The Higher Beings, that is what the deities are called. They are seemingly all powerful and omnipotent, they control various stratus of life like time, space, reality, dimension, and even gravity. There were 10 of them in all.

According to my benefactor (The manual actually) these deities were further split into Lower and Higher Deities. He said they were responsible for all these happenings on earth, but an insignificant piece of information floated around my mind. Wasn’t he a deity as well and a higher one at that, didn’t it mean I had made a contract with someone who was responsible for all my troubles, especially the fact that I had been magically transported 12 FUCKING YEARS INTO THE FUTURE!

Yeah, seems too crazy to be true but if what Will said was true then it means that I had missed an whole decade of my life, but my body moves and feels the same as when I died, maybe the higher beings felt sorry for me and transported me to the future in the same form as when I died, but then what was all that ‘Character Selection’ shit?

My mind was whirling around so much that I didn’t realise Will was practically yelling my name.

“Mr. Carlsen are you alright?” He asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. He was genuinely worried about me, I could see it in his eyes, but the shock of this recent realisation had left me numb, I had no idea why I was thinking about such useless things, I felt a panic attack coming on, I used to frequently suffer from these especially after my mother’s death, those were some dark times although I guess I had more friends then but slowly they all dwindled away. I guess it was mostly my fault, I had not even made an effort to act friendly even when they had tried to reach out to me and I did not want to commit the same mistake again.

I attempted to smile (and failed) at Will, “I am alright Will, thanks for your concern”, I tried to stand back up but my knees buckled yet again.

“I think you should probably rest for a while, old man”, he smirked. It surprised me how easily he switched from acting like a nice kid, back to his impudent self. I shook my head and smiled to myself and thought to myself ‘kids these days’ then I cringed at my own thought, I was not old goddamit.

It did not particularly surprise me however, because I was almost 20 years older than he was but I was still in my 20s approaching the prime of my life. I once again tried to stand up, this time I was able to do it, it seemed my body was working just fine. Too fine it seemed, it was bordering on being perfect, I don't know what the Higher Deity had done with my body, but man it definitely was an upgrade.

"Alright then old man now you seem pretty fine, so I will be on my way", Will said and turned to leave.

"Hey, wait a minute!" I beckoned him, he looked at me with a half irritated expression on his face.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Well can't you see the sort of condition I am in right now, help me will you?" I retorted. Truth was I had no idea what worked in this world anymore and honestly I was in no hurry to find out.

"What am I supposed to do old man? I barely scrap through myself how can I support you as well?" He asked and frankly he had a point there.

"Then at least tell me some way to make money quickly" I asked him.

He tried to think then spoke in an uncertain tone, "There is way but... its a bit dangerous".

"Doesn't matter I will do it", I replied in an overtly eager tone.

"Dungeons", he said.

The confusion on my face was pretty much apparent to him.

"They are a sort of side quests, easier to clear as compared to the main events, but offer less rarer rewards although they are precious. But higher ranked fighters leave them alone, they consider it beneath their dignity to attempt to clear a dungeon, maybe you can try your hand at it." he said, but he sounded unsure.

"And what's the catch?" I asked tentatively.

"There's a risk factor, usually dungeons are attempted in parties of 5 but there are no restrictions on participating alone". he said, then he noticed me grinning at him, "What?" he asked.

"Who said I was attempting alone?" I smiled.

"Do you have someone else with you?" He looked around half expecting someone to jump up from between the bodies littered on the ground.

"Yeah I've got someone", I said.

"Who?"

I grabbed him by his hand, "You are coming with me".

"What the hell, no way man!" He tried to pull himself free from my grip.

"I will give you 50% of the loot", I said, his grip slackened.

He thought about it for 2 seconds and said, "Make it 75% and I am in".

"Now it is down to 40%", I said.

"What no! That's even less, ok fine I will do it for 50% now let go of my hand". I complied and let him go.

He looked at me like I was some madman, "You are one crazy motherfucker you know that", he said.

"Thanks for the compliment, now show me one of this dungeons".

Will gestured to follow him and lead me through some alleyways to something that seemed like a portal.

"This is it?" I asked.

"Yeah", he replied.

"Okay let's go in then", I unsheathed my sword and waited for Will.

"Is it really necessary for me to come?" he tried to feebly protest.

"Come on now, think of the 50% loot you will be getting", I coaxed him and lead him into the portal.

I regret that decision till today because one of us was not going to come out alive from that dungeon.