freeze eyes (D- ice) Lv 5, luminescence (D- light) Lv 3, Fireball (D fire) Lv 8, void energy summon Lv 0, Thought control (C-) Lv 2, God's Purification (SS/WU heavenly) Lv 1, regeneration (SS/WU heavenly) Lv 1, Heavenly Sight (SS/WU heavenly), soul search (SS/UU heavenly) Lv. 1/1. Angel's Status Annulment (SS/WU heavenly) Lv 1, revival (SS/WU heavenly) Lv 1, Devil's Grace (SSS/UU, void) Lv 0/0

Resistances: paralysis Lv 5, poison Lv 6, death Lv 2, intimidation Lv 3, burn Lv 4, exsanguination Lv 3, pain Lv 3, freeze Lv 5, HP decrease Lv 2, curse Lv. 20N (Max), decomposition Lv 1N,

Regeneration:

HP (minor) Lv 1

Magic affinity:

Ice: 87%

Fire 41%

Water 30%

Electricity 75%

Dark 25%

Heavenly: 130%

Void: -1

I thought I must have been getting close to the end—if there was one. To prepare, I went to the magic training field and practiced my go-to spell, fireball. Finally, I heard the announcement from the system.

[fireball has reached maximum level. Due to the effect of skill progression, fireball has increased to C-].

I used > on the newly-ranked up fireball.

Fireball

Rank C-

Level: 1

Mana use: 10/use

Requirements: fire affinity 35%,

Description: creates a large fireball and launches it towards target, dealing damage to enemies in path. By using more mana, size, damage, or temperature can increase. Using 150 mana makes this into a small area of effect spell. 80% chance of dealing a major burn to target if burn resistance is less than level 2, 60% chance if burn resistance less then level 5, 20% if burn resistance less than level 7

Using up the rest of the energy of the field, I was only able to increase the level to two. I went back up past the goblins guarding the path, easily slicing through them with Blackmail. I arrived where I was before. This room was slightly different from the other stone and mud-covered rooms. Here, the floor was made out of black rock. The walls also had four spawners present, which meant up to twenty-four goblins in this room at a time. I had been slowly dealing with the goblins that came out of this room, which, sometimes, included even normal goblins. These spawners also produced one goblin per hour. Using the area of effect (AoE) fireball, since there were about 16 goblins present, I began my annihilation. Just like in my previous battles, I hid from the goblins by using >. The fireball spell killed two goblins and burned all but one of the remaining goblins. I got one of the pale blue liquids, which I drank, from the two I killed. I then appraised the remaining goblin. It was not a normal goblin, nor an adult goblin. It was a goblin knight. I ignored it and snuck around, killing the burning goblins. When I got close enough, though, it seemed to notice me. I got two more pale blue liquids, which I drank, three frail swords, three goblin clubs, and 2 EXP shards before approaching again.

Goblin knight

Vitality: 140/140

Skills: elementary sword skills Lv 6, elementary dagger skills Lv 4, battle sense Lv 5, intimidate Lv 1

Resistances: magic (all) Lv 1N

It brandished its sword, which I appraised to be a "lesser basic sword." The meaning of this action was clear: it wanted to fight me. I decided to oblige, drawing Blackmail and readying my sword to win!

As soon as we began our bout, the room changed. I had noticed the mana on the walls before, but I thought it was just spawners. Now, I realized the patterns were different. It was too late, though. Looking around, the goblin knight and I were now in a circular room. The floor was smooth black, and the walls looked like they were made out of brightly shining quartz. There was one door behind me and one door in front; however, the door in front was covered by the crystal. The ceiling also had its size increase—it now seemed to be several stories tall. Atop the room was a dome, which looked to be made of gold. Inside of the dome was a familiar-looking counter.

「goblin knights defeated 0/1」

「Floor 1 requirements remaining: defeat goblin knight」

Below it, though, was a new message. I knew, even without it, that I had to beat the opponent in front of me in this test of swordsmanship.

I took my stance, with my sword close to my body. In this position, I was waiting for the knight to make the first move so that I could block and counter. My breathing slowed, and my eyes widened. I tried my best to stop thinking about how I could die for real from this fight.

My opponent started with the first strike. With his sword pointed straight at my waist, he ran towards me. I stepped left, blocking him with my sword. My attack was next, where I attempted to slice him in half. He easily blocked. It was what I was expecting. As my sword slipped down off of his, I was still thinking of why I am fighting in this dungeon. Before the goblin knight could prepare the next attack, I went to slash its waist from the side. He immediately backed up, but he still had a bad gash.

Staring at me, he sheathed his sword and took out a small dagger. He threw the dagger at me. While it was running towards my face, it caught on fire. I threw Blackmail and got on the ground, the dagger barely whizzing past where my face was just a moment ago. It embedded itself on the wall while I > to my sword. I went to pick it up while my enemy brought his sword down on my back. Quickly, I rolled away with blackmail. I got a minor would for my arrogance, forgetting about him.

Since he was playing with fire, I decided to as well. I imbued the fire element into Blackmail, and it became red hot, emitting blazing sparks. I didn't notice it then, but my affinity went up from this action.

I ran towards the goblin and successfully slashed its non-dominant shoulder off with my sword. Withering in pain, the goblin tried to swing its weapon at me. Easily, I blocked and retreated. We continued exchanging blows with our swords, and our wounds were both piling up. We both knew the end was near, even if the victor was still undecided.

While breathing rapidly, I remembered my sword form from tae kwon do. It involved a series of slashes and blocks. Executing these moves, with adjustment, I neared the goblin's face with my sword.

This time, I imbued my sword with lightning as I took one final stab towards the goblin's eye. Finally, it disappeared from in front of me. I had finally won the battle. Panting, I sat down to try and recover from my fight. I picked up some pale blue liquid, the sword the goblin used, and an EXP shard. I used the liquid and EXP shard. I then sold the sword and received $20 BTP for doing so.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the door opened up. I saw, in front of me, a black staircase leading up to some unknown place. The walls, black as night. They seem to be getting narrower as the stairs reach the pinnacle. The roof of the stairs emitted a faint orange glow. In front of all of this was a shining sphere, with a diamond look not unlike the dome above the last room. Slowly, I approached—unsure of what this diamond sphere did or where the stairs may lead me.