Chapter 194

  Jake walked down the dark tuhere was no light to speak of—it was total darkness. Normally, it wouldn’t pose much of a problem for him, as he had nearly perfeight vision. However, the darkness iunnel seemed to possess a supernatural quality, hindering his ability to see deeply into it. Because of that, he moved slowly, staring ily into the void ahead, uo see anything more than a few feet in front of him.

  He tio walk down the corridor until he reached the end. There, he saening with steps leading deeper down. He began to desd them, moving in a slow and careful manner. His vision was limited to a few feet, so he had no idea where the stairs were leading.

  It was a surprisingly long dest, likely taking him a full mio reach the bottom of the steps, where he found himself i another dark tunnel. With no alternative routes, he pressed onward through the corridor, w where this path would ultimately lead him.

  trary to his expectations, this tunnel was much shorter than the previous one, and he soon reached its end. He slowed down as he approached the end of the corridor. The tuermi a wall, leaving him with no way to move further. fusion washed over him. What was he supposed to do ?

  His mental question was quickly answered as a magical portal materialized at the end of the corridor. It was human-sized and oval in shape, emitting a bluish light that illumihe first half of the tunnel. However, the portal didn’t reveal where it was leading, appearing as a solid blue glow.

  As Jake took a step closer to the portal, lines of text began to materialize in his mind.

  Analyzing pyer…

  Name: Jake Turner

  Css: Ex-Human Morphus (Evolution Stage 2)

  Level: 79

  Preparing rewards for the pyer. Please hold on. It may take a few moments.

  …

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  …

  …

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  Rewards have been geed. You may ehe Maze of Torment now. Good luck!

  [Dismiss] [View details]

  Jake couldn’t help but feel a wave of excitement wash over him. Even though the Skeleton Key had unlocked the dungeon door, he had been uain about whether he would be permitted to ehe actual dungeon. Even if access was grahere ossibility that he might not receive any rewards, as they could have been intended fur survivors. However, those doubts had just been dissipated. He had just received firmation that he not only could ehe dungeon but would also be eligible for rewards designed specifically for him. It was really great news.

  Eager to learn more about what to expect, he requested to see additional details. Immediately, new lines of text began to appear before him.

  >>> <>>

  The Maze of Torment

  Floors: 5

  Goal: plete each floor a the final boss.

  Rules:

  Navigate through each floor to locate the gateway that leads to the one. Each floor is maze-like and filled with different types of enemies. You are not required to defeat every enemy. Instead, your main objective is simply to find your way to the floor.

  Once you gain access to the floor, you’ll receive a reward specific to your css. After receiving a reward, you will have the option to either tio the floor or leave the dungeon.

  Each subsequent floor is more difficult tha. You ’t leave the dungeon once you e, but after finishing a floor, you choose to be teleported back to the outside world. Therefore, the only ways to exit the dungeon are by pletely finishing it or by choosing to leave after pleting a floor.

  Should you decide to leave the dungeon after pleting a specific floor, you will be teleported back to the outside world but will never be able to re-ehe dungeon. However, all the rewards you will have earned by that point will remain and be yours to keep.

  The dungeon is desigo be pleted only once. If you mao finish it, you will not be able to ehis particur dungeon ever again. Additionally, once you ehe portal leading into the dungeon, it will disappear, making the dungeon unavaible to anyone else. If you plete the dungeoher fully or partially—aeleported back to the outside world, the portal will not reappear for you or anyone else, even though the dungeon door will remain open. Every dungeon alloyer just a siempt to plete it.

  While dungeo outside the rest of the world, death in a dungeon is just as perma.

  There are five floors in this dungeon, with the first four being maze-like levels and the final one being an open arena where you will have to defeat the final boss.

  As an ex-human morphus, you will be able to gain new abilities for pleting each of the floors of the dungeon: an Epic ability for each of the first four floors and a Legendary ability for defeating the final boss on the fifth floor. The reward abilities are specific to the dungeon, refleg its uheme. You ot obtain these abilities anywhere else.

  This dungeon has no time limit. Each of the first four floors be pleted in about sixty minutes. However, as the difficulty increases with each floor, it may take progressively loo finish a new floor pared to the one before it.

  The abilities earned during the dungeon crawl be used throughout the remainder of your time in the dungeon.

  To ehe dungeon, you simply o step into the portal. That’s it. Good luck!>>> <<<

  Jake carefully read the information and then thought it over for a moment. A couple of details caught his attention more than the rest.

  First, the rewards for pleting each floor of the dungeon were abilities—four Epies and one Legendary one. New abilities, especially ones of such rarity, were always a good thing. Additionally, the abilities he could earhemed specifically to this dungeon and couldn’t be obtained anywhere else. He was genuinely intrigued about what kind of abilities he could acquire in the Maze of Torment.

  Sed, once he ehe dungeoing wouldn’t be easy. He could only leave the dungeon after finishing his current floor or by pletely clearing it. The fact that he would have the option to exit after pleting each floor likely indicated that the dungeon was quite difficult and dangerous, with difficulty ramping up on every subsequent level.

  At least, the dungeon wasn’t time-sensitive, so he would have as long as he o finish a floor. He couldn’t help but wonder how much mana it would take to plete the dungeon and if there would be mana ables avaible to replenish his reserves. Based on his past experiences, he khat he could burn through his maremely quickly in tough and prolonged battles. He currently had over 164,000 MP at his disposal, which was nearly the maximum amount of mana he could hold at once. He certainly hoped it would be enough to finish the dungeon or that there would be mana ables he could use to restore his mana. He definitely didn’t want to leave the dungeon without fully clearing it and earning all the rewards it had to offer.

  If he chose to leave the dungeon after pleting a floor, he wouldn’t be able to return to finish the remaining levels. Additionally, once he had ehe dungeon, no one else would ever be able to gain access because, as it turned out, all dungeons created by the System were one-use only. So he now uood why Miller, one of Los Demonios’ leaders, had been so keen on obtaining a Skeleton Key and keeping it secure afterward.

  Miller had been aware that he could earn incredible rewards in the duhat wouldn’t be obtaiherwise. Jake assumed that survivors were granted useful, rare resources in dungeons along with powerful ons. This was likely why Miller didn’t want regur survivors to get their hands on them and potentially use them against the gang.

  Survivors could earoo open dungeons by pletiremely difficult missions, and Miller had made sure that he obtained a Skeleton Key before the area upgrade took pce when all the mutants were retively weak. Had he initiated the mission after the upgrade, it would have been much harder for him and his team to secure the Skeleton Key.

  However, even though Miller had obtaihe Skeleton Key before the area upgrade, he po use it to open the dungeon door only after the upgrade to secure higher-level rewards for its pletion. But his meticulously crafted pn fell apart when Jake seized the hard-earned Skeleton Key from the very heart of his base.

  Jake pushed the system text from his mind and gave the magical portal before him one more look. He steeled himself for whatever might be waiting ihen stepped through the portal, which promptly flickered out of existence behind him.