As he drove through the tall grass, Quinten idly thought about his current circumstances. He was in a brand new world. He wasn't on Earth anymore. At least he assumed that. 'Higher gravity is the biggest giveaway' he thought. 'A portal wouldn't have opened just to take him somewhere else on the same planet. That wouldn't even make sense since there's no magic on Earth.' All his knowledge and experience pertaining to Isekai, LitRPG and web series novels told him it was, in fact, another world. One filled with magic, monsters, adventures, beautiful women, nobles, kings and a plethora of new races. Quinten wasn't sure if any of that existed here but he had already experienced two items among the list: magic and monsters. A magic portal brought him here and the monsters were definitely a thing. He recognized that one by the dull pain still in his shoulder, and the memory of the roasted meat caused him to salivate a bit. "What do you think of this new world Django? You like it so far?" He didn't expect an answer of course, but a slight shudder stood out from the normal jostling of the uneven terrain. He could almost imagine Django responded in the affirmative. An hour and a half into his journey, he came across something new. It was an overgrown ruin of what appeared to be some ancient stone building. It seemed like he was maybe halfway to the river so he decided to take a small break. Travel was slow going since he didn't want to run the Jeep into some hole and brake an axle or something. "You saw that right? It's an old ruin of some sort. Looks like a collapsed tower or something?" He swiveled the camera around to speak then returned it to scan it across the scene. He pulled up next to it and got out to scout around the perimeter. Moss covered stones lay strewn about, mostly buried in the ground. A thick, rotting beam poked out a few meters away, probably from the roof. When he got around to the other side, he noticed an opening in the stone that most likely held a door at some point. "What do you think? Should I go in? It's kinda creepy. Maybe it's a dungeon, or there might at least be cool artifacts left behind!" He was getting excited as his gamer sense started to tingle. "I'm doing it. I'm going in. If I die will you guys clear my browser history? What am I saying... I'm in another world! I absolutely need one of you to do this for meee!" He laughed to the camera before putting on his serious face and turning it forward. As he stepped through the doorway, a musty, earthy smell washed over him. "Hmn... The structure at least tells me there were intelligent people here at some point. Hopefully, there's still people. Welcome to the Ruined Tower! I know I know, a lazy name but I can't come up with awesome names all the time right? Ready to look around?" He asked the camera then proceeded to explore the open area. "It definitely looked like it's been abandoned for years." There was rubble all over the place. A broken and rotting table was pushed into the corner. What looked like the base of a wall stood in the center of the room. Tattered remains of a tapestry hung on one of the walls and a rusted, broken sword was half-buried under a rock. A thick carpet of green moss clung to the walls and lichen caked some of the cracked stone blocks. Grass and weeds poked out of the cracks and crevices of the floor and stones. There was what appeared to be scorch marks peeping out from behind the moss on a particularly large section of an intact wall. It was curious enough to warrant further exploration. He started off towards the wall and promptly tripped and fell flat on his face. He had the presence of mind to keep the camera up so it didn't break, but that left his face vulnerable to a stone-cold smackdown from the rocky ground. "Uhhgh!" A small sliver of health disappeared from the health bar floating in his vision. No status effects popped up so at least he didn't have to worry about that. "Damn that was embarrassing... You guys didn't see the right? It's this damn gravity's fault. Yeah, that's it! Screw you gravity!" He pushed himself back up and dusted himself off. He rubbed his chin where a scrape stung at his touch. Quinten quickly went back to the Jeep and pulled out the first aid kit. A minute later he had it cleaned and a fresh band-aid covered it so it didn't get infected. Then he went right back into the ruins to investigate the wall, with a few additions from the first aid kit in his bag. After a few minutes of scraping, the moss finally peeled away and revealed an intricate formation of runes about chest high, with a hand-shaped drawing in the center. There were multiple interleaved circles around the outer ring with countless overlapping runes along the circumference of each one. The pattern gave the impression that the runes were lazily circling the rings. It was quite mesmerizing and he found himself getting lost in the arcane depiction. Even as he moved, the formation seemed to change slightly before his eyes as he moved his head, like one of those optical illusion pictures. He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of it from a few different angles, even in photos they seemed to move about. When he was finished, curiosity got the better of him and he placed his palm against the stone within the outline of the hand. A surprising warmth emanated from the stone under his hand and he felt it traveling up his arm and into his chest. A Whoom echoed around him and he suddenly found himself in a completely new room. Instead of a wall, his hand was held against a pillar with an identical formation under his hand. Surprised, he recoiled and brought his hand back to his chest. He looked around at his new surroundings. He appeared to be in a room completely made of brown-gray metal. The walls were smooth and there was an arching tunnel in front of him. The only thing in the room was himself, the pillar and two glowing crystals providing a cool blue light to the room. Although, A window of text did appear in front of him and subsequently disappear after a few seconds. "Whoa! That was weeeird! I think I was just teleported! It's definitely a dungeon! Hmn... I wonder if I can get back out?" He pressed his hand against the formation but nothing happened this time. A little bit of panic welled up inside him but he quickly squashed it down. "Guess I just have to get to the end to leave. I'm gonna let you guys go for now. I'll take pictures but I will definitely need my hands free for this. Wish me luck! Mwah!" He closed the camera and put it in his bag. Before going on through the tunnel, he walked up to one of the glowing crystals. 'A magic nightlight might be useful' he thought to himself. He tried to touch the crystal but it shocked him. He quickly took his hand away and stock the burned finger in his mouth. Then He then pulled out his knife and attempted to pry it out of the wall. It let out a buzzing whine and electricity flowed through the knife and into his hand. He dropped the knife and shook his hand. Another sliver of health had disappeared as the knife was sent clattering away. "Guess I can't take it with me... Seems like a pretty good anti-theft effect." Without any other idea on how to take the glowing crystal with, and decided to leave the light alone. He picked up his knife then turned towards the only exit to the room. It was a plain-looking tunnel, just an unadorned arch about 3 meters tall and 2 wide. The tunnel itself was the same material as the room and completely smooth, with little recesses at periodic points with another glowing crystal. Along the walls, he could make out a line of images carved into the wall. From his position, he couldn't tell what they were but he noticed they continued as far as he could see. At the far end, maybe a hundred meters, the passageway curved off to the right and he was unable to see any further. With a deep breath, he crossed the threshold and started off down the tunnel. As he walked, his eyes followed the etched scenes along the wall. They seemed to depict battle after battle between a short, stocky man in full plate armor and a massive hammer easily half again the size of the man. Every meter or so one battle ended and another began. The man fought monsters and beasts of every shape and size. He fought other men, some of the same stature, some taller, some smaller. A couple times there were even enemies that looked like a cross between a robot and a boulder. All throughout, the dwarf looking man prevailed, his armor growing more ragged, cuts appeared and blood trails followed him. At one point, he even lost his hammer and started fighting with his bare hands. The scenes on the wall enraptured Quinten as he made his way through the tunnel. He was so engrossed in the scenes, he failed to notice a shadowed doorway on the side, and as he passed, a faint red light glimmered in the recesses of the room. Once Quinten was a few meters past the door, a mechanical hiss and clang resounded throughout the tunnels and heavy metal footsteps echoed from behind him. His breath caught in his throat and a visceral fear caused him to freeze and his mind locked up in panic. A blast of hot steam washed over his neck as the mechanical footsteps came within a couple of meters and his body suddenly reacted by jumping forward. This reflex saved his life as the next moment, a sharp blade had sliced through the air right where his neck used to be. After a quick roll, he scampered back as far as he could and got his first look at his would-be killer. Similar in color to the walls, but layered with stone, was a mechanical-looking humanoid about 2.5 meters tall. Its right arm was a sword and it had a single glowing eye in the middle of its forehead. Two exhaust pipes stretched out over its shoulder and periodically emitted steam with rumbling hiss. After its strike, it retracted the blade and continued forward without any emotion. Missing was irrelevant, there was no pause in its movements, it had a single goal and until it was completed, it would act accordingly. Unfortunately for Quinten, that goal was extracting his life. Rumbling step after rumbling step, the grating sound of metal on metal ceaselessly came closer while Quinten scrambled back to build up distance. The slow pace of the stone robot allowed him to keep well away while he thought of some way out of the situation. It was when he looked down at himself he remembered the weapon holstered on his hip. It wasn't something he had to use much in the past so the gunmetal gray firearm didn't enter his mind at first. With a fumbling motion, it entered his hands and, while shaking with a bit of fear, he aimed it at the body of what he assumed was some sort of Golem. He'd never fired at a humanoid target so he reflexively closed his eyes and fired 3 rounds in sequence. Bam Bam Bam! He almost dropped the weapon as he brought his hands to his ears. The loud bangs reverberated along the walls. The confined space intensified the sound and caused an incessant ringing in his ears. "GOD DAMN WHERE ARE MY EARMUFFS??" he yelled out, unable to even hear his own voice. He glanced up at the golem robot that had staggered back from the impact. There was a hole just inside its right shoulder and a deep dent almost directly center in its chest from an impact that didn't penetrate. 'Eff, the third shot must have missed..' he thought to himself. The golem then took a stuttering step forward and continued towards him. "Jeezus you're one solid dude." The golem was right in front of him when a grinding screech emanated from its shoulder and the right arm raised maybe an inch and fell back down. This repeated two times before it gave up and switched to using its left arm. "Ha! Got a useless arm now! Was a lucky shot so don't worry." He retreated a couple of meters to give himself more room and brought the gun back up. This time he took aim and kept his eyes open. Bam! One shot. Missed, too far to the right. Bam! Two shots. The right shoulder was hit again and it staggered back. Bam! Three shots. A plate of rock on its left side shattered off and it continued forward. The sound of the gun deafened him each time. 'That's how you get tinnitus' he couldn't help but joke in his head. Before he took another shot he attempted to analyze where he should shoot. 'The center seemed to have the densest armor... Maybe it's hiding something important?' with that thought he took his time to really focus. He thought back to all the lessons his uncle taught him about firing a gun. He squared his shoulders, aimed down the sights, let out his breath, held it, and fired. BANG! Crunch. The round hit just off to the left of his previous hit. The weakened metal crumpled even more and the bullet actually pierced the metal. Bzzt Crackle Hiss Sparks shot out from the hole and the golem hitched up as the limbs started twitching. A big blast of steam gushed from the exhaust pipes and a zhwoom sounded out as the golem froze in its tracks and remained still. A second later it tilted forward and crashed to the ground. He'd done it! "Hwahh! It's finished! Get wrecked!" A chime echoed in his head, more panels flashed past and an odd sensation filled his entire being. He had no idea what it all meant of course. Maybe some more skills or something? 'i think the chime means I leveled' he wondered what level he was now. Without a way to find out, he ignored it for now and took a second to revel in the satisfaction of beating this golem. He survived and the adrenaline rush was almost euphoric. He'd overcome his fear and defeated his enemy. It was a major success and he was proud. Then suddenly, a searing pain erupted from his left shoulder. Shock set in abruptly and he stared at a brown-gray sword tip dripping with blood and poking out I'm a place where one normally doesn't belong... --------- "Behind you! Watch out!!!" The goddess watching it all was screaming from her couch, dressed in her PJs. A cereal bowl was overturned on the ground, completely forgotten. She was stunned when the second golem stabbed him from behind. Afraid for his life, she couldn't take her eyes off the floating screen in front of her.