Chapter 1 – New world?
*Boom!*
"Wahahaha! Another C4 drove off kill!"
I'm currently playing my favorite game of the year on my PC, it's an FPS game that allowed you to strap C4 into any kind of terrain, including vehicles
It's my favorite things to do, slap some C4 into a fast vehicle like a bike, drive off, find a tank, then get off the vehicle at high speed, let it slam into the tank then blow it up with the C4
"Gah! That pay-to-win sniper!"
Unfortunately, this game also has pay-to-win weaponry, I respawn with my AUG then get myself into a chopper one of my allies drives, then I shoot the sniper guy from above... I think it was the same guy, maybe
"Haha! Take that! Sucker!"
As I'm flying by, the helicopter explodes due to a missile launcher, thankfully, my character is at the very edge of the heli, making me able to just drop off of the heli when the alarm ring
"Haha! Parachute!... Now where the heck are you..."
I look around through the scope of the AUG, as I see a line of bullets being fired by an anti-air tank coming toward me
"... Well shit"
I tried to dodge shot, only for sharp pain to courses into back of my head as if I've been struck with a hammer while I'm playing...
My... Head...!?
Falling to the ground, I see a black figure with mask and everything as I lose my consciousness... And with that I have die...
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"Ubuha..."
I groceryly (Yes) got up from the floor that felt like rough stone...
"What... Ugh..."
Ugh, what happened? One moment I was fine, the next thing I know, it felt like my head split open
I look around to see my surroundings as confusion filled me
Alright, who's prank is this? If it's not, then what kind of thing am I going to face off against. . .
Being hit on the head and then being put into a "game" Of survival against the killer clown is not something I wanted, but something I had to possibly deal with right now
I look around again, I can see nothing but one path that leads outside and inside...
I feel the winds coming from that way... But it'll probably be a trap or something... Or a reverse psychological
"... Screw this, if I die, then I die... Just hope I won't die in a brutal, painful way... And hopefully smashed the enemies head before I go out"
I then began walking deeper into the cave
Strange... I'm pretty sure I've walked for a while, yet this cave doesn't get any darker... Weird flex Mr. Killer, but whatever
Don't know what method they use, but it's certainly useful right now... Whether or not it'll be useful in the future whoever... Is another matter
Even this crack in the wall is... No way to hide in the shadow huh? Then again, I probably won't, knowing that the Killer could potentially equip themselves with Night vision goggles
"Haah... Can I go home now?"
No one responded I continue to walk deeper into the cave, and after walking for a while, I could now see the wall in front have a tint of blue glow
Light from a monitor or something? Hm
Walking towards the light what I saw is... A crystal ball that glowing blue on a pedestal with a beautiful pattern I've never seen before
... An overly decorated blue ball lamp?
The decoration is simple, yet beautiful, with a flower and vine decoration on the rim both on the top and bottom end, with the middle being a Romanian style carving of simple line
As I come closer, I noticed my reflection on it although in all blue due to the lamp's color, I took a look at myself again
Unkept hair, a famous jacket worn by a certain X Heroine, comfy pants with four pockets... An average otaku face with freckles...
Ah right... My phone...
I search for my phone or anything really, I rummage toward my pockets and found nothing
... Of course, they'll swipe me clean...
"Haaaah...."
I look toward the blue lamp, and something kinda finally clicks inside me, as if I've got a feeling of Deja Vu and actually know what's making me feel it
... This setup... Right, I remember now, dungeon core, I guess this is supposed to look like that... I guess I'm meant to touch it?
Coming to the conclusion, I decided to touch it, as I touch it, however... A pain assaulted my hands as if they'd been pricked by needles
Ugh!?
After which, I feel extremely dizzy and exhausted, I fell to the ground and hit my chin on the rocky terrain as I feel as if I'm bake alive inside an oven
P-poison... N-no... Not like... This... ... ... Pop... ...
Unable to bear the pain of feeling as if my blood is boiling, I fell unconscious at that moment
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After what felt like an eternity, I finally woke up
Ughhh... Water...
I got up still dazed and I slowly took my surroundings...
What... Happened... Did I live?
I look toward the glowing lamp, I then notice my reflection
Hm?
I took a closer look as I apprise myself...
Long hair, face as pretty as a girl with plumb lips... The hair look... Long... And straight...
HMMMM!!!???
I reached toward my back and I grabbed what felt like my hair, I bring it all to the front to see that it was pink...
W-water! I need something to see the color!
I look around the dungeon, but sadly, there's nothing around to give me a clear reflection
I look around frantically, I then recalled my last memories before I go unconscious
Right! Dungeon!, uh, this isn't a dream, right? Well, whatever! Let's try it, Menu!
With the command from my head, a menu appears in front of me in a form of an unrolled scroll
...Yep, that's the dungeon stuff
Seem like I have to accept the fact that this is real... For now
One thing to check out is that this isn't some kind of cruel joke by someone... Well, maybe, but it's not humans that are doing this, that's for certain
I then press the build option, and with that, the scroll shows me the dungeon layout in a very artistic black-and-white painting with a brown scroll as the background, looking more like something you'll see in a game cutscenes showing the viewers the land on where the battle was happening
Ok, this is actually cool
I look at the bottom of the scroll to find facilities that I could build, traps (heh), a treasure chest, a breeding room, a monster room, a gas chamber, a mana generator, an Altar, a Fountain of blessing, a Fountain of curse...
Wow, that's a lot... And it's all unlocked from the get-go? The price on some of them is expensive as heck though...
I get out of the build menu to look at the point and mana, I press on the point to see that I could convert the dungeon mana into the point but...
One hundred mana for one point!? I mean, it could be worse, but still... That's a lot of mana if I'm not wrong
I decided to look around the menu and not to just buy stuff without knowing there was a better one, next stop, the monster menu
Augh... The slime cost ten points... Ten hundred mana... For a slime...
I press the slime to see why the heck does it cost 10 point
Limitless evolution... Should be obvious what that is when slapped into a slime
It could become metal slime if it ate metal, become a king slime by eating a lot of other stuff, swam slime if it lives in the swamp, and so on, and so forth
Now I want it even more, but first, what's the cheapest monster here?
And the cheapest monster is~ Drum rolled please ~
*dun dun dun dun~*
It's horn rabbit, at 1 point
Joke aside, there are actually a few more
Razor flower, Mule Worm is the two other, with the Razor flower being a flower that could spin its whole being to cut people and Mule Worm... Ram them
Razor flower... Well, I guess it only has a self-defense attack, so long as you wear armor or stayed away, they're not dangerous...
I look into the next menu on the menu that is Enchant and upgrade...
Huh, so I can enchant and upgrade... Anything except monster... Oh, I could fuse monster instead... Hmm, could a fused Razor flower be able to shoot its petals... Probably
The next one is what I've been curious about and waiting for, the shop!
I open up the shop, and I'm immediately greeted with a wonderful information
I keep on scrolling and then put a sword into the search bar, and look around
Waw, everything is expensive
I then press on the magic to see the description
Hm? Affinity?... Hmm, status...
With that command, another scroll shows up, giving me a full list of my status
Hmm, I see... Huh? ...
I look toward the top left to see an avatar box, and the profile pic is... Astolfo in Mysterious Heroine X jacket with untied hair and without ribbons
... The hell?
I touch my face, sadly, it's an avatar box, not a mirror, I then bring my hair to the front, which greets me with its pink color
It's definitely pink... Why him... No, I know why, but still... Never imagine I'll become Astolfo...
Firstly, it's Astolfo, a man that wears cute clothes because he wants to, second, it's Astolfo, third, it's Astolfo, meaning I could troll people and laugh all I want and it probably won't even be out of character for him, and he's a "side" character enough for me to be comfortable to be as
"Aaaaah~... Hell yes~ I sound just like him, Wahahahahaha!"
I'mma confused the hell out of people hehehehehe!
Done checking, I check the tag on the shop, weapon, armor, light element, junk, item, and such, as I'm checking out the item, one of them caught my eyes
... Name change card?
Huh... Kinda just skip it over so, what's up with this title... Let's see...
"Huh... I guess that's nice? Dunno, I can imagine some other people not wanting to change their name... Not me though!"
I press the buy button and press yes, with that the card appears in front of me and the price of the card in the shop changes into 1,000
[Title effect of Drifter has been removed!]
Expensive! And it will become even more expensive if I have any kind of feat!
With that, a yellow card appear in front of me with blue light, it just floats there until I took a hold of the card that is now in my hand...
"How do I use it?"
As the thought come to my mind, the card suddenly lets out a golden glow as it disappears, and in its place, is a gold scroll with a black brush
"Hmm, alright, don't mess this naming up me, the last thing I want is to misspell my new name"
With that in mind, I first draw my name of Astolfo on my hand to make sure I got the letters right, after I'm sure that it is, I draw it on the scroll
After I'm finished, I place the brush back to the side, touching the scroll, at that moment, the scroll disappears by burning up, and I can feel my body heating up in a comfy warmth
Ahh... Hm... That was nice...
From there, I check my stats and see that my name has truly been chance into Astolfo
New life, new me! Bye-bye Theo, hello Astolfo! Wahahahahahaha!!
Haha... Haha...
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... I missed pop already...
It was just the two of us, with my little brother, sister, and mom leaving early from the world, the two of us could do nothing but mourn, with dad distracting himself with his TV shows and job, and me with my school and games... But... We're always together, and I always consulted him and hugged him... Now that he's all alone... ...
... I need to go back... ... If not, then bring him here... I... Can't leave him alone...
Every day, he would be depressed, only lighting up when he remember and see, that I'm there for him, I couldn't leave him alone, not even for one day, because just like how he's scared that he'll lose me too, I'm also scared that I'll lose him in more than one way...
What am I? His wife? Haha... Ha......
I look toward the dungeon core, then toward my pink hair
... My personality really does mirror my mom, huh?...
I then slapped my cheeks on both sides as I resolve myself
Alright, first thing first, find a way to generate dungeon currency, then a way to bring him here, well, bringing him here is the most logically easier solution, next is... Right, defense and stuff... What kind of dungeon do I want mine to be?...
I look around the build menu, currently, I only have 3 rooms, 2 passages, and the core room, I could expand the passage to turn it into a normal room or turn it into a hallway, but why should I? The narrow passage is perfect for Razor flower and mon that use charge attacks with a shield, not to mention that with no doorways, I could pair up a long-range attacker with the Razor Flower
Instead, I build another room behind the core room and move the core into it, turning it into a core room
[Room created! {-50}]
Ouch, but it'll be a worthy investment
With that, I turn the old core room into a mana generator room that cost 40 points, then I spent the rest of the points on fused Razor flowers
I summon one Razor Flower into my hand, what appears on my hand is a pink flower just like in the scroll, except that there are 8 petals around it instead of 4, and 4 petals are going upwards making it look like a crown instead of none, it is the size of my hand, which is pretty big,
It didn't attack me, instead, it kinda feels like... It's happy? Like, it's spinning its petals in a playful manner, and bopping its body up and down
"... Cute..."
After a few hours (yes, I like the little flower too much, it's too cute) I deployed them all to the very front of the passage
"Better stacked them up together for now, they're obviously easy to dodge, but they'll at least be harder to dodge when near each other and keep out the like of goblin if not just straight up shredded them into swish cheese"
And within time, these two passages going to be filled with them, all of which could only do little damage, but if I fused them all up...
"Hehehe~ I can't wait, what kind of effect will it get at the next fuse I wonder~~?"
As I got nothing else to do and was afraid of getting out of my flower cave, I decided to just lay down and relax for the day~