"Damn it!" Harold yelled frustrated as he banged his hand on the invisible barrier that laid between him and sweet, precious freedom.
'No wonder monsters rarely come out! I demand a refund!' Harold yelled in his mind and looked at the messages sent by the system.
[A monster from Tuat has been detected trying to leave the dungeon.
Due to it not having met the requirements, it has been barred from leaving]
'Requirements? What are the requirements?' The gears in his head spun as he tried to figure it out but was unable to.
"Fudge crackers! I knew I should have read more books." He cursed in a strange manner but he himself remained unaware of it.
'What do I do? No, I should calm down for now. Is there any other way I can escape?' The answer to that was none. He had not even seen the monster but considering it could paralyze him with just its voice, there was absolutely no way it could be weak.
'Wait, how is it even planning on finding me?' Harold sniffed his body but then realized that ghosts don't have smell.
"Then it must be an energy mark." Harold closed his eyes and tried checking for abnormalities in his body. No such luck there.
"If it was something to be so easily seen, then it would be a failure of a mark." Harold floated around before he realized he had the ultimate cheat skill in his hands.
"[Appraisal]" he tried appraising himself but the only thing that showed up was his status.
"It still doesn't show up?" Harold frowned and tried narrowing the scope of the appraisal. Only after narrowing it to a certain extent did he finally get a result.
[A mark has been placed on you by a profound being. There is no way to remove it.]
'That's it?' Harold tried finding out more but then the information suddenly fizzled out and he was struck by an immense pain that rendered him unconscious.
When he woke up, he was lying on a boulder surrounded by a group of chipmunks who were holding a ritual with him as the sacrifice.
'Okay, this is really getting old.' Harold sighed and wiped out the chipmunks while putting aside the question of how they were able to touch him.
"There's only one thing I need to do." In order to stand against an enemy that was leagues above you, an enemy so strong all tactics and tricks were useless, there was only one thing to do.
"Let's level up."
….
When you're a ghost, it becomes quite easy to level up so long as you're careful. That was what Harold learned as he strolled through the dungeon at maximum speed.
Twenty hours out of the twenty-four hours given to him by the mysterious beast had passed. In that amount of time, Harold had gone from level 6 to level 10.
"Status." After felling a tiger monster, he called up his status.
[Name: Harold
Level: 10
Job: None
Status: Dead
Strength: 0 Speed: 0 Perception: 145 Vitality: 0 Intelligence: 165
HP:0/0
MP: 1650/1650
Skills: Flicker Whisper Ghostly Manipulation Stealth Perseverance Concentration Appraisal Fire Magic Space Magic ??????
Spells: Fireball
Titles: Reincarnator
SP: 50
]
'Too bad I didn't encounter a system bug like last time.' Harold felt it was a pity but there was no use wishing for what one couldn't have.
"Now, is there a skill that can help me get out of this situation?" Harold closed his eyes and called up the Skill Store.
'Ahh… look at all these skills I could have learnt.' Harold's heart would be bleeding if he had one. skills to enhance magic casting speed, spell proficiency, speed, stamina, strength, even one that gave x-ray vision.
'and these are just the ones that I can see. Ahh! I don't want to leave them!' yet, he knew he must. No matter how amazing they were they couldn't save him now.
'Yes! That's it!" after browsing for a while, he finally met a skill that seemed to match his needs and he selected it.
[Skill: Lizard's Tail
Skill Type: Active
Description: Splits off mana and allow for placement in selected locations. Mana split off cannot be recovered until it is fused with the main body.
Cooldown: 7 days
Cost: None
]
'The cooldown is so long? That means I wouldn't be able to test it.' Harold frowned and looked at his body. One of the disadvantages of using the skill store was the fact that asides from the description, nothing else was displayed.
"Still, I have to find a way to make it work." Given the amount of time he had, he would have to stake his all on it working.
'There's still a bit of time left. Let's try to increase my skills proficiency.' Harold hadn't touched Space Magic much. If his newly acquired skill did not work, then he would have to master that.
…..
"Sir Hero, please save us!" As Aland walked down the streets, humans… if it would be right to call them so, called out to him with their hands extended in supplication.
In order to gain support from countries and the people, Aland was being made to hold publicity speeches in the poverty-stricken parts of the world. His first stop was Manaba, the City of Sin.
Aland's father told him that no matter how the world changed, there would always be a gap between the rich and the poor. The privileged and the underprivileged. The nobility and commoner. The free man and the slave.
Aland had undergone a strict education even before becoming the Hero. He thought it was prepared. But as he saw the hands reaching out towards him, he froze. Hands that were covered in grime and dirt that had not been washed off in months. Hands that were not supposed to belong to any human being, at least, in Aland's mind.
Was it the Demon King who caused it? No, the supposed enemy of all mankind had not even made a move. If so, why are they still suffering? Why do they raise their hands to the person who cannot even resolve their problems by fulfilling their duty?
Will things change for the better even with the Demon King gone? Or will it become worse? A Hero is supposed to be a guiding light for the people, but…
"Where exactly am I taking them to?" Aland muttered as he robotically performed his duty with a false smile and eyes full of hypocrisy. Currently, there was nothing he hated in the world more than himself. Including the Demon King.