Silas then collapsed onto the cold floor of the dungeon chamber, every breath was scraping his throat like fire.
The Hollowmaw Serpent's carcass lay still, its once traumatizing scales now pale and lifeless, a pool of bluish acidic blood was seeping beneath it.
Then the voice of system echoed in his ears.
[DUNGEON CLEARED!]
[Level Up! You are now Level 20.]
[Stat Points Available: 20]
Silas let out a long deep breath, wiping the blood off from his eyebrow as he leaned back against the body of serpent.
"I'm... I'm still alive." he muttered under his breath, a small grin appeared on his face. "Barely alive though... haha."
[HOST]
The system spoke, voice cool and neutral.
[You have now reached level 20, please allocate your stat points.]
Silas didn't hesitate for even a second as he said. "Distribute them equally, Let's keep everything balanced for now."
[Stat Distribution Complete.]
[Agility: C-]
[Strength: D+]
[Intellect: D+]
[Endurance: E+]
[Charisma: E+]
[Luck: E+]
[Mana: 120/120]
Silas let out a deep sigh as he flexed his fingers. He could already feel the subtle shift of stats in his body—his steps felt lighter, thoughts clearer, body felt sturdier.
"System..." he muttered with a big grin on his face. "You're the best, I'm almost on par with a real D-ranker now, huh?" he took a small fraction of time to think, "Still... I've got a long way ahead of me."
He said as he took his hand up slowly, formed a fist with it, clearly showing that his resolve is clear and he will not stop before he achieves it.
He rose to his feet, feeling the slight strain in his muscles from the aftermath of the extended battle. Around the corpse of Hollowmaw Serpent, glimmering stones pulsed with residual mana—loot.
"Hey, system." He said while surveying the shimmering pile of stones. "Can you collect all of those mana cores for me?"
[Yes, Host. I absolutely can, please walk within the range of each core and leave the rest of the work to me.]
Silas did just as that, his boots scraping across the stone floor as he slowly circled the area, letting the soft blue glow of the cores sink into his inventory one by one.
[Mana Core Acquired: F-Rank ×30]
[Mana Core Acquired: E-Rank ×5]
[Boss Mana Core Acquired: E-Rank (Elite) ×2]
Silas let out a small laugh, clearly impressed. "That's not a bad haul... For now let's get out of here."
The teleportation rune activated the moment he stepped on the glowing circle. A bright light enveloped him—and then, utter silence,
Silas reappeared in his house, the air inside his house was warm and soothing, unlike the one in dungeon. He slowly looked around, tossed his sword next to the dressing mirror, and fell onto the bed.
"...I made it." he whispered to himself.
But he wasn't done yet.
"System." he said, lifting his hand up in the air lazily. "I remember that you told me before that you had a shop, right? One of those in-built types."
[Affirmative, Host.]
"Open it, and give me a tutorial while you're at it."
[System Shop Interface Unlocked]
[Displaying Tutorial…]
A translucent blue window expanded before him, scrolling through the sections in just a few seconds.
[Weapons Section]
[Mana Artifact Section]
[Skills Section]
[Sword Art Section]
[Trade Section]
Silas blinked. "Oh!? These many things?"
[Yes. The shop catalog spans from F-Rank to God-Tier.]
He got shocked, eyes wide. "Wait wha- God Tier!? As in... divine level??"
[Please do not shout, Host.]
[Yes, the shop extends to transcendent items… though they require absurd amounts of currency and progression.]
Silas leaned forward a bit as he slightly rubbed his temples. "You're hiding too much from me, you know that?" He said with a small laugh. "Just... what are you, system."
The system didn't answer back.
Silas stood up and dusted himself off. "Alright, let's do it like this. Sell all of the mana stones we got from the dungeon."
[Mana Cores Sold.]
[Total Credits Earned: 100 System Coins]
[Transferring to Shop Wallet…]
Silas then opened the coin balance window as he said. "Only 100...?" he groaned. "That's sooo fucking less, oh god!!"
Still he wasn't about to waste this golden opportunity.
"Alright, let's convert these 60 coins into experience points."
[Converting… Experience Added.]
[Level Up! You are now Level 25.]
"Nice." Silas grinned, "Now... let's check the Skill Book section to find something useful for us."
He scrolled through the pages of glowing titles, descriptions and prices until one of them caught his eyes.
[Skill: Phantom Steps – E-Rank Agility Technique]
[Cost: 40 Coins]
[Description: A foundational movement technique focused on precise, flickering footwork to disrupt enemy targeting. Boosts short-distance evasion.]
"…Perfect. I'll take this one for now."
[Purchase Complete.]
[Transferring Skill to Host… Initiating Integration.]
The moment the surge of knowledge started to enter into his body, Silas's eyes widened.
PAIN
A tidal wave of information surged through his brain at rapid speed, diagrams of foot positioning, explosive shift angles, weight balancing, and subtle feints.
It was like someone had put the information by itself directly into his brain.
"Ahhhh...FUCK!!" he cried out, dropping to his knees.
His head throbbed with pain, tears started rolling down his cheeks. Every single nerve of his body screamed for mercy.
It wasn't just the knowledge. It was the understanding forced into his very muscle memory.
After several agonizing minutes, it ended for good. He slumped over, completely drenched in sweat, heart beating faster than light.
"This... this shit is just the beginning." his hand slowly clenched into a fist, for the first time in his life, Silas felt something powerful stir inside of his body.
[Current Level: 25]
[Mana: 120/120]
[Agility: C-]
[Strength: D+]
[Intellect: D+]
[Endurance, Charisma, Luck: E+]
[Skills: Piercing Thrust (E), Phantom Steps (E)]
And he knew one thing, that this world would come to know the name Silas Veil.