Three young adults walked side by side, passing through what seemed to be a swamp.

One of them stood out in particular. His face was plain and his eyes resembled those of a dead fish, yet the huge bag he held on his back brought the attention to him.

On his left was a man much taller than him, he had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. A smile seemed to be glued on his face as he spoke “Are you sure about this, Natalie? I am having a bad feeling about this dungeon.”, he looked around him and added, “Maybe we should’ve stuck to the (Common) ones after all?”.

“It’s fine” said a girl, with short black hair. “My sources confirmed that this dungeon was both easy and profitable”.

“Don’t worry, Bob!” said the ‘porter’ with a grin on his face, “I know a lot about salamanders, I’ve been dismantling them for a while and I know all the important stuff about them!”

The shorter guy’s eyes were wide open, staring at his surroundings. He couldn’t have noticed the grins on the faces of his colleagues.

Suddenly, a loud voice roar could be heard.

A figure appeared from behind the veil of fog, its shark-like teeth visible as it opened its maw. It seemed to have the torso and head of a salamander, but its legs were similar to those of wolves.

It moved forward slowly, causing Bob and Natalie to shiver.

“I’m sorry.” whispered Natalie, as she pushed the porter. She started running away alongside the other guy.

The dead-eyed person fell on the ground, his clothes getting muddy. He didn’t even bother to clean his dirty face.

He knew about his enemy, this kind of salamander was called a Hellbending Hanzaki, a ferocious (uncommon) monster.

Despite its incredible strength, its senses were rather weak. It could only ‘see’ moving targets, it couldn’t smell them nor hear them.

The porter remained motionless, as the creature kept following his former companions.

He returned to the town later that day, unable to sleep a wink for a couple of nights.

Those two never came back.

*

I woke up, the moon was high in the sky. I couldn’t help but stand agape at the view.

The same nightmare, I thought. I still couldn’t shake off the guilt that I felt, I could’ve saved them if I informed them of what I knew.

That incident was a major turning point in my life, people started treating me like garbage.

I found a system notice waiting for me to open.

[Shadow Assimilation] levelled up x2! It reached level 4.

Ah! Passive level ups! I thought. This has to be the second-best thing you can wake up to.

I decided to clear the final (Common) dungeon, waiting four days for the second phase to take place automatically was not optimal.

I used [Zoom], finding myself in a new place when I opened my eyes. A system screen also appeared.

[Zoom] levelled up! It reached level 2.

I ignored it and looked in front of me. There was a small cave, I doubted that my torso could pass through it. Nonetheless, I moved my hand closer to its entrance, as I knew about its true nature.

Dungeon (Common)

Creature Variety: Rodents

Requirements: Rank F

(Under Level 25)

Clears: 0/10

Many rodents choose underground caves as their lairs, and they reproduce so quickly compared to other animals!

They don’t accommodate strangers, and they’re willing to die for their Queen!

-This is an infinite dungeon; the host only gets the clear when he kills the [Boss]. Else, the regular enemies will keep appearing forever.

-The [Boss]’ appearance is chance based: 1%.

-The more you spill the blood of rodents, the higher the number of regular enemies appearing per unit of time.

Warning: Hosts are advised to use Blunt Physical damage.

Warning: Don’t let the [Boss] escape.

This dungeon wasn’t that hard, I just needed to survive till the appearance of the Rat Queen.

I decided to dump all the remaining stat points that I had in END, bringing it to one hundred sixty-three.

The pain when burning myself is still not tolerable, I thought.

I decided to no longer take off my equipment when I burned myself, as the extra stats and mana regeneration were too valuable to give up on.

“[It’s fine!]” I shouted; my body started burning as I uttered those words. As I expected, the pain was still there, but I could convince myself to keep the skill going.

I wonder how long I could keep this going, I thought. I guess I’ll find out inside the dungeon.

I ignored the warning that advised me to tackle it alongside three other people, and went ahead.

The usual feeling of disorientation hit, and I found myself in the center of a circular arena. Its ceiling resembled a dome, and it had a rough surface. The room had too many hollow entrances, spread around the annular wall.

Rats appeared in large numbers, flooding the room, as if my presence caused a dam to burst. They were similar to regular rats, they had brown skin and were as large as a raccoon.

[Rattus Maximus] (Common)

Level: 2

I used melee attacks to defeat them, as the mana cost would be too large if I killed each of them using a spell.

My attacks are much more potent now, I thought. I can’t believe that burning oneself is a rewarding experience.

It was a one-sided onslaught, each attack killing a creature. I still used [Kill them before they spread!] occasionally, in order to keep track of time using the countdown. Its mana cost seemed to have gone down due to the increased levels, yet it wasn’t a staggering difference.

Once in a while, I ended up tearing a hole through one of the creatures. This seemed to anger the rest, and increase the quantity of the rodents and their viciousness.

Many system screens appeared at the edge of my view. I dismissed them and focused on the current battle.

Out of the blue, an enormous monster emerged out of one of the many openings in the wall. It had the same appearance as the other rats, but its size was twice as big.

Those saggy tits and the bloated belly stand out too, I thought.

It let out a shrill cry, and seemed to be aiming for me as a target.

[Rattus Maximus Queen] (Common)

Level: 12

I dodged her charge, somersaulting to the left side. The [Boss] quickly altered its trajectory, but it wasn’t quick enough.

“[Burn that Invader!]” I screamed. The blast had the regular 600°K temperature, which was enough against something like this.

The rat collapsed on the ground, its corpse disappearing after a couple of seconds. Sadly, I didn’t get a hidden reward this time.

I guess I should be more grateful, I thought.

I picked the twenty lesser mana stones from the chest that appeared, and left the dungeon.

Now that I cleared the dungeon, I opened the system notices that were waiting for me.

[Rattus Maximus] (Common) (Level: 2) defeated x72! Host earned 19990 EXP.

[Rattus Maximus Queen] (Common) (Level: 12) defeated! Host earned 78000 EXP.

-Host levelled up!

-Host reached Level 18! 4 MAG, 4 END and 8 free stat points acquired.

All those kills and I only levelled up once? I thought. At this point, the EXP that I gain from each regular rat is not worth my time.

The diminishing returns were really apparent after killing too many creatures, but I had to clear this dungeon nine more times regardless.

It’s about time things got spicier, I thought. I can’t wait to reach the advanced phases of the tutorial.

The same old robotic voice interrupted my thoughts, listing the tutorial points that this clear gave me.

[Host participated in the first clearing of this dungeon! 10000 tutorial points awarded.

Host is the first to clear this dungeon alone in his group! 100000 tutorial points awarded.

Host is the first to clear this dungeon alone in the whole tutorial! 150000 points awarded.

Host clears a (Common) dungeon! 500 points awarded

Host clears a (Common) dungeon alone! 1000 points awarded.

I wasn’t the first one to clear this dungeon in the tutorial.

Those three should still be under the illusion that they have the highest number of points, I thought. They’ll be surprised for sure

I proceeded to clear the dungeon on my own nine more times, taking nearly four hours to finish. It was a boring task, and I only levelled up twice.

[Rattus Maximus] (Common) (Level: 2) defeated x585! Host earned 3585 EXP.

[Rattus Maximus Queen] (Common) (Level: 12) defeated x9! Host earned 441057 EXP.

-Host levelled up x2!

-Host reached Level 20! 8 MAG, 8 END and 16 free stat points acquired.

[Light Steps] levelled up x4! It reached level 10.

[It’s Fine] levelled up x2! It reached level 8.

[Flame-N-Go] levelled up x3! It reached level 9.

[Burn That Invader!] levelled up x2! It reached level 6.

[Kill them before they spread!] levelled up x2! It reached level 5.

I opened my status screen to plan my next moves.

Host: Jason Stubbs

HP 200/200 (1 HP/580 seconds)

Class: The Burned Man!

Mana 1400/1400 (4.46 mana/1 second)

Level 20: 126165/191000

Stat Points: 24

STR: 15

VIT: 30

DEX: 15

AGI: 17

MAG: 144 (+30)

END:175 (+10)

Class Skills:

General Skills:

[Flame-n-Go]: Level 9

[Zoom]: Level 2

[It’s fine!]: Level 8

[Shut-Down]: Level 1

[Burn That Invader!]: Level 6

[Light Steps]: Level 10

[Kill Them Before They Spread!]: Level 5

[Shadow Assimilation]: Level 4

That unholy staff really is the best! I thought.

It granted me more freedom when using magic with its boosted mana regeneration rate.

All the skills were progressing nicely, except [Shut-Down].

I took another look at its description.

[Shut-Down]: (Legendary)

Active

Avoiding problems till they come back to bite you in the ass, that’s the kind of person that you are.

-Nullifies all the pain felt by the user for a set duration of time

(Mana Usage : N/A)

(Duration : 5 seconds)

(1 day cooldown)

Nothing is strong enough to force me to use it, I thought. At least, in the first phase of the tutorial.

I used [Zoom] to teleport next to the saferoom, as teleporting directly inside it wasn’t possible.

I decided to buy three small daggers from Vulpinus, for a cost of a single lesser mana stone. That kind of weapon had a lot of utility and it wasn’t that expensive.

I entered the room, finding everyone there, including those fairies.

“Since the last person arrived, we can finally start!” said the feminine fairy “I assume you’re Jason?”

I nodded. She grimaced and kept staring at me with squinted eyes, but her expression softened when she noticed the equipment that I had.

“First of all, an updated ranking list will appear soon.” The male fairy said “It isn’t usual for a group to clear the first phase of the tutorial this fast”.

He looked at Petra, Chris and Finn, probably assuming that they had something to do with it.

Suddenly, a system notice appeared in the middle of the room, then the ranking list started visibly changing. Numbers increased and the order of people shifted.

[The First Phase of the Tutorial was cleared!

Host with the highest contribution: Jason Stubbs with 97%

A suitable reward is being prepared]

Ah finally! I thought My long-awaited bag of holding is finally coming to me.

In my past life, Chris ended up getting it. He participated in most of the dungeons’ clears, and monopolized the rodents’ dungeon for himself.

-Ranking list updated!

Rank

Name

Class

Class rank

Level

Points

1

Jason

The Burned Man!

Legendary

20

1168900

2

Petra

Virtuoso

Epic

12

6000

3

Zhou Ming

Hawkeye

Common

11

4500

4

Xi Jiang

Sniper

Common

10

4000

5

Finn

Visionary

Uncommon

7

2000

6

Chris

Pugilist

Uncommon

7

1500

7

Rodrigo

Rogue

Common

7

1500

8

Taylor

Fencer

Common

4

1500

9

Leon

Mage

Common

4

1500

10

Marla

Scribe

Common

2

1500

Warning: This ranking list will be updated when the second phase is over.

Everyone gaped, their eyes widened as they alternated their targets between the first and second rankers.

Even the fairies looked surprised, but their concern was on something else.

“Wasn’t this guy classless?” whispered the male fairy to his colleague, yet it was loud enough to be heard by everyone else.

They lowered their voices further and talked to each other for a while, before turning around towards me.

“Explain your situation, Host Jason.” Said the female fairy, her agitated voice betrayed her expressionless face. “I am sure your story is worth listening to.”

“Umm, I don’t know what you’re talking about” I said “I’ve always been playing with fire, ever since I was a little child!”.

When in doubt, deny all the accusations, I thought. This was something that I learned after a harsh life.