The next day, in the morning.
Klay was lying on his back, peacefully sleeping on the ground with drool at the side of his mouth.
Unaware of the changes, Klay, who had tragically died in his bed a while ago, was magically transported to this place, which seemed like a big circular cave that could easily fit hundreds of people inside.
Other than Klay, who was still asleep and oblivious to the matter, no signs of life or any living being could be seen in the vicinity. It was so quiet that only Klay's snoring echoed throughout the cave.
An hour had passed since then...
The tranquility and peace of the entire cave were suddenly broken by a mysterious and robotic voice whose source was unknown.
[System initiating...]
[System scanning...]
[Checking errors and bugs...]
[Host verifying...]
The voice sounded throughout the cave, reaching Klay's ears.
At this moment...
Klay, who was still sleeping on the side, finally had a reaction.
He subconsciously opened his eyes and was met by a bright light that made him squint.
"...Is it morning already?" Klay said without thinking as he tried to wipe the drool from the side of his mouth.
Wait, morning?
A realization dawned on him. He suddenly froze.
"I'm f*cked! I actually forgot about class!" Klay exclaimed.
He quickly raised his hands, ready to launch himself up when an inexplicable feeling arose in his mind.
As soon as his hands touched the ground to push himself up, a different sensation was felt underneath his palms. It was a cold, hard, and rocky sensation, not the usual softness and comfort of his bed that he was used to.
Huh?
The moment he lifted his head and his vision began to clear, he realized this wasn't his familiar room. Not even close!
He was shocked and stunned by the scene before him.
His own bed, personal computer, and even his complete One Geese action figures that he painstakingly bought from his saved-up allowance were nowhere to be found.
However, in contrast to his supposed expression of worry and concern, Klay's entire countenance was one of surprise at this moment, with a hint of awe reflected in his eyes.
'Am I dreaming right now?' Klay thought to himself.
He immediately tried to slap his face but was only left with a burning sensation and red marks on the side of his cheeks. He did not have any more doubts as the lingering pain told him otherwise.
Klay slowly stood up on his feet as he scanned the area with his jaw open and wide eyes.
At this moment, as far as his eyes could see, the reason he was so shocked was because all around him were pieces of light-blue crystals of various sizes scattered and embedded on each side of the walls, as if the entire cave was loaded with crystals. Each of the crystals was glistening and sparkling with exquisite brilliance, filling the entire cave with light.
It was truly a captivating sight to behold for someone seeing this for the first time, especially for him.
Even the ceilings and ground had crystals stuck on them.
The thing that made Klay think earlier that it was the sun shining through his window was actually these crystals!
Glancing at them, he suddenly felt a familiarity with these crystals as if he had seen them somewhere but could not remember.
Klay moved his feet and started wandering around the cave.
The appearance of crystals embedded in the wall piqued his curiosity, and he tried touching one of them.
"It's cold yet warm at the same time..." he said under his breath, mesmerized by the smooth feeling.
Wait a minute!
He quickly retracted his hands and said, "I am forgetting something important here."
"Where am I by the way? How did I even end up here?" Klay knitted his eyebrows as he pondered. He quickly glanced around the area.
'I appear to be in a cave, but how did I get through here?' He thought.
"Did I sleepwalk all the way here?" He shook his head. "Definitely not the case," he added.
Then, all of a sudden, a thought came to him, making goosebumps spread all over his body.
"...Did I perhaps get kidnapped?" he whispered under his breath as his face went pale.
How did I not think of this immediately!
Klay had not given his predicament much attention because he was fascinated with the crystals earlier.
He just now understood the grave situation he was in. He started to feel anxious about his surroundings.
"But I clearly remembered that I had locked the door!" Klay exclaimed.
His memories were still intact. He still remembered what had happened before he went to bed.
Klay immediately felt fear in his heart just thinking about what would happen to him now.
Several lines of thought started to run through Klay's mind like wild. One after the other was worse than the last.
Will my organs be taken away? Will I be used as a guinea pig for an experiment? Or was I abducted by some sort of aliens and later on will be forced by their king to breed with their race...?
No, no, no, wait.
I need to calm down.
Klay cleared his mind and took a couple of deep breaths.
After a while, he composed himself. "There's no point in panicking," he muttered.
He began thinking about how he would escape this place.
Once again, he walked around, this time on high alert, carefully inspecting every object he passed as he sank deeper into thought.
If the kidnappers were able to put me here inside and left...
Then the entrance surely should be hidden somewhere around this cave!
In the blink of an eye, Klay immediately scrambled into action. He wasted no time as he searched every nook and cranny of the cave. He started tapping and knocking on every meter of the walls, hoping to find a wall different from the others by the sound it produced. He also did not miss checking the ground floor. They might have built a tunnel underground.
As he was busy finding the entrance where he believed the kidnappers used a secret passage, the voice from earlier suddenly sounded again throughout the cave.
[Scanning complete. No issues found.]
[Beginning to integrate...]
Klay was taken aback by the unexpected robotic voice. He came to a halt and tried to find where the source of the voice came from.
"W...was the guy who abducted me finally making his move now?" Klay's face turned pale.
Rumble!
A slight rumble could suddenly be felt inside the cave and was also felt by Klay.
"What was it this time?" Klay face was gloomy.
[The system has successfully integrated.]
[Dungeon Trial is now commencing.]
Two separate messages appeared one after the other above his head as the robotic voice announced it.
At the same time, a screen panel appeared in front of Klay with his information on it.
[Name: Klay]
[Age: 20]
[Cultivation Level: N/A]
[Skills/Abilities: N/A]
[Dungeon Tier: 0]
[Life Expectancy: 7 days]
[Owned Items: 1 gold box]
[Information is currently being uploaded...]
Klay was startled by the sudden appearance of the screen panel that looked like a type of hologram similar to a game that popped up right in front of his face.
"This...
"What the heck is even happening!?"
Before his questions could be answered...
At this moment, Klay was caught off guard when he suddenly felt something enter from the top of his head, making him contort in pain.
"Aghh!" he cried in pain.