I couldn't understand what I was seeing. Maybe it was due to the blood loss or the shock from falling from great heights, but it took me a while to comprehend what lay in front of me. On the ground was a green marble-looking thing, shining in a greenish light. 

Is this a treasure?

 The thought made me chuckle.

It was a well-known fact that in the wild and dungeons, one would find things with magical powers, some capable of changing someone's destiny.

 "How cruel... to put something like this before a dying man," 

I forced the words out, and my legs gave way, causing me to fall face forward. "

Fuck."

With my remaining strength, I looked at the marble.

 "I will not die. I will... take it... and live." 

There was no point in taking it now. Call it greed or foolishness, but I wanted it. Even if someone else takes it later, they will have to pry it from my cold hands.

Shaking uncontrollably, my right hand moved almost of its own accord, reaching out to touch the marble. 

It was hot but not burning, a pleasant warmth enveloping my body and almost pushing the pain away. As I clenched onto the jewelry, the heat increased, and the glow started spreading to my arm. "Hot, hot, hot!"

 I wanted to let go, but the marble didn't allow me to, as the green light, like flames, enveloped me.

[Host detected]

[Analyzing]

[Race:  human(non-awakened). Gender: Male. Age: 24]

[Alert fatal wounds and blood loss detected]

[Life expectancy if not treated: 4 hours.]

[Disconnecting from host]

[Error] 

[Unable to disconnect from host]

[...]

[Commencing rewriting of the host as an awakened]

[Forced body modification]

[Forceful man circuit creation]

[Due to host origin, the lowest mana circuits will be installed]

[Analyzing host mentality]

[Choosing suitable class tree based on host mentality]

[No existing classes are suitable] 

[Processing….]

[Class tree in old files found] 

[Updating old class tree.] 

[Update complete]

[Class tree has been activated.] 

[Starting class selected] 

[Completing host reconstruction]

[Host will receive starter class: [Awakened]]

[Sending notification about new class tree through system] 

***** 

I screamed and screamed as my body was enveloped in green light and horrible pain. It felt like someone was taking me apart, piece by piece, only to put me back together. In some places, like my chest and eyes, the pain was even more intense, and I felt something embedding itself into my flesh.

"STOP THIS! STOPPP!" I cried out.

I don't know how long it lasted, but eventually, I found myself on the ground, no longer glowing, as the marble slowly turned to dust before my eyes.

 "Uuuuggggghhhhh."

Slowly, I got up and dusted off my clothes, only then realizing that my wounds were gone. Even my breathing had returned to normal, indicating that my ribs were fine. If not for the blood and tears on my clothes, I could have thought it was all a hallucination. 

Was this some sort of one-use healing item like those knights use? Damn, they must be built differently to withstand this sort of pain.

After stretching to ensure my body was functioning properly, I looked around. I had no idea where I was or how deep underground I was.

 "I need to get out of here-"

As I walked, I started to realize something strange. 

The darkness that always filled the tunnels was gone, and I could see perfectly, although everything was in a grayish hue. I could see the rats, the bricks, even the bones lying in the murky waters. I could see them all.

"What happened to me? Is this some sort of side effect or something?" 

I leaned closer to a wall and examined it. I could see the dust on it, its rough edges, and even the moss growing on it. And there was something else.

It was faint, but there was a line of light. As I focused more and more on it, the line became somewhat clearer, only for me to realize that there were branches. The line branched out, moving to the ground and the ceiling, everywhere. It made me take a few steps back to understand what I was witnessing.

"Am I going insane? How can this be?" 

I wondered, feeling an ache in my eyes, forcing me to close them for a moment. When I opened them again, I couldn't see the lines anymore.

".. Let's not think about this. No reason to think about it now." 

I took a deep breath and continued to move.

Not being familiar with where I was, I relied on my instincts, heading towards passages that seemed to ascend. If I heard something that seemed dangerous, I hid and waited for the noise to subside.

What was weird was the number of bones down here. They were all white, and some looked like they belonged to humans.

"...Hmmm?"

For a second, as I walked past a pile, I saw something. I leaned closer and discovered it was the hilt of a sword.

"Oh, nice."

I grabbed the hilt and pulled the weapon out.

"...Really?"

As I lifted the weapon, I saw the blade was broken in the middle, with some cracks running through it.

"...Well, it will be better than nothing."

I held onto the sword and kept walking.

As I went up the passageway, I saw something - pale skin, thin long limbs, stained with dried blood, and fingers ending in what looked like daggers.

I immediately knew what I was looking at: a ghoul. The reanimated corpse of someone who died down here, now killing others. But there was something else. Around it, I saw... people. No, not people. More like black shadows with round glowing white eyes, seemingly emanating from the monster's body, as if they were vapor.

"What the hell is that thing?"

Not liking how it looked, I started to take a few steps back.

Crack.

As I took my last step, I accidentally stepped on what looked to be a white bone.

"...Fuck my life."

The moment the crack was heard, the monster turned its ugly head to me. It was nothing more than a skull with a thin layer of white skin stretched over it, needle-like teeth sticking out from its mouth.

The monster let out a shriek when its milky white eye saw me and started to rush toward me.

Shit.

In desperation, I raised the sword.

Just in time, the claws of the monster collided with the sword, altering its trajectory away from my face.

"You fucker!"

I breathed in and kicked the beast away.

I saw it get staggered, as the ghost floating around seemed to be getting excited.

"I will not let you kill me!"

I breathed in and swung my sword.

The ghoul raised one of its arms to defend itself.

Slash!

Maybe because of the after-effect of the marble, I was able to easily cut the arm off, as if it were a dried-up branch. The problem was that, when I was about to swing again, I noticed that what little was left of my weapon became unusable, as pieces started to fall off it, leaving me with only the hilt.

"Damn it!"

I looked at the ghoul, only to see its claws ripping my already tattered clothes open at my chest. I screamed as the force sent me flying a few feet, making me land on the ground, near a pile of bones.

I looked down, seeing a pretty nasty-looking claw mark on my chest.

"Getting sick... Of bleeding."

Not even close to the pain I felt when I fell down, I quickly looked around. The ghoul, that ugly bastard, was busy licking the blood off its claws while the shadows kept looking at me as if they were expecting something.

Quickly, I grabbed the first thing that came to hand, which was a femur bone, and I ran at the ghoul.

"Die, you bastard!"

I will kill this thing! I do not care if it's stronger than me! I am going to kill it, and then I will kill the bastards who put me in this situation!

The ghoul looked at me and shrieked as it ran towards me as well, claws extended. When both of us were within arm's reach of each other, we attacked at the same time.

Its claws pierced my side, spilling blood. I, on the other hand, swung my weapon with all my force, hitting it right in the jaw. I wasn't sure, but I could swear I dislocated it.

Not stopping, not caring about the pain, I pushed the monster to the ground. And I continuously pummeled the monster’s head with my bone, caving its head in.

"Ha! Ha! And stay down!"

I got off the body of the monster and leaned against the wall, the pain from the wounds finally reaching me.

"I am done… I will never… come back down here. Never again."

I breathed in deeply and looked at the body. I could see that the shadowy things accumulated around its head, looking at the damage I have caused, then at me.

"What? You want a go?"

The shadowy things raised their stump-like arms up and slowly dissolved into nothingness. One of them, looking a little bigger than the others, moved away from the corpse to a side tunnel, then looked at me.

"Do you want me to follow you?"

The thing seemed to be a node.

Not having a better idea, I started walking, holding the bone tightly in my hands. The shadow led me through a series of tunnels, and when we reached the exit, it also disappeared into nothing.

"Finally!" I ran out.

As I finally stepped outside the server, I breathed a sigh of relief, only to scream in terror.

Everywhere I looked, there were shadowy things. Big or small, elongated or stubby, they moved on the streets, then when they all turned towards me, looking at me with their round white eyes. 

Not only that, but everything was gray - the water, the houses, even my hands.

"What the hell is happening?!"

*****

-Unknown Place-

 

"What is the meaning of this?!"

A man with a mustache threw a mug filled with coffee on the ground, his breathing ragged, as if he had run a marathon. The intern, who looked like they were about to pee themselves, read the data on their iPad.

"W-We received a reading… A new class tree appeared."

"Who awakened it?! Is it someone from a major guild!?"

"We don’t know. We just received the re-"

"GET OUT! NOW!"

The intern ran away quickly.

The man with the mustache, the guild leader of the Thunderbolts guild, sat behind his desk and quickly looked through the data on his computer.

"We need to find them before other guilds do."

In a world where classes and hunters were the staples of power, a new class tree could shake the balance under certain conditions. Not to mention, it's been 10 years since the latest class tree was discovered. He was sure that by tomorrow, all the news networks will hear about this, and the headlines will be talking about it.

"I will not be left behind. I will not let others get to them. Even if I have to start a war."

The guild leader looked at his screen on which a simple word was flashing in a purple pop-up window.

[New class tree discovered. Name: ‘UNKNOWN.’’]