[First Floor of the Demonic Ruins: "Beginning of the Ruins".]

[Lives loss rate: 150]

Stark looked around himself, calmly taking in his surroundings.

He had already been through this place in his past life, though the farthest he ever got was the fourth floor.

The fifth? He had never seen it. Neither had 99.9% of all other players.

Those who somehow managed to teleport there by defeating the boss of the [Fourth Floor] didn't last long.

They were slaughtered almost immediately, unable to even get a glimpse of the boss that ruled at the very bottom.

But this time… things would be different.

This time, Stark was planning to go all the way.

Ding!

[Special Quest related to this zone has been detected.]

---

[Special Quest: "Conquer the Demonic Ruins"]

[Description: Fulfill Olikar's wish, he has been betrayed by those at the bottom.]

[Reward: 5,000 Lives and ???]

---

Some quests in [Eternal Soul] came with [Failure Conditions].

Those were nasty, once you failed, the quest disappeared forever.

But this one didn't have any.

That meant Stark could try again and again, as long as he survived.

All he had to do was clear all five floors and slay the final boss. If he succeeded, the quest was his.

He was especially curious about that "???" at the end of the reward line.

5,000 lives was already a lot, but that mystery prize was what truly caught his eye.

The air in the ruins was cold, damp, and heavy. Every breath felt like it carried a trace of ash.

The walls were covered with ancient carvings, demons, blood rituals, endless battles.

The floor beneath his boots was smooth, unnaturally polished stone, as if it had been carved by something precise.

Faint whispers echoed through the corridors.

They scratched at the back of his mind, but Stark paid them no attention.

Ahead stretched a long corridor, the faint crimson glow his only light.

Since this was only the first floor, Stark didn't expect too much.

He already knew the enemies here would all be level 30.

Stark went through the names of the floors in his head.

He knew four out of the five.

---

[First Floor: Beginning of the Ruins]

[Second Floor: The Descent]

[Third Floor: Demonic Presences]

[Fourth Floor: Demon's Nest]

[Fifth Floor: ???]

---

The fifth floor's name remained a mystery.

He never reached it in his past life, and neither did almost anyone else.

The game had kept it hidden, and only rumors surrounded what it truly contained.

But for the first three floors? Stark knew exactly what was waiting.

Even the fourth, though he never cleared it, he had seen enough to know what kind of monsters lurked there.

The [First Floor] was hard for anybody unprepared.

But just like before, it was mainly a way for [Eternal Soul] to introduce how these types of zones worked.

Meaning... that it would be a piece of cake for Stark!

He moved forward into another hall.

That was when the first monsters appeared, two distinct types.

---

[Demonic Goblins (Level 30)]

[Rank: Uncommon]

[HP: 300,000]

---

[Demonic Skeleton (Level 30)]

[Rank: Rare]

[HP: 330,000]

---

These were the most basic monsters of the [Demonic Ruins], and easily the weakest.

The goblins here were tougher than the [Calamity Goblins] he'd fought before, their bodies leaner and muscles knotted with crimson cracks.

The skeletons, on the other hand, radiated eerie energy.

Their bones weren't clean white but stained black, split with glowing red lines that pulsed faintly.

Either way…

Bind of Silk!

Threads of glowing silk shot from his staff, wrapping around the monsters instantly.

Their bodies locked up, unable to move, and a third of their health was shaved off in one strike.

-102,120! -102,120! -102,120!

Then—

Storm of Lightning! Zap!

Crimson lightning tore through the air, blasting through their bound bodies.

-245,088! -245,088! -245,088!

The monsters crumbled immediately, dead before they even understood what hit them.

Stark grinned.

If this was all the [First Floor] had to offer, then this entire section of the ruins would be his playground.

If he wanted to truly conquer this place, he had to be able to fight monsters at level 40.

The final boss waiting on the last floor would easily be that strong.

But for now? Level 30 mobs were nothing but free experience.

Ding!

---

[You have killed x4 "Demonic Goblins (Level 30)"]

[You have killed x3 "Demonic Skeletons (Level 30)"]

[You have gained 14,000 experience points.]

[You have gained 176 Lives!]

---

Not much, but it was something.

Most of the bonus came from [Hand of Avarice], snatching more lives from their corpses.

[Level: 30 (25,200/300,000)]

'Well, a few hundred more of these and I'll be fine,' he muttered to himself.

He hadn't expected to shoot all the way up to level 35 or 40 immediately after all, he knew it would take time.

He picked up the loot they dropped: a [Demonic Goblin Butcher Knife (Rare)] and a [Demonic Bone (Rare)].

Not the best, but it was free items.

Looking up, he noticed multiple corridors splitting in different directions.

It didn't matter for Stark though, as long as he kept going, he'd find the exit sooner or later.

He picked one path at random and moved on.

Monsters appeared again almost immediately, blocking his way.

"Heh."

Another spell flew out of his hands, obliterating them in seconds.

EXP and lives trickled in, but what he wanted most was to push deeper.

…

Thirty minutes passed.

Every monster Stark encountered was annihilated.

At some point, even the goblins and skeletons started to hesitate when they saw him.

They growled, but instead of charging forward, they sometimes turned to run.

Of course, Stark never let them escape.

It was ironic.

Mages were supposed to be weak up close. That was their biggest weakness.

Monsters, NPCs, even other players loved closing in on mages.

Once you were in their face, a mage's chances of survival dropped drastically.

But Stark? The closer anything got, the faster it died.

He was the kind of mage that nobody wanted to fight head-on.

Approaching him was a death sentence!

He hadn't encountered any boss on this floor. But the monsters he faced were varied.

Each one fell without managing to touch him.

Ding!

[You have gained 2 Evolution Points!]

[You have gained 2,801 Lives!]

Ding!

[Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level 31!]

[You have gained 5 points in all of your attributes, and 5 free points to distribute.]

'Good.'

He adjusted his stats quickly before moving forward.

And eventually, he found it. The exit.

At the end of a long corridor stood a massive crimson gate.

It loomed over him, ten meters tall, with runes glowing faintly along its surface.

The gate stood wide open, a thick veil of darkness waiting just beyond.

Unlike the later floors, the [First Floor] didn't have a boss.

It was just the introduction, meant to teach players how zones like this worked.

But starting from the second floor, things would get harder.

Stark stepped forward without hesitation.

Fwish!

Darkness swallowed him once again.

When he reappeared, he stood in a new chamber.

The whispers he had heard faintly before were louder here, almost like dozens of voices murmuring directly in his ears.

Ding!

[You have entered the Second Floor of the Demonic Ruins: "The Descent"]

[Lives loss rate: 250.]

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