The soil was damp and moist beneath my outstretched fingers. Pain thudded in my knees and now-sensitive palms and the wetness of the dirt soaked through my clothes.

However, what slowly drew my attention in the most, was that my readjusting eyes couldn't help by feel a strange sense of wrongness as they settled on my hands.

I'd never been thin per say, but I was athletic and toned from years of sports. My hands were, likewise, always lithe and strong--though the knuckles were scarred from bleeding in a pair of boxing gloves after long days in the gym.

Those scars were now missing from my knuckles and, as my vision got used to the strange purple-red hue of the strange night air all around me, I saw that my skin was an odd and pale, cream color.

I frowned and I felt my ears twitch. I felt the motion travel from the base of the sensory organs all the way to the edges, but both ears felt much longer and wider than they should've been.

With curiosity, I sat up and placed my odd looking hands onto my ears.

I felt my mouth slowly drop open. My ears were almost... elf-like.

What the fuck was going on?

[You have entered a dungeon well above your level. Extra XP, skill progression, and loot will be granted for every victory you claim.]

[A new quest has been added to your journal.]

[Quest Name: The Huntmaster's World.]

[Quest Conditions: Survive the world dungeon.]

[Time Limit: N/A.]

[Rewards: 1 Perk/Skill + 1 Item (Rarity based on performance).]

My mind drifted back to the weird series of events that had led me here.

These notifications almost seemed like something out of a video game?

I'd played a few MMOs in my very, very sparse free time, but I'd be lying if I said I was an expert.

I was shocked, confused, and honestly? Not just a little scared.

Still, one thing I'd never been was complacent; I'd always faced the world head on, I didn't know any other way to live, or rather: I didn't want to go back to living any other way.

I climbed to my feet. Thankfully, other than a light sense of incongruity with my new body, I no longer felt drunk or unstable upon my own two legs.

So I was in a dungeon. That much was self explanatory based on what I'd already gathered.

I was, as far as I could guess based on all the previous notifications, no longer on earth and... my lips curled into a frown, probably no longer human if the implications of reincarnation meant what I thought it did.

At least I still felt mostly humanoid, bonus points for that, though I was more than a bit worried what I might look like now. Vanity wasn't something I tried to let rule me, but I really hated not looking good by my own standards.

Maybe I could find a mirror somewhere... but, looking around to the various multicolored and dark-barked trees, I wasn't so sure about that--or that I wanted to for that matter. Huge ears aside, just how drastic would my transformation prove to be?

Still, one thing at a time.

I apparently had a quest. Which probably meant I had a quest log?

The previous notifications had already disappeared from my sight, but I figured there had to be a way to bring them back up.

"Quest log," I said aloud; thankfully, I noticed that my voice was mostly my own, though there was a new, certain sing-song like quality to it as well.

[Current Quests]

[1. The Ashen World.]

The slightly different textbox than before spilled out before me. I figured I could likely regain access to the complete quest description if I wanted to, but I wasn't altogether too concerned with that; I'd already read it all over once.

Character Sheet, I thought with an intent to signal whatever new power controlled this strange System.

[Clarissa Ardent, Level 1]

Health: 20 (3 r/pm)

Mana: 50 (3 r/pm)

Stamina: 50 (3 r/pm)

[Stats]

Strength: 13

Endurance: 16

Agility: 18

Charisma: 14

Perception: 13

Intelligence: 17

Willpower: 20

[Skills]

One-Handed: 50

Acrobatics: 50

Grappling: 50

Unarmed-Fighting: 50

Writing: 50

[Spells Known]

N/A

[Abilities]

N/A

[Perks]

Elder Blood I [B]: As a member of the caliban race, you gain a bonus to mana regeneration that increases as your mana does.

[Inventory]

Simple Traveler's Garb

The information that seemed to summarize my new existence spilled out before me. It was good to know that I could access things in the strange menu without needing a verbal command.

So, it looked like this new System categorized my combat skills and general health?

I imagined there was a way to increase my strength as I went, which as an athlete I was no stranger to hard work, but without a baseline of comparison I had no way of knowing if my stats were even decent.

The Elder Blood perk also seemed to suggest that I was something called a caliban now.

Wasn't that the name of a villain in some play by Shakespeare?

I imagined the race name itself was just an approximation for what fit the English language; otherwise, the implications of an entire type of people being named after a piece of Earth fiction would be a bit much for me to sort out at the moment.

Still, it was a pretty sinister name regardless.

Then again, my eyes glanced up to the sky to see a crimson moon and carmine-lit cloud-coverage glowing menacingly down from above me.

This world didn't appear to be altogether... welcoming, so if calibans were from here maybe it made sense.

A rustling caused my large, long ears to perk up.

My heart jumped and my body fell back into an apprehensive stance.

I couldn't really see more than a few feet in any direction through the thick purple and orange foliage, but, as my apparently increased hearing was now trained on it, I could definitely make out the distinct sounds of continued movement in the bush.

Not long after the rustling, a disturbing and violent sniffing filled the air.

A foot that was gnarled, long, and grey-black stepped from the thick brambles. It wore no shoes and its feet were talon bearing and unmanicured.

Someone needed to get this thing a file or six.

I took a single step back.

Not that I was offering it a pedicure or anything.

I wasn't stupid, I would've run immediately, if I had any idea how fast the newcomer was and if it were aggressive. Still, judging by the large inhaling snorts that were filling the air in bursts, I was pretty sure it already had my scent.

A half-blinded and pointed face slowly came into my view. One of its eyes was gouged and violently scratched out, causing streams of mostly scabbed crimson to roll down its nose.

The thing looked like something between a fantasy orc and troll, but... yeah, it wasn't an exact approximation.

A status bar spread out to float above the creature's head.

[Skulker, Level 30]

The large beast revealed the rest of its gaunt, but still hulking when compared to my own, body with another step.

The skulker's one remaining eye turned to peer at me. An insidious smile stretched out over its battle mangled and ugly lips; the expression revealed the things unbrushed and pointed canines--of which, every single tooth was apparently one.

"Hungry... pain... food heal," it said in broken language and took a lumbering and swaying step towards me; the thing's body seemed to be struggling to support itself.

Our eyes met in a moment of sheer discomfort and I saw how violently and desperately the creature's black-colored orb shook in vibrations of injury-induced pain.

"I don't have any food," I said and took another step back.

The thing slowly inclined its head and its pained smile grew bigger.

"Yes..." the monster trailed its voice; its body tightened.

The only thing that saved me was that I had turned and cut right before it had even committed to moving.

I heard the creature's massive bulk crash into the trees behind me as I ran.

Years of cardio and roadwork served me well. I knew I could run at a really good pace for the better part of an hour and that I could even sprint for a while without giving up the ghost.

But, the thing was, I was already sprinting now. My instincts had given me no wiggle room when it came to making that decision. However... I could still hear the skulker right behind me.

"Food... food... FOOD!" the monster hollered and frothed as it ran behind my every step, allowing me to hear its massive claws as they tore up the ground beneath it.

"Hungry!" I heard the thing's voice grow louder.

To my disbelief, my new ears seemed to tell me almost exactly where the monster was. And what my ears, in a half second of dread realization, told me was that if I ran even a single step more that I'd die.

I jumped to the side.

A searing pain tore through my left arm as the skulker's long, misshapen and horrific talons ripped chunks of flesh from my right arm.

I screamed as the burning pain shot through me and as I tumbled to the ground.

I watched as the HP bar that had appeared at the top of my screen, mostly without me noticing, started to plummet almost to zero.

[Warning! Your health is approaching zero!]

The warm blood spilled from my arm. I could feel the warm, thick life fluid pumping out in spurts from where the skulker had torn me to the bone.

[Warning! You are bleeding. You will lose 2 HP every second.]

My head swam. What were the chances that I'd die twice in a row in the span of... like... an hour?

For what it was worth, I hadn't done a single point of damage to the skulker, but it looked about as bad off as me, except that it could somehow still move despites its grievous injuries.

The long, grey skinned and black furred creature lumbered over to sway overtop my dying body.

Now that it was close, and I couldn't even begin to think of gathering up the strength to stand, I had a pretty good chance to see the many, deep, deep gashes all across its body.

One wound, in particular, seemed to expose the beast's very heart. The blood organ beat and spurted a dark red ichor, despite being clearly exposed to the fresh air.

How the hell was this thing still standing? Was this the strength of a level 30 being?

My head swayed back. I could barely keep it up now. My long, black hair lingered against the ground.

The creature raised its claws and hefted back onto its hindlegs.

"Food," it whispered in glee and its tongue slowly slipped out in a stream of drool from its stinking, canine like maw.

My mind drifted back to the tunnel of light. Would I be going back there now?

I did want to see my real family again; it'd been a long time. My adoptive parents were great, but.

A gnawing feeling tugged in my gut.

The System had seemed pretty determined to keep me from joining the afterlife proper.

Why would it let me die so easily now, unless... was it going to do something else with whatever was left of me after I died?

What the fuck... I didn't like the sound of that.

A surge of anger lit in me.

The woman from before had mugged me. Even after that had worked out about as badly as possible, the System had kept me from reuniting with the family members that I missed so much. And now this monster was going to kill me for the SECOND time and send me to some unknown, and probably less than normal, destination?

No, I didn't think I was going to allow that.

My rage swelled down my arms. A strange, liquid sensation traveled from my heart to the fingers of my left hand.

The thing lunged. So did I.

[+1 Fire Manipulation.]

[+1 Spell Control.]

[+1 Spell Attack.]

[+1 Spell Efficiency.]

I didn't know how, I didn't care why, but all at once my anger crystalized into will and my will became action and desire made manifest into a wild fire.

I felt heat searing from my eyes as the Skulker gazed down at me in a halted shock. I saw the licks of flames fading off from my pupils as they billowed away and yet more replaced them.

My one, working arm was raised up in a thrust; my body had moved almost of its own accord the moment the monster had lunged. Flames licked down from my shoulder and swirled to form into a rough-looking blade of ethereal, bursting flame. A blade that was pierced directly through the already heavily injured skulker's heart.

[You have created a spell! Raging Blade [1st] added to spell list.]

[Congratulations! As the first soul from Earth to create a spell, you have earned a reward!]

[+50 Mana, +5 Intelligence, 10 Spell Control.]

[You have gained the Trailblazer [U] perk!]

The skulker above me struggled and frothed a cough of bright blood onto my face. The droplets splattered against my fair yet clammy skin, but the droplets that would've hit my flaming eyes were incinerated before making contact with them.

[Congratulations! As the first soul from Earth to create a 1st tier spell, you have earned a reward!]

[+50 Mana, +5 Intelligence.]

[You have gained the Raging Sorcery [R] perk!]

The monster above me contorted its face into an angry, yet weak, growl. As the thing's blade pierced heart spasmed, it raised a shaking claw and slowly fought to bring it towards my face.

[Warning! Your health is approaching zero!]

[Warning! You are bleeding. You will lose 2 HP every second.]

My anger rekindled at the notifications and the powerful beast's sheer refusal to die.

My eyes flared in rage again, but this time it was even brighter than before.

My one working hand burned against the flaming handle of my blade.

If its heart was determined to keep pumping even when sliced open then I'd solve the problem.

The flames of my eyes exploded in a flash of heat and my conjured sword went right along with it.

The blade became less a solid object and more a mass of uncontained fury.

My hands slipped from the magical weapon as it launched forward and drove the skulker back off of me and over to stagger onto its half-bent legs.

After piercing through to the beast's back, the blade roared with ignition and collapsed in on itself. The weapon flowed into the skulker's chest cavity.

The explosion that came next was deafening to my sensitive ears.

The skulker's already damaged heart was swathed in flames. For a few scant, impressive seconds the pierced, exposed, and damaged organ resisted, before finally crumbling into the blaze.

The light in my eyes died down.

The blue bar that represented my mana fell entirely to zero.

The beast, however, finally swayed and then crumpled. Its body remained intact and the fur and skin around its gashed open chest was only slightly singed.

Its heart, however, was at last blackened and still.

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 2.]

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 3.]

[Congratulations you have reached Level 4.]

[Congratulations you have reached Level 5.]

The notifications continued to spill out many more times in front of my eyes.

My head fell back and I laughed as my health slowly crawled back up to full.

Funny. I'd barely done any damage to the monster's body, even despite literally causing a fucking explosion in its chest.

The skulker's already damaged heart was even still there to be seen in its body, though it was pretty burned and charred.

I would've had no chance if it hadn't already been on its last leg and, even then, if I had just laid back and given up... I would've been the things food.

[+1/50 Battle Healing I.]

[+1/50 Gloomhunter I.]

[+1/50 Incinerator I.]

New types of notifications continued to come as my gushing arm slowly mended itself.

I guess leveling up had its perks.

My eyes stared into the crimson sky.

How the hell was I going to survive this?