Three days had passed since Raka face-planted into the swamp.
Three miserable days without a single proper meal—just wild fruits, half of which turned his stomach into a drum solo of regret. He was basically a zombie on autopilot, staggering forward as his belly roared like a war drum.
"I'm starving, damn it," he groaned, clutching his sunken stomach. "Back in my world, eating instant noodles was already a blessing. Now I'm grateful just to chew on rotten fruit."
While foraging for something—anything—edible, he ran into his first human in this new world. The man was middle-aged with dark skin, a burly build, and sharp eyes, like a merchant who had been scammed one too many times.
"Hey, kid! Who are you? Where'd you come from?" the man demanded, giving Raka a head-to-toe inspection. "Why do you look like a stray dog?"
Raka froze. What was he supposed to say? 'Hi, I'm Raka from another world. I was reincarnated by a lazy idiot god.' Yeah, that'd go over well.
"Uhh… my name is…" Raka scrambled for something believable. Then he remembered the name of a Japanese actor he'd seen in anime credits. "Yuki. My name is Yuki."
"Yuki? Weird name," the man muttered. "I'm Marcus, a mining contractor. You look like you're about to drop dead. Wanna work? I'll feed you, but you'll have to work hard."
Raka's stomach growled again like a war drum. Without hesitation, he nodded. "Yes! I'll do it!"
Marcus grinned, but his smile was more like a shark spotting a wounded seal.
"Good. Follow me."
***
It turned out Marcus's idea of "work" was more like forced labor.
Yuki was dragged to a pitch-black mine, handed a blunt pickaxe, and told to dig non-stop from dawn until nightfall.
The food? A watery porridge that tasted like boiled rice rinse.
"I got scammed," Yuki muttered while swinging the pickaxe, his hands blistered and raw. "Stupid god, stupid contractor, stupid life. Everything's just… stupid."
Days passed. Yuki toiled like a mule, slept on the cold mine floor, and barely ate. But one thing puzzled him—his stamina never seemed to run out. No matter how exhausted he felt, his body always bounced back by the next day.
"Maybe this is the reincarnation perk?" he mused. "Or maybe I'm just a zombie now."
Then, one day, while digging in the deepest part of the mine, his pickaxe hit something solid. TING! The sound was unmistakably metallic.
"What the hell is this?" Yuki brushed off the dirt, revealing a massive stone door covered in strange carvings. "Is this… a dungeon?"
Curiosity (and sheer boredom from mining rocks all day) got the better of him. He pushed on the door. CREEEAK! It opened, flooding the tunnel with bright blue light.
The moment Yuki stepped inside, a holographic screen popped up right in front of his face. Just like an RPG menu!
***
[WELCOME TO THE BEGINNER'S DUNGEON]
[SELECT YOUR SKILL:]
1. Sword Mastery – Legendary Blade Expert
2. Fire Magic – Devastating Fire Spells
3. Healing Magic – Restore and Mend Wounds
4. Transmutation Magic – Alter the Nature of Matter]
"Holy crap, this is just like a game!" Yuki's eyes sparkled with excitement. He was just about to press Sword Mastery… but his trembling, starving fingers accidentally tapped 4.
[TRANSMUTATION MAGIC SELECTED]
[LEVEL 1: ABLE TO ALTER SIMPLE MATERIALS]
"NOOO! I wanted to be a badass swordsman, not some wannabe alchemist!" Yuki wailed.
But it was too late. His head was suddenly flooded with knowledge of transmutation—how to alter materials, the structure of atoms, chemical composition, and other brain-melting info.
"…Well… this is kinda cool, actually," Yuki muttered, glancing at the rocks around him. "Let's test it out."
He placed his hand on a small stone and concentrated.
"Turn into… gold!"
BLING!
The rock transformed into a shiny nugget of pure gold.
"OH. MY. GOD. I CAN MAKE GOLD!" Yuki screamed, eyes sparkling with greed. "I'M GONNA BE RICH!"
But his joy didn't last. A low, guttural growl echoed from deeper within the dungeon. Red eyes glowed in the darkness.
A Goblin Warrior stepped out, wielding a huge axe.
"GRAAAHHH!" the goblin roared, charging at him.
Yuki panicked. "Oh crap! I'm not ready for this!"
But his survival instinct kicked in. He remembered every science class he'd ever barely passed, and every anime or action movie he'd binged.
"Wait… if I can alter matter…" His eyes scanned the ground, spotting iron ore and what looked like saltpeter powder.
He touched the iron deposit. "Turn into iron bars!" Instantly, solid iron formed in front of him. Then he grabbed the saltpeter and other materials nearby. "Turn into high-grade gunpowder!"
In minutes, Yuki had cobbled together a perfectly functional AK-47. All his useless knowledge from games, movies, and the History Channel suddenly became priceless.
"HEY, YOU DUMB GOBLIN!" Yuki shouted, hoisting the rifle. "EAT THIS!"
DDDRRRRRAAATTTT!
The sound of gunfire tore through the dungeon. The goblin, once confident, turned into a lead-strainer in seconds. Blood splattered everywhere.
[GOBLIN WARRIOR DEFEATED]
[EXP +500]
[LEVEL UP!]
[TRANSMUTATION MAGIC LEVEL 2]
"HELL YEAH!" Yuki cheered, raising his rifle triumphantly. "WHO SAID TRANSMUTATION MAGIC IS WEAK?! WITH MODERN KNOWLEDGE, I CAN BUILD WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION!"
More goblins appeared from the shadows, but this time, Yuki grinned like a maniac.
"You think you can fight 21st-century firepower? COME AT ME, BRO!"
DDDRRRRRAAATTTT! DDDDRRRRRAAATTTT!
The massacre began. The once-starving mining slave had now transformed into a one-man goblin-slaying army, armed with his homemade AK-47.
Meanwhile, Marcus, resting at the surface of the mine, heard the deafening noise.
"What the hell was that? Sounds like… thunder?" he muttered, scratching his head.
Little did he know, his half-dead laborer had just turned into the deadliest war machine in the dungeon.