As Moyo trudged deeper into the cave, his mind had the time to reflect on how far he had come along. He had gone from a broken disabled person to some sort of walking upcoming mini fighter, chuckling to himself, he used his hand to trace the damp walls of the cave, feeling the heat from someplace steaming deeper in the cave emanate waves and waves of heat. Moyo had only heard of underground volcanoes, but he was sure those were meant to be underwater, either that or this cave was part of a channel of lava from a volcano. He seriously prayed that was not the case, seeing as he was just starting in this world…dungeon…whatever, sighing to himself he sat down after walking for an hour plus.

A while back he was sure he felt someone following him, or maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him seeing as he was the only human in the cave. Settling down, he decided he needed to understand what was going on fully, he couldn’t afford to go on half bind any longer. Bringing up his HUD as he rummaged around it, looking around for something such as a guide or instruction manual. Moyo noticed a red softly glowing dot at the bottom of his HUD page, he mentally tapped on it, a deep baritone voice along with writings began to play out:

“Welcome to the archailect new world inhabitants, your sector known as the milky way galaxy has been added to the collective. This guide would serve as a basis for all you need going forward to give you a fighting chance in the archailect, for the only rule of the archailect is simple, adapt or die, eat or be eaten.”

Moyo grimly continued the video tutorial,

“The archailect is the protector of multiple universes it has placed under its care, it is a sentient being who had deemed it necessary to save us from the looming threat of the abyss and equip us with the necessary abilities to fight back against the abyss and its scourge. Thousands of worlds under the guidance of the archailect through the just rule of the supreme beings have been added to the collective and have benefitted from the system, now it is your turn to benefit and contribute to the ongoing battle against the abyss”

It seemed this was some sort of universe-spanning empire that added more to its territory while justifying it as a necessary and just cause to fight a battle, but that was way above his grade right now, he needed to understand the system as it related to him, he listened on

“In the archailect, the energy bestowed upon us is aether, aether is the very fabric and essence of energy used by the archailect which can therefore be refined into the personal energy needed by various paths in the collectives to suit their uses and style. There are three forms in which aether can be refined into, body aura for those who have decided to cultivate the body, along with whatever methods those paths entail will help those who want to cultivate their body get stronger and as such, they turn their cores towards that path.

Aether can also be refined into battle intent which is favored by those who would go for the path of the blade or weapons in general, therefore their cores are fashioned towards that path. Finally, aether can be refined into mana, this path is for those who want to delve into the secrets of the archailect, to use magic and therefore their cores are fashioned towards that path”

Moyo took a minute to digest the information, beginning to understand the choices that lay before him, a step he was wary of jumping towards. He was cautious about opening any core in his body just yet, not at least until he got out of this place and understood the state of the world. Shelving that train of thought aside, he continued with the tutorial

“Cores are the point in the body where all your refined energy will be situated, from there they would go through the core lines situated in your body, note that core lines are created after the creation of the cores in the body and not before as this could lead to fatal results, please note that the core and path you choose would determine other aspects like your strength, speed, and mental attributes, although in the later stages of growth, most of these attributes do not matter and it mostly boils down to your proficiency with your skills and mastery of your path. The archailect works on levels to determine the strength and capabilities of an individual, they are as follows:

Levels:

Fledgling: 1-25 early stage Initiate: 25-50 mid-early stage Acolyte:50-75 peak early stage Advocate:75-100 intermediate stage Expert:100-500 mid-intermediate stage Master:500-1000 peak intermediate level Ruler:1000+ herald

Then we have skills, these are certain abilities you get and are passive, which means they permanently keep getting stronger as you consciously and unconsciously use them, note also that these skills can fuse with other skills to increase their tiers or they can be increased through gaining enlightenment on the use of the skill, the tiers are as follows:

Common Uncommon Rare Legendary Mythic

Finally, different paths have different techniques for cultivation depending on the path you choose, these techniques include:

Breathing technique Mana circulation intent building Meditation

These are all you need to know, for now, perhaps if you prove your worth and survive to ascend past your world at the acolyte level, you would be privileged to know about the different factions, worlds, and politics of the archailect, for now, grow stronger, advance, reach for strength unparalleled and prove to the supreme beings your world is worthy of glory, may the archailect guide your path”

The tutorial closed, and Moyo took a minute to assimilate all he had heard and seen. He was right, choosing a path now was like stunting his growth, what he had to work on were his skills and levels, with skills like blood absorption and body regeneration with one already at the legendary level, he was sure that if he took his time, he would come out of this dungeon with enough strength to choose a path that suited his fighting style should he have one by then. Getting up and looking around, that feeling of being watched came back to him again, but he shook off the chill and pressed on, dimly being aware that his body required sustenance, already he could feel the pang of hunger and thirst gnawing at his insides.

Moyo followed the tunnel till he came out at an underground cavern where all tunnels seemed to have met, sighing to himself as he saw lava cascading the walls, these tunnels were underground lava pathways. The lava seemed to pool in the middle of the room where… squinting hard as he could, Moyo saw an insect-like being come out of the lava, carapace glowing red from the heat, it kept on rising and rising and rising till its body almost touched the top of the cavern, it seemed like the deeper he went into the cave the lower he was going. Biting back a curse as he saw the name and level of the insect,

Lava rucar queen

Level 40

The rucar queen who was some sort of hive queen swirled to stare at him and let out a shrill scream, cursing to himself he backpedaled as he could see multitudes of shapes come out of the lava, hundreds of rucar insect forms, buzzing around the queen with vicious ferocity, glancing at them as he dodged into a crevice, watching them buzz past him in agitation

Rucar lava drone

Level 5

Now, this was a level he could try to take on, patiently he waited till they were all gone before silently coming out and taking another route away from the insects, his mind trying to figure out how he could take them on when he felt an agonizing pain to the shoulder,

Son of Agony(U) level 21!

It felt like lava had been injected into his bloodstream and with a sharp cry he rolled over to see one of the rucar drones had stung him, staggering as he felt his body regeneration going into effect for whatever the insect had done required the skill to activate

Skill Body Regeneration(U) nullifies poison! Level 11!

It had injected poison into his bloodstream, thankfully it wasn’t lava but it hurt as hell. Gritting his teeth as the thing buzzed around him, Moyo dodged to the side again and grabbed the creature, screaming as he let go with the flesh of his hands sizzling, cursing to himself as he remembered these creatures were sleeping in lava

Son of Agony(U) level 22!

Body Regeneration(U) level 12!

He dodged another attack, his mind working overtime as his eyes searched around the cavern for anything he could use to fight against the creature and found none. Slowly realizing that he only had one weapon, his body and with a cry, he grabbed the rucar, mind focused on one thing only, to rip it to shreds, with his teeth, hands, everything. Moyo had no recollection of the pain he went through, his mind seemed to have shut down, faintly aware that the body regeneration skill and son of agony were working overtime. The rucar stabbed, tore, and bit into him with all the wrath of an insect soldier trying to protect its nest and queen, and Moyo returned it with the savage fury of one who had lost his home, lost his mother, thrown in some sort of savage reality where he had no idea what was going on.

By the end of the battle, he was a walking mess, his skin slowly growing back as he could feel a deep ache in his body that was close to agony

Son of Agony(U) level 25!

Body Regeneration(U) level 15!

He was sobbing, Moyo was sobbing as the adrenaline high for survival came down. The very reality of losing his mother, his life, everything came crashing down at once on him and he became a bawling mess of tears, ignoring the level-up sign coming up on his HUD,

Congratulations! Level 2!

You have obtained 2 aether crystals(c)!

Somewhere in his mind, he acknowledged the notification with its obvious trashy rewards, but for a few minutes, he let himself mourn for his family, home, a father he might not see again, and the innocence he had lost. When he had finally calmed down and all that remained was the burning anger and urge for revenge, he turned to the dead rucar insectoid and activated his blood absorption skill, he noticed it didn’t level up, perhaps the insectoid wasn’t worth it or the level of the creature? a question for another time, he chuckled weakly as he saw the next notification

Blood Absorption(L) has obtained a vital aspect of the rucar (enduring body)!, note this is not a skill and would only add to your attributes!

“Enduring body?” he muttered to himself,

“a very useless aspect, however, it might serve you well in this place till we can temper your body and give you a core,” a voice said near him,

Moyo felt his whole body freeze up at the sound of the voice, his human instinct told him this was a predator, a being that had no place here, and it was smiling at him as it stared, he, stared, Moyo finally realizing it was a man, well not human by human standards given the red skin and light brown hair with gold irises. Moyo opened his mouth but couldn’t speak, staring at the man to see his name but nothing appeared, the man stared on in amusement,

“oh, pick it up, we can surely burn it out later during tempering,” he said

“Burn?” Moyo whispered with difficulty,

“Indeed, young one, my name is ajax death blade and I may or may not be your path to glory and salvation in this cave”.