The cavern was dead silent once the last trial chamber collapsed in on itself. Dust drifted down from the high stone ceiling like falling ash, coating my shoulders. My lungs burned, my body ached, and every muscle screamed at me to just *lie down and die already.*
But I hadn't.
I'd actually done it.
The dungeon trembled once more, this time not with collapsing stone, but with something deeper—older. A resonance, like the heartbeat of the mountain itself. Then came the voice.
Cold. Resonant. Neither male nor female, but something in-between, layered with power.
"Seeker of eclipse. You have conquered the Eclipse Hollow."
I swallowed. My throat was so dry it was like trying to gulp sand. "Yeah. Conquered. Sure. Let's call nearly getting flattened by spinning blade walls and skewered by skeletons 'conquering.'"
The voice ignored my sarcasm. Typical.
"By ancient decree, you are granted a reward. First, the relic prepared for those who survive: a Mana Vial."
Before me, the air shimmered. A crystalline vial floated into existence, filled with a glowing liquid the color of moonlight, pale and translucent, yet thick as mercury. It pulsed softly, like it had its own heartbeat.
The sight alone made my exhaustion fade a fraction. *A mana potion… but no, it's more than that.*
The voice continued.
"Forged in the early age, this elixir expands the vessel of mana itself. Drink, and your capacity will deepen, granting you strength no common potion may offer."
I almost laughed. My mana pool was so shallow it could barely qualify as a puddle. This? This was perfect. Exactly what I needed. For once, fate wasn't kicking me in the teeth.
"Finally," I muttered, reaching for the vial. "Something goes my way."
But before I could grab it, the voice thundered again.
"A second reward."
I froze. "Wait… what?"
That wasn't in the game. I knew this dungeon's rewards. I'd memorized them like a starving man memorizes the menu of a restaurant he can't afford. There was only ever one prize: the mana vial and the additional boost in every stats.
"Ordinarily, none but the vial would be given. Yet your resolve has been… instructive. Despite weakness, despite fear, you endured. You pushed beyond what fate had written for you."
The cavern darkened. The runes along the walls pulsed brighter, flooding the chamber with an eerie blue glow. My heart hammered in my chest.
"Thus, you are found worthy of an inheritance. The Lightning Attribute."
"What"
My breath caught. Attribute. An actual elemental affinity. My first.
Blue arcs of light crackled into existence, dancing across the floor, climbing the walls, filling the chamber with the sharp scent of ozone. The lightning writhed like serpents before gathering overhead into a sphere of searing azure light.
"This spark was set here by the hand of a god. In ages past, the Stormbringer walked this world and left behind a fragment of his might within this hollow. It has slumbered, waiting. Now it answers you."
The sphere descended toward me. My instincts screamed at me to run, but my legs wouldn't move. The lightning struck my chest like a hammer made of storms.
I convulsed, every nerve igniting at once. My vision went white. For a moment, I wasn't standing in a cavern—I was suspended in endless sky, surrounded by thunderclouds, lightning forking around me in blinding arcs. My body felt like it was unraveling and reforging at the same time.
Then it ended.
I collapsed to one knee, gasping, smoke curling from my skin. My fingertips tingled, and when I flexed them, faint sparks of blue danced between them.
"Holy… hell." I wheezed, staring at my hand. "I just got tasered by God. And lived."
"Bear this well,"the voice said, its resonance softer now."The lightning within you is not mere magic. It is divine spark. Fierce. Untamed. More potent than mortal-born lightning. Do not squander it."
I wanted to grin, laugh, dance around like an idiot. My first attribute, and it was lightning of all things. Not only that—it was divine-touched.
Finally. Finally, something was going my way.
But the voice wasn't done.
"Your other affinity stirs. Once locked, it now nears awakening. Eight parts in ten."
I blinked. "Eighty percent? It was at forty last time…But now you are saying it has reached eighty percent."
No answer.Only a slow fading of the glow, the runes dimming as the voice gave its last words.
"The path ahead will break you, if you let it. Remember: power means little without the will to wield it. Walk forward, Seeker of Eclipse. And endure."
Then silence.
The chamber was just stone again. The vial hovered patiently, waiting. Sparks still flickered at the edges of my vision.
I couldn't stop smiling.
"Arthur Dravenlock," I whispered, "congratulations. You are now officially less useless."
Lets see my status.
"Status"
The glowing window appeared, neat and familiar:
----------------------------------------------
Name: Arthur Dravenlock
Class: Swordsman
Talent: **Limitless**
Attribute: Lightning ,(Partial unlocking 80%)
.....
Strength: 22 → 26
Speed: 21 → 25
Endurance: 20 → 26
Dexterity: 20 → 24
Perception: 21 → 24
Mana: 18 → 23
.....
Passive Skill: Perfect Poker
Active Skill: Dash
.....
Arts:
Basic Sword Style (Common)
Basic Non-Armed Combat (Common)
----------------------------------------------
I grinned so hard my face hurt. Everything had jumped, like my body had finally stopped being a weak twig and started becoming something resembling a… slightly sturdier twig.
And Lightning Attribute. Staring at that single word gave me goosebumps.
"Status, you beautiful lying cheat sheet, I could kiss you."
That's when another window popped up.
[Quest Completed!]
["Conquer the Hollow]
[Reward: One Unique Skill]
Another chime. Another flash.
[You have been granted a skill: Arc Discharge]
Text scrolled neatly across the panel:
---
Arc Discharge (Active):
Channel lightning through your body and release it in a burst of electrical force.
* Emits a radial discharge that shocks all enemies within 3 meters.
* Damage scales with Intelligence and Lightning Affinity.
* Overuse may cause nerve strain and temporary paralysis.
---
I gawked. "Wait. I just… got AOE taser powers?"
[Correct.]
"…You're telling me I can literally electrocute people by existing too hard?"
[Incorrect. You must channel mana, shape it, and—]
"Don't ruin this for me."
[Warning: improper use may fry your own nervous system. Please discharge responsibly.]
"Pfft. Responsible lightning. That sounds boring."
[So does permanent paralysis.]
"Touché."
Still, my hands itched to test it. Blue sparks danced across my knuckles without effort now, like the element was eager to be unleashed. My first real skill, and it was flashy as hell. I couldn't help but laugh, the sound echoing in the empty cavern.
"Arthur Dravenloch, the human bug zapper. Who knew?"
But hunger roared again, a reminder I was still just a half-dead idiot in a cave. My eyes flicked to the floating vial, the pale liquid within pulsing faintly.
The Mana Vial. My first reward.
The second reward—the lightning—still crackled under my skin, but this potion was no less vital. I needed mana, desperately.
I reached for the vial at last, fingers curling around the cool crystal.
"Alright," I whispered, lifting it to eye level. "Bottoms up. Here's to not exploding."
And then I drank.