"I need to master this power, and in order to do that I need to get stronger."
It wasn't up for debate anymore.
To get stronger, he needed to level up. And this was the only way he could do so for now.
He summoned the key from his inventory, stretched it outwards, mimicking the insertion of the key into a keyhole and twisted it to the left. Instantly, the key vanished from his hand before turning into a large spiraling circle of magic, in other words a gate.
With his eyes lit with determination, he stepped into the gate.
SWOOSH!
A violent inrush of wind pressure blew through his hair as he passed through the gates.
[You have entered the instant dungeon]
"W..hoa."
As he crossed the magical gate, he found himself staring down towards what appeared to be some sort of underground cave.
"Hmph?"
He perceived a low rumbling hum, accompanied by a sharp crackle behind him. Immediately he turned to his back, only to find out that the gate in question had been blocked by a mysterious force.
BANG!
He banged on the surface of the gate, attempting to see if he could escape the dungeon but it was to no avail.
"Tch, so I really can't leave till I clear the dungeon? I just hope it's one of those dungeons the original Takashi got back then. Oh well, from the key's description, this is most likely a D-rank dungeon."
He glanced back at the bunker below, with a gulp he closed his eyes before inhaling a considerable amount of air.
"I guess there's no turning back now." He said.
He left the gate, and climbed down the stairs that led into the cave.
'I have no assistance, no weapon, all I have is my underdeveloped ability and... Wait a minute.' He thought.
"Inventory."
With a word, he summoned the translucent blue screen of the system and it displayed his inventory which was empty.
"Store."
[Store]
[Heaven's Will: Holy Excalibur: A sword once held by the great archangel Michael, it is the living manifestation of heavenly power itself. It is said to have contained the power of the One Above All and was used to defeat the forces of the underworld and sealed the fallen in a faraway place. Cost - 100,000,000,000,000 spirit points]
[Grim Reaper's Scythe: A sword drowned by the dark magic of the Shadow Necromancer, Van Don. It is said to have been used in the holy war to shroud the continents in darkness, it was the only weapon that could combat the Excalibur. Cost - 300,000,000,000 spirit points]
The system's store appeared, showcasing a list of weapons, each priced accordingly, ranked from the highest value to the lowest.
"I get that all these weapons are legendary weapons but why are they all so goddamn expensive?"
It didn't take long for Kazuki to scroll to the bottom of the list. With only 500 credits at his disposal, everything above was far beyond his current or future capabilities.
After a moment of consideration, he settled for a simple katana, nothing more than a basic blade with no special features or abilities.
Armed with weaponry, he continued down the stairs, each step echoing through the stillness of the cave.
"Let's do this."
The moment he stepped into the underground cave, a low, guttural rumble echoed from somewhere in the shadows ahead.
He froze.
"What... was that?" He murmured, narrowing his eyes and peering into the dense blackness that swallowed the path beyond. The darkness pulsed with quiet menace, and something unseen stirred just out of reach.
From the shadows, a flicker of movement caught his eye—then another. Several pairs of glowing red eyes emerged, inching closer with every heartbeat.
"What!?"
He stumbled back as the shadows gave way to a swarm of big, purple-furred creatures with sharp fangs and claws, pointed ears. They had four legs along with a long tail.
They numbered up to twenty five, each salivating as they observed their prey carefully.
[Multiple Moonlight Wolves have appeared]
[Fortitude: 2.1]
"What? Moonlight wolves. Sheesh, not what you'd expect to see in a typical cave."
YIP YIP OUUUU
With a loud howl, The moonlight wolves charged at him, snapping their jaws at him without mercy like the diabolical creatures they are.
A slight grin tugged at Kazuki's lips, he was calm, confident. He didn't flinch, didn't waver. Was it because he had expected this all along?
"If it was my previous self, I'd probably be shaking in my shoes right now. But thanks to the system errors, with a fortitude of 2.1, you all are nothing compared to the A-tier Soul-Beast I fought a while ago." With a strong will, he dashed forward to meet them.
He focused his Soul-Energy and his enhanced strength into his legs, and In a flash, he leapt high above the charging horde, spinning through the air with a series of fluid front flips.
Then, with pinpoint precision, he came crashing down, landing squarely on the head of a midnight wolf, slamming it into the ground with bone-crushing force.
SQUASH!
The head of the wolf splattered into chunks of hard meat as Kazuki landed on it, using his Soul-Energy to increase the weight of his foot by concentrating it. He realized, that these were some of the practical uses of Soul-Energy which he himself had no knowledge of till now.
Crouching low, he surged forward in a flash, spinning his katana with deadly precision before slashing through the mouth of a wolf that rushed at him in a fluid motion.
[You have gained ×2 Soul-Essence!]
"Hm?" Hearing a low growl behind him, he instinctively thrust his sword upward, positioning it just behind his head. The blades met the descending fangs of two midnight wolves, deflecting the bite with a resounding clash.
Relying on his quick reactions, he rotated his right leg sideways, his movement smooth and precise, flowing behind the two wolves with the grace of a Tai Chi practitioner in one, seamless motion.
With a precise slash, he beheaded the two wolves in one strike.
[You have gained ×1 Soul-Essence!]
[You have gained ×1 Soul-Essence!]
[You have levelled up!]
The more he struck down the wolves, the more notifications popped up in his line of vision. Each strike was a dance, and with time he slayed a majority of the magical creatures.
"Two more to go." With fierce determination in his eyes, he gripped the sword tightly as the wolves charged toward him in a straight line. In one swift, powerful thrust, he hurled the blade through the air at the head of the wolf in front of him.
Unexpectedly, he sliced through the skulls of the last wolves and defeated them both in a single strike.
[You have gained ×2 Soul-Essence!]
[You have slain all Midnight wolves!]
[You have levelled up!]
"Awesome..." He couldn't help but notice the great difference between himself right now, and back before he went through his awakening ceremony.
He pulled out his sword from the head of the last wolf and proceeded further into the dungeon. After walking for several meters, he found himself standing in front of a strange, huge hole in the walls.
"Huh, looks like the den of something big, probably the boss? If that's the case, this dungeon is about to get a whole lot more difficult."
Suddenly, a deep, guttural growl reverberated from the hole in the walls. From the hole hole, a massive wolf emerged, its claws scraping against the stone as it crawled forward.
Its jaws — with the lower jaw made out of steel, clicked menacingly, and with each heavy step, the ground beneath Kazuki's feet trembled, the vibrations shaking through his body.
"WHAT THE LIVING FUCK IS THAT!?" His eyes went wide in terror, his legs trembling slightly as he stared up at the colossal beast, it's towering form nearly twice his size.
It was at least five times bigger than the moonlight wolves from earlier.
[The boss of the dungeon has appeared!]
[Steel Jawed Wolf— Muramasa]
[Fortitude: 5.0]
"Fortitude wha-"
Before he could even finish his sentence, the boss lunged with a terrifying speed. It swung one of it's massive claws at him.
"Shit!"
Instinct kicked in. In a split second, he executed a swift forward roll to his left, narrowly dodging the crushing blow of the wolf.
It's claws sliced through the ground effortlessly like a knife through butter, sending debris flying in all directions.
Kazuki's eyes widened in disbelief, fixed on the shattered ground beneath him.
"Damn... if I had wasted anymore time to avoid that strike, that attack would have sliced my head into two."
Impatient and hungry, the wolf lunged at Kazuki, its fangs bared, aiming to sink into his flesh and devour him whole.
"Calm down... Calm down." He tried to calm himself. There was a difference between fighting dogs and fighting actual wolves, and compared to Muramasa, the moonlight wolves were puppies.
It was his first raid. His first survival battle in the wild. So his fears were justified.
But even he understood the law of the jungle. Kill or be killed.
Battling the surge of anxiety, he leaped high above it's head, narrowly avoiding the deadly bite as it's fangs sunk into the wall.
"Now!" He used the cave walls to his advantage, thrusting himself forward while aiming the tip of his katana at Muramasa's head.
"Beneath that metal jaw, you're nothing special!"
[Error...]
"Huh?"
RAWWWWWW!
Just before he could finish the job, the boss of the midnight wolves let out a gutteral roar. And it's pressure threw Kazuki off course, sending him crashing hard into the ground.
"D—Damn..." He groaned, struggling to get to his feet.
As he got up, a cold chill went down his spine.
"W—what?" His eyes went wide with disbelief.
The wolf's form shifted erratically. And it literally glitched like a flickering screen. He couldn't explain it. The only way he could — was that Muramasa was glitching out of existence.
[Error... Error...]
[The Dungeon is reconfiguring...]
"What!?" The system's interface lit up to life, but this time, it wasn't flickering like it did before. That meant that this wasn't a system error.
Suddenly. Muramasa's form morphed with a blinding light, and it wasn't a steel jawed wolf anymore.
[The boss of the dungeon has appeared!]
[Lightning Cloaked Serpent — Stormfang]
[Fortitude: 9.0]
[Difficulty level: B]
Kazuki chuckled. He couldn't believe his eyes. "F—fortitude 9.0?" His eyes wavered unlike before as he stared at the towering figure of a twenty foot long serpent, partly cloaked with lightning.
"W—what the fucking hell is this?"
This wasn't a D-rank dungeon anymore. It was a B-rank dungeon boss.