This is how it all started.
[You wander through a chaotic timestream and accidentally glimpse a fragment of some forgotten moment:]
[Because the timestream is unstable, you are surrounded by abyssal creatures.]
[Two beings capable of helping you have also been dragged here by mistake, but they are currently in conflict. They need your mediation—please choose.]
[Option 1: Trade a punch with the Mushroom Parent.]
[Option 2: Hug the Corruption Favoured.]
[Option 3: "You are all my wings." Trade blows with the Mushroom Parent while hugging the Corruption Favoured.]
Staring at the three floating options, Gapar felt genuinely confused for the first time in a long while.
A mere pack of abyssal creatures? Couldn't he just wipe them out himself?
But the space didn't care. It offered no exit. It forced him to choose. Without selecting one of the options, he couldn't leave.
That alone was… extremely irritating.
Gapar exhaled slowly and began weighing the choices.
Trading a punch with the Mushroom Parent looked like the simplest option. Under normal circumstances, he'd pick that instantly.
But things were far from normal.
Because of the effect of Grave King's Swordbearer, he was currently in a high-attack, low-HP state. Even taking a casual swing from a zombie could instantly kill him.
So regardless of how strong or weak the Mushroom Parent was, that option was out.
As for Option 3—"You are all my wings"?
Who in their right mind came up with that?
That left only one realistic choice: hug the Corruption Favoured.
A hug shouldn't kill him… probably.
The scene flickered, and he suddenly found himself in a room identical to the previous one. A pale, grotesque creature stood in front of him.
It looked like something between a human and an insect—its torso packed with tiny thrashing arms. Anyone with entomophobia or trypophobia would've died spiritually on the spot.
"…Not quite what I imagined."
He'd expected the Corruption Favoured to look like a pile of rotting flesh. Up close, it wasn't nearly that bad. At least hugging it wouldn't ruin his clothes.
Gapar had seen plenty of horrors in his life. Hugging something this revolting didn't make him panic. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around it.
The Corruption Favoured curled into him, looking unexpectedly… shy.
Hmm. Not terrible.
Gapar stared straight ahead, pretending the creature in his arms was a girl in armor. That made it a bit easier to tolerate.
Honestly, he felt he'd made the right choice. If he'd taken a punch from the Mushroom Parent, he'd be dead. A hug was nothing—a shower afterward would solve the problem.
[The Corruption Favoured's anxiety has been soothed. He will help you defeat the abyssal creatures.]
[You have been infected by the corruption on the Corruption Favoured. Do not worry—merely hugging him will not cause full infection.]
[However, the effect of Grave King's Swordbearer: Greatly accelerates the infection rate!]
[You have been infected with Scarlet Rot!]
"—Guh!"
Gapar suddenly coughed up blood. Something foreign was invading his body, twisting it from the inside. That was definitely not good.
But his body wouldn't move. All he could do was watch himself coughing blood and fighting alongside the Corruption Favoured, bravely cutting down abyssal creatures.
Thankfully, this simulated version of him still retained most of his strength, and the abyssal creatures were far too weak to pose a threat.
[You have defeated the abyssal creatures and earned the Corruption Favoured's friendship. You may encounter him again on future travels.]
[The intense battle deepened your Scarlet Rot. You feel extremely weak.]
[Blessing acquired: Scarlet Rot]
[A blessing from the Goddess of Rot is extremely dangerous for humans. Your vitality is rapidly decreasing. Without curing the corruption, you cannot survive four more timestream jumps.]
"Timestream jumps"—that referred to teleporting through rooms using the transport chests.
Kind of cliché, but at least the terminology was easy to grasp.
[Item acquired: Bandit's Treasure Chest]
[After each timestream jump, the chest will produce a random treasure. It will disappear after three uses.]
Had he not been suffering from the debuff, this would've been a straightforward reward stage.
But fate had other plans. He now had to move forward while carrying Scarlet Rot.
After the battle ended, the Corruption Favoured hugged him tightly again—a warm, affectionate gesture between close family.
Gapar's face didn't move. At this moment, all he wanted was to chop this oversized bug to pieces.
The world dissolved again, returning him to the empty room. Everything he'd experienced felt like a dream.
Scarlet Rot lingered within him—not contagious, but fatally corrosive.
Each jump would strip away around one-fourth of his vitality. Without healing magic, he truly wouldn't survive four jumps.
"So that's how it is," Gapar muttered quietly. He scanned the empty room again. When he confirmed no one else appeared, he stepped forward and opened the transport chest.
This time, it was a combat stage. A group of familiar monsters materialized—Ghrus.
But these Ghrus were wrong. Their bodies were soaked in black sludge, twisted into monstrous shapes.
"So these are abyssal creatures?" Gapar mused.
He knew a bit about the Abyss—how the strange force known as "Abyss" could infect ordinary creatures. Maru had told him, and Maru had gotten the intel from Darrick. Darrick had posted everything he knew on the bulletin board.
Abyss-infected Ghrus became far more vicious, attacking recklessly, even striking their own allies.
Dangerous—that was the word he remembered.
"But why have I never seen anything like this before?"
He activated Circle while thinking.
Until now, information about abyssal corruption only appeared in the Sein Dungeon. Did this place have a connection to the Abyss? Was it sealing it? Would other dungeons start showing similar corruption?
He thought too hard, until the word "Abyss" itself began to feel strange in his mind.
"…I'll write to an old friend once I'm out."
The Ghrus' attacks weren't strong. Under normal circumstances, he could've tanked all of them without blinking.
But with so many debuffs stacked on him, he was forced to dodge. He had no choice but to aim for a flawless clear.
Abyss-infected Ghrus had absurd vitality. Even after being slashed apart, they counterattacked. Even a Sword Saint had to stay cautious—one mistake could end him.
Being forced into such a situation by external factors was deeply unpleasant—something he hadn't felt in years.
Against high-stat monsters, you needed mechanics.
Blessings that inflicted debuffs on a powerhouse like the Sword Saint were ideal. If not, then raw stat-crushing was the next best thing.
Because of all this, Gapar was currently burning mana at a ridiculous rate. The Dungeon was making a fortune off him.
Up to this point, each of the three split groups had completed one event stage and two combat stages. Now it was time to choose another blessing.
When Gapar selected Blessing: Skeleton Leap, another Grave King–aligned blessing like the previous two, something unexpected happened.
[You have successfully obtained three Tomb King blessings. Class unlocked: Grave King Attendant.]
[Hunt enemies and collect their eyes. Upon reaching a certain amount, you may actively activate Grace: Grave King's Greatsword Dance.]
[Chance of obtaining Grave King blessings increased.]
"Grace?"
Gapar glanced at his left hand and noticed a new mark—the same sigil used for the Grave King blessings.
Crimson light pulsed from it, indicating he had one use of the Greatsword Dance stored.
He immediately opened the transport chest.
This time, the enemy wasn't a small fry—it was an elite.
[Abyss-corrupted Nargacuga]
Its once-sleek body was now dripping with abyssal sludge, exuding pure hostility. The moment he appeared, it lunged.
Gapar dodged effortlessly. He glanced at the glowing mark on his palm, unsure how to use it.
Was he supposed to yell "Grave King's Greatsword Dance"?
Or simply touch the monster?
The Nargacuga's blade-like wing sliced past. Gapar ducked, and his marked hand brushed the ground.
Suddenly, knowledge surged into his mind. He understood immediately how to trigger the grace.
"Grave King's Greatsword Dance!"
There was no one around. No one would ever hear him shout something so embarrassing. So he yelled it with full enthusiasm.
Wow… he hadn't felt this mix of shame and excitement in years.
The world responded.
The room shook. Crimson energy erupted like geysers. Massive greatswords surged from the ground. There were dozens of them, and the Nargacuga—being so close—had no chance to escape.
Its body was skewered, the deathly aura devouring its life force.
Half its HP vanished in a single instant.
The power exceeded even Gapar's expectations. But then again, this was a grace granted by a near-godlike existence—of course it was strong.
In truth, the Greatsword Dance wasn't usually this overwhelming.
Its main effect was continuous HP drain. The falling swords were just a bonus—and because they were spread out, they often missed smaller enemies.
Gapar achieved such devastating effect simply because he activated it directly under the Nargacuga, causing nearly every blade to strike. Combined with his own stat bonuses, the result was monstrous.
After some time, he defeated the Nargacuga and began choosing a new blessing.
He looked like he was enjoying himself. The unpredictable nature of blessings gave him a faint thrill.
Uh-oh—another person was about to fall into Sein's "trap."
(***)
Lord's Chamber.
Wade stared into the crystal ball and muttered, "As expected… before launching this mode officially, I need an internal testing phase."
He fully intended to remove the setting where "player stats influence grace power" before adventurers left. He wanted everyone's grace to have standardized effects.
"Still so many issues…"
The notebook before him was packed with things that needed fixing.
Flipping back a few pages, one would find the earliest drafts of the roguelite mode.