“No, god please. You can’t die on us Simon.” Ella cried. She just kept muttering things at Simon’s body.

[Congratulations, you have defeated {The Master Of Sorrows}

You have received 450 Experience points and a {Chest of Sorrows}

You have met the requirements for the {Dungeon Delver} title!]

This message was accompanied by confetti. One of my friends deaths was accompanied by fucking confetti.

[Cleaning dungeon for next users

…]

To make matters worse, his corpse was being ‘cleaned’ too, disappearing in golden light as the system disposed of him. The blood that drenched Ella’s clothes was the only proof that Simon had ever existed.

Marie cradled Ella as she cried. Victor had raged out and just sat there, staring into the void. Charlotte was pacing around the room, muttering that it couldn’t be real, that it hadn’t happened, that this was all a bad dream.

Chetanjeet stood next to me, looking at me worriedly. He hadn’t been that close with those people, he was my friend, not theirs, so he hadn’t been hit as hard but he still got hit. He’d still seen someone he knew die.

I approached Ella and Marie. “Go away, Oscar, just … go away.” Ella said when she say me approach. “Look, Ella, I’m sorry …” I started. “AND YOU SHOULD BE!” she shouted. She got up and squared up against me.

“IT’S YOUR FAULT WE WENT HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE, IF YOU HADN’T GOTTEN IT INTO THAT THICK SKULL OF YOURS THAT WE SHOULD LEVEL, THIS WOULD’VE NEVER HAPPENED!”

“I know.” It was the only thing I could say, because she was right. It was my fault, my stupid idea to enter this dungeon. And even though Simon had died from this delve, I knew I would clear more dungeons, this world had become a world where I could become someone Marie could rely on. Someone she might fall in love with. And that’s all I truly cared about.

So I left, I got away, I ran away. If I had made a different choice then, maybe I wouldn’t be where I am now, but at least I wouldn’t be facing the end of the world … Nevermind.

I went home and just sat down on the couch. Simon had been a decent person, a jack of all trades, and it should not have happened. But it also proved something to me, the system would always be fair, we had gone in overprepared, and thus it had made sure there was still some challenge.

Even with me and Chetanjeet saying not to get overconfident, we had gone in expecting an easy fight. Hubris had cost us a friend, and we would never forget it.

The next day, they held a wake for Simon. I approached Simon’s parents and apologised to them, I got a fist to the face. I deserved that. Then I went away, I didn’t deserve to be there.

When I got home again, I opened the chest I’d gotten from the dungeon.

[Congratulations, you’ve received {The Cloak of Sorrows}

{The Cloak of Sorrows

Rarity: Rare (Evolvable) (0/1000)

This cloak once belonged to The Master of Sorrows, defending it against those who would do it harm. This cloak changes form depending on its user. It protects the user from physical and magical attacks. It can also cloak the user from perception skills and abilities.}]

A pretty decent evolvable item. I had read about Evolvable drops online, they were decently rare, although most of them apparently had a rarity cap. They also required an investment of experience, so most people hadn’t evolved their items yet.

I put on the cloak and looked in the mirror. Short dirty blond hair, green eyes and a muscular build. Never thought I’d see the day that I was muscled.

The cloak had changed into a black wooden trench coat with a hood. It actually looked pretty good, it fit me, although it made me look sad and depressed. My face and recent events didn’t help that image.

After inspecting the look of the cloak, I used my experience points to push me to level twenty, the leftover ones went to my cloak.

I got 10 Stat points for the levels, and 220 for reaching another threshold. This Time, I did invest them. From now on, I would be as strong as possible on every occasion. After my spending spree, My stats had gone up an insane amount, I’d had 475 points to spend after all.

[Name: Oscar Van Damme

Level: 20 (0/210)

Unspent Experience: 0

Ethnicity: Belgian (Flemish)

Gender: Male

Zodiac: Libra

Titles: Mercator, Herald of Myth, Dungeon Delver

Traits: Fat, Intelligent, Mana Savant, Cor Stellae

Stats:

Conv: 205

Wis: 205

Cons: 205 (+205)

Str: 130 (+130)

Agi: 130 (+130)

Per: 155 (+155)

Stat Points: 0

Equipment: {Cloak of Sorrows, Rare, Evolvable (120/1000)}

Skills:

{Keeper of Alexandria (Lvl 1/80), Duo}

{Body of Stars (Lvl 1/80), Duo}

{Art of the Sun (Lvl 1/80), Duo}

{Conviction of the Dragons (Lvl 1/80), Duo}

{Pakhangba (Lvl 1/160), Duo}

{Nuclear Fusion (Lvl 1/160), Active}

Skill Points: 0]

I could feel the change, I knew that I was inherently different from how I’d been a month ago. It felt so right, and so wrong. Something was messing with my body, something was making it stronger, better, but no longer me.

I shrugged, I didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, Marie did, she needed to be kept safe. So if something was changing my body, so long as it benefitted her, then so be it.

I went to bed but after 10 minutes of sleep, I was fully invigorated again. Seeing as sleeping wasn’t an option, I simply started training my energy control, training until I passed out from fatigue. Waking up after 10 minutes and going at it again. If not for my magical heart, I would’ve killed myself that night, I would’ve burned up all the energy in my body and died.

Something I hadn’t realised since getting the heart was that I hadn’t really felt hungry, I still ate, but more because I was craving something than because I was actually hungry; It was a habit that I didn’t really need anymore.

And so I trained, until it was nearly time to go to school. After training, I took a shower, changed my clothes except for the cloak, which for some reason didn’t smell of my sweat, and left for school.