Matt was slightly anxious.

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  For one thing, it was quiet. Too quiet. Even before considering the fact that it was a dungeon.

  While in the desert he hadn’t run into any beasts or monsters, aside from the vulture, it was far from quiet. Between the howls, growls, skittering and the ambient sounds of the desert itself, of the sand moving and the wind blowing, there was always something. While it kept him focused and aware, it also had its own sense of calmness, a normalcy one came to expect. This dungeon, however, was eerily silent. The kind of silence where you knew it wasn’t natural, filling you with a feeling of wrongness.

  At its core, it was an open desert, yet there was no wind, no sand movement, no life. Even a desolate deadland would have crows cawing, but this felt unnerving. Not just unnerving, utterly chilling.

  When he realized he’d been out of commission for a week, he was alarmed, not by the passage of time, but by how careless he had been. He had done something dangerous, something he had no knowledge of, just out of curiosity and sheer stubbornness, and in the process left himself exposed in a dungeon. A dungeon he knew nothing about other than the one fact, that it was a dungeon, and a hallmark of any dungeon was danger.

  Looking at it objectively, being left for dead in the desert on an empty planet after being rejected from the tutorial was… freeing. While most would despair at the unfairness of it all, as panic and fear gripped their hearts, making them lose all hope and die needlessly because of it, he didn’t feel any of that. He felt… excited. As if something was calling to him, lighting up a spark inside of him.

  He had his moments of doubt and concern. Of not making it out of the desert, of not seeing his friends again, of not being good enough, but the thrill of it all drowned out the concern and silenced the doubt. It was as if he’d been shackled his entire life, by his family when he was under their control, by having to keep a low profile even after escaping their grasp, by a fiance that never cared for him, and by having to look over his shoulders at every turn.

  It had been four years, yet he still couldn’t shake the feeling that he never really escaped, that they had merely extended his leash, just a little, giving him the illusion of freedom. He had hoped it was simply him being paranoid, the doubt and fear ingrained into him after years of being their puppet, but he also knew more than anyone, that there was no running from that life, and people didn’t escape from the Ashfields.

  That was why the first feeling he had experienced after his meeting with Sal wasn’t fear or doubt, it was genuine joy. Joy at finally, for the first time in his life, being truly and completely free. And with that freedom came a lot of pent up desires. A desire to explore, to adventure, to be his own man, but most importantly, a desire to see if he could really make it on his own. The need to prove to himself that he was indeed capable, and not just a cog in the Ashfield family machine.

  He knew he had issues, he wasn’t that delusional, and while they didn’t hold him back, for the most part, they definitely made him want to take more risks, if for nothing more than to prove himself.

  He had to get a grip. He was still treating this whole system thing like a game, and while they did have their similarities, there were several glaring differences. The pain was real, the panic, the adrenaline, they were all real, and most importantly, death would also be real. He wasn’t going to live in fear of it, but he should stop treating it as if it weren’t real. Because it did exist, and in life, there was no reset button.

  Which brought him back to the dungeon, and the oddity he was experiencing.

  A dungeon typically had monsters, minibosses, some traps, maybe a puzzle here and there, and the dungeon’s climax, a boss fight.

  Any dungeon could function with at least 2 of these elements. You didn’t need all of them in a dungeon, neither did you expect it, but having none at all meant something was amiss, and amiss wasn’t good, especially after he had planned on being more careful, and putting his mind before his heart.

  He had been walking for a while now. At first he was thankful for the lack of monsters, it had spared him the danger when his body decided to take an impromptu one week vacation, but now he could only feel concern that something worse than monsters, traps, and puzzles was lurking around. Perhaps the entire dungeon was just a boss fight.

  No… it didn’t feel right. He was missing something. Something obvious.

  The scenery in the dungeon never changed, nothing seemed to get closer or further, which was reminiscent of the desert, meaning it wasn’t an issue on its own, but add in the fact that it was so quiet he could hear himself breathing, and that’s where the sense of wrongness came from. Like he was walking inside a picture where he was the only real element in it. Just like… “an illusion,” Matt muttered.

  The scene collapsed around Matt like shattering glass, breaking the illusion and revealing the place for what it truly was, a damp, dark, creepy, cobblestone room that couldn’t have been more than twenty feet across. There were four torches on the wall, two on each side, that illuminated the room just enough for him to spot the humanoid figure sitting cross-legged on an altar in the center of the room. He had a shaved head and purple skin, with powder blue patterns drawn across it. His eyes were closed, and there was a noticeable slit on his forehead that Matt assumed was a third eye of some sort. He had a simple cloth covering his lower half, and a straight wooden staff in front of him with three lines of the same powder blue color encircling one of its ends.

  He identified the unknown humanoid.

  Dune Desert Mentalist (level 12)

  Matt had yet to take a single step as he tried to assess the foe in front of him. It was safe to assume the mentalist wasn’t friendly, he was both part of the dungeon and had had him trapped in an illusion for god knows how long, but it was also his first encounter with a humanoid. While he didn’t want to make any assumptions that could end up biting him in the ass, he also didn’t want to be a moron who went around shouting ‘hello’ at every figure he came across.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Choosing the next best thing, he decided to carefully approach the ominous figure, to both get a closer look and have him within reach in case things went south.

  Three things happened in quick succession. Matt took a step forward, the mentalist’s third eye opened wide, and suddenly Matt found himself on his knees, in agonizing pain as endless screams echoed in his mind and ears, until he could hear no more.

  He was in a daze, unable to comprehend what had just happened as more and more warm blood made its way from his ears and onto his neck and shoulders. It had all happened in less than a second. Less than a second was all it took to bring him down to his knees, stunned, deafened, with the cause behind it all unbothered, unmoving, with his third eye a slit once more, like Matt was simply a bug he had crushed.

  Matt chuckled. It was a dry, humorless chuckle. One that he couldn’t hear, yet he still chuckled. Life sure has a way of putting you down, he thought to himself, slowly getting back up on his feet while trying to be as unassuming as possible. It was humbling, but also served as further proof of how insignificant he was.

  Refocusing on the mentalist, his first thought was to cast [Minor Heal], but he couldn’t risk it, the mentalist might react when a skill was cast, instead he ever so slowly pointed the scepter in his hand towards the mentalist and started charging it with mana. When there was no reaction from the mentalist, Matt increased the mana flow.

  After a few agonizing seconds where his head was still throbbing, he let the orb go.

  As the mana orb made its way towards the mentalist, all three of his eyes opened wide. He grabbed his staff and immediately started chanting.

  Purple light glowed around the staff as it started spinning in midair, preparing to intercept the incoming attack.

  A tense couple of seconds passed before an explosion rocked the place, as the mana orb collided with the mentalist’s staff.

  The mentalist seemed to struggle for a bit to hold off the mana orb and the subsequent explosion, but was otherwise unharmed. He tried to locate the source of the attack, but Matt was nowhere to be found.

  Matt had expected his initial attack to be blocked, and not wanting to waste the opportunity, he ducked and started running right after firing the orb, using it as a diversion as he made his way behind the mentalist while charging another orb.

  He fired it not too soon after and watched as the mentalist turned to intercept, but not fast enough, the orb hitting him square in the back.

  The mentalist immediately started chanting once more, but Matt knew better than to let him finish. He fired a hastily charged mana orb as he rushed towards the mentalist. The orb barely doing any damage but it was enough to stop his chanting.

  Matt reached the mentalist and threw a punch towards his face with all the might he could muster.

  The mentalist reacted in time by putting his staff between himself and Matt’s incoming fist, blocking it from hitting him directly, but the power and momentum behind it threw him off of the altar.

  Matt was surprised by how powerful the punch had been. The mentalist, on the other hand, showed no reaction, his milky white eyes remaining as lifeless as when Matt first saw them, with his face showing an abnormal lack of emotion.

  “Shit,” Matt muttered, rushing towards his downed opponent who was slowly getting back up on his feet. He fired another mana orb as he approached, trying to make use of the opening in any capacity. He had wanted to rattle the magic user with a physical attack to delay his chanting while simultaneously charging his own mana orb, before hitting him point blank. While the power behind the punch was a welcome surprise, it had derailed his plan, causing him to whiff his mana orb completely, but it was still an opening, one he had wanted to make use of, but wasn’t fast enough.

  The mentalist was on his feet for the very first time, his staff pointed towards Matt as it slowly emitted a reddish purple glow.

  Matt’s eyes widened in alarm, instantly firing the mana orb he had been charging.

  The mana orb made contact with the staff and, unexpectedly, just fizzled away.

  Matt reached the caster and put all his momentum into his closed left fist in an attempt to punch the mentalist off of his feet.

  The punch landed on the mentalist’s chin, but as it did, a shockwave erupted from the staff, separating the two and sending Matt flying into the stone altar.

  Matt tried to orient himself. His punch had landed, he felt it make contact, but he had also lost the exchange, as the mentalist was still on his feet with the staff pointed towards Matt once more.

  Matt’s response was to charge another mana orb, but this time not towards the mentalist, but the ceiling. He let the orb go a second later. It was a hastily charged one, but it should be enough.

  The orb collided with the ceiling, exploding but leaving it otherwise unblemished.

  The mentalist instantly shifted his attention upwards, his staff shining with a reddish purple glow once more, the reaction confirming Matt’s suspicion that the caster was indeed blind.

  Matt slowly got up to his feet while charging another mana orb, this time aimed at the wall behind the purple caster. It was time to make his move.

  A loud explosion echoed from behind the mentalist, causing him to turn around, ready to respond.

  Matt rushed the mentalist, not letting the opportunity go to waste as he tackled him to the ground.

  Making use of the opening, he pummeled the back of the caster’s head with punch after punch while yelling at the top of his lungs, “Die you stupid barney looking piece of shit. Die!” the entire time, not stopping even after his notification icon had started blinking.It wasn’t anger he was letting out, but frustration. Frustration at his own inadequacy, his powerlessness, his situation. It wasn’t much, but every bit helped.

  It took him a few more punches before he finally stopped, at which point he slumped onto his back on the hard stone floor, arms wide open, breathing heavily, the fight taking way more out of him than he expected. The fact that it was the first and supposedly the easiest fight in the dungeon wasn’t lost on him. It was a stark reminder that right now, he was a powerless nobody. The fight with the vulture had given him a false sense of power, but this fight was a much needed wake up call, letting him know to never get complacent or let his guard down, things might work out once or twice, but they could also turn disastrous in the blink of an eye.

  A few minutes passed as he attempted to get his breathing and emotions under control, throwing in a [Minor Heal] here and there. His ears had popped and hearing returned after the second cast, so that was a relief. However, his heart was still hammering in his chest, prompting him to continue being a starfish for a while longer.

  With nothing else to do, he took a deep breath and opened the new notifications.

  You have defeated Dune Desert Mentalist (level 12)

  Level up!

  You are now level 5

  Evolution requirements met.

  Class options available, please choose a class in order to proceed with your evolution to (Tier 9).

  Matt cast another [Minor Heal] and let out a toothy grin, “Guess it’s finally time to get this show on the road.”