The magic stone reminds me of the ones I harvested before… I died?
I shake my head to focus.
No clothes. No pouch. Of course. I head to the place where i woke up.
Was it always like this? The corridors look identical. Am I walking in circles?
The goblins along the way remain unharmed—the stones are so small they slip between my bones. I can barely carry one, not to mention many.
And what's wrong with the sword? It keeps tugging me in one direction, like it has a will of its own. The urge to follow it becomes stronger, but I ignore it. I want my pouch. My precious magic stones.
"Yes!" I'm tossing around the rags, a pitiful excuse for clothes.
"That cheapskate, stingy bastard. That damned miser." I hurl profanities, cursing him to the ninth generation.
Finding nothing, I go on a killing spree. After the fifth goblin, I come to my senses.
Blinking my imaginary eyes, only the magic stone is left. No corpse. No sword. Pinching it between my fingers, I bring the stone close to my face. No. I can't see anything special about it.
But I know. I know it's special. It has the power to increase my strength. But how? I was going to learn after returning to the guild.
It's useless. I can't carry it around, so what's the point keeping it.
I flick it up and start walking.
"What?" I stop abruptly. The stone bounces off my head and slides past my collarbone—inside me.
I expect it to rattle before getting to the ground. Instead, a bright light radiates from my chest. Soon after, it fades, leaving me in the familiar darkness.
I reach through my ribs—nothing. I lower my head but can't see far enough.
I push the back of my head and suddenly…
"Where… what?"
One moment, I'm pushing my head, and the next… I'm rolling on the ground. Well, my head is.
What an eerie feeling—watching my headless skeleton from the ground. Being in two places at once. Strange, to say the least.
Thank the gods my face points toward my body. I can sense myself, but without sight I'd be lost.
Dropping the sword, I raise my head to chest level.
There's definitely something—pulsing with a dim light. Heart? No, it's smaller and shines. Adjusting my grip, I touch it, but my fingers pass through it.
"Interesting." I try several more times but nothing happens.
I place my head up and twist. It reconnects—what a relief.
Just to test it, I have my right arm yank the left one, doubling its reach.
Hmm. Good for getting to those hard-to-reach places.
Focusing on my dislodged arm, I can easily move every bone as if it's still on my body. This can be useful… If I had lips, I'd grin.
Attaching my arm back, I stop messing around, pick the sword and finally follow its pull.
But… I see a goblin and just can't resist. Head in one hand, I toss the magic stone and watch as it gets absorbed by the pulsing light, turning it brighter and steady.
Is the rhythm different? Or perhaps the intensity? Hard to tell. I can't fell any different.
With everything back in its place, I follow the subtle pull. This time, nothing will distract me. No goblin, no playing around.
The sword leads me to a staircase—down to second floor I descend.
Moving through the floor, I still encounter goblins—now in groups of two. Each subsequent floor has one more goblin in the group.
Will the sixth floor follow the same logic? I thought so. But no. There are only two goblins: one with a sword, the other gripping a wooden stick. Staff maybe? Is it a mage? He seems much more powerful than the regular one.
I wish I had more knowledge, but it looks like a goblin mage.
They don't acknowledge my presence, so I ignore them after a glance.
I was tempted to take the mage's staff… No more messing around, I remind myself.
I move where the sword says. The pulling force grows stronger with each step.
I researched information only about the first floor, but the dungeon has ten—four more to go.
The seventh floor has two normal goblins and two mages. The groups get incrementally bigger the lower I get.
The last floor. I struggle holding onto the sword. If I let go, it will fly off.
I pass several groups of ten goblins. The force is too strong—I bump into a goblin, pushing him to the ground. The rest topple like a domino, making me smile.
A massive gate appears before my eyes. It's ordinary in appearance, but double my height.
The blade lead me to the door. It wants to go further. With the force becoming too strong to resist, only the gate helps me hold it.
Slowly, the gate opens and the sword is yanked from my grasp, flying toward a wall and vanishing.
From the corner of my eye I see something move. An enormous stone lands a hair's breadth away from me and rolls out of the room. The sword pushed me to the side, saving me.
The stone was thrown by a huge green figure, resembling goblin.
That's why the gate is so big.
No clue what it is, but I'm glad it doesn't view me as a threat. It's head swings from side to side, confused. After several rounds of scanning, it leans against a wall, eyes closing. Soon, loud snoring fills the hall.
Closing in on the huge monster, I shiver. What a beast. It could swat me like a fly.
I don't test my luck and circle around it to the wall where the sword vanished.
I touch it. Nothing—a fake wall?
I step forward. No hesitation.
A circular chamber with altar in the center greets me. And on the altar—shining blue orb illuminating the entire room.
It beckons. Calls to me. Draws me in like a magnet.
I surrender to the pull. I reach out, extend my arm, and touch the orb.