Despite the creepy laughs resounding in the enclosed space, he regained his calm thanks to the last sentence.

He took a few deep breaths... sort of.

'Inhaling.'

'Exhaling.'

Calm like still water, an inexplicable awareness seized him. Mere words could not describe the feeling, but if he had to put a definition on it would be 'the will to survive.'

"Whoever you are... thank you," the Fallen said, "I will survive this shit hole and come back."

The Fallen stepped forward. Lifted the bar blocking the double door. Armed himself with it. Took a clumsy fighting stance and prepared for battle.

The door slammed open. A skeleton equipped with a shield came in, as the entrance was too narrow to fit more than one.

'Good, this reduces their numerical advantage.' the Fallen thought, surprised by his own composure.

It didn't even have the time to laugh that the Fallen was already upon him. He barbarically slammed the bar towards the skeleton's head. It tried to protect itself with its rusted shield, but it shattered under his strength and the improvised club made its way to the skeleton's skull. The skeleton fell head first on the floor and stopped moving.

Wush.

The soul entered the Fallen's bosom. Immediately after, another skeleton launched its spear forward. The tip grazed him as he awkwardly dodged to the side.

'Keep your concentration.' he advised himself.

Every fiber of his leg bones contracted, well kind of, and he dashed forward, and landed a vicious hit on the spear holder's side. It broke the poor bastard in half.

Animated with the ‘will to survive’, he bashed and smashed his way through every single enemies until nothing else but their shattered bones remained.

With no remaining skeletons in sight, he instinctively gasped for breath and sat down in one of the room's corners. The Fallen's fighting skills were amateurish at best, resulting in a pyrrhic victory. The only thing that made winning possible was the strategical advantage given by the narrowness of the door.

Pain spread through his body like a plague when he finally noticed his injuries.

His skull: cracked.

Rib bones: broken.

Left hand: shattered.

Apart from that, he also felt enormously fatigued. This was probably an issue that will resolve itself as his endurance level up. His break over, he tried investing the souls he has just collected in the basic stats.

Wush.

The beam of light appeared as usual and the stat window opened.

__________

Name: ???

Titles: Fallen, Interrogator.

Basic Stats:

- Strength Lv2 [Low-M]

- Endurance Lv1 [Lowest]

- Mana Lv0 [Nonexistent] (your mana suck)

- Agility Lv1 [Lowest]

Skills:

- Alive but dead Lv14 [Divine]

- Reaper of souls Lv10 [Pinnacle-L]

- Will to survive Lv 3 [Low-H]

Cause of previous death:

- Caught unprepared (LOL)

__________

He had learned a new skill. The Fallen felt delighted at the news.

"'Will to survive? Maybe it was the state I was in. Interesting. Let's not deviate from the main subject and boost my stats."

However, he didn't know how to level up his basic stats and kept staring at the altar for a while, like a clueless skeleton. Tired of weakness and desperate to grow in strength, he tried everything he could think of, no matter how absurd it seemed. After all, nobody was watching.

Pleading while kneeling.

"Please?"

Praying face down against the ground.

"My system in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Your altar comes, my status be done. Give me today my daily status improvement..."

Dancing, praising, singing, etc. Nothing worked.

In a last-ditch of effort, he tried to clean the altar to appeal to the system's good side, and when he touched it a new ethereal window popped out of nowhere.

Cling.

Yes or No?>

He jumped out of joy at the sight and pressed 'yes'.

__________

Basic stats:

- Strength Lv2 [Low-M] (0/100sp)

- Endurance Lv1 [Lowest] (0/50sp)

- Mana Lv0 [Inexistent] (0/25sp)

- Agility Lv1 [Lowest] (0/50sp)

Current sp: 11

__________

He had gained 11 sp from his previous fight. Such a puny amount disappointed him.

Sigh.

He stood back up, closing the interface, stretched up, and got ready for more actions but noticed something unusual. His wounds had healed, and the fatigue was gone.

"Did the altar heal me? I suppose it has its perks despite being an 'asstruscture.' Kakakaka!"

It could probably be called the lamest joke in the history of Sanctuaire, but he needed a way to take his mind out of the loneliness and confusion. No matter how lame the joke, it allowed him to keep his ideas straight despite having no memories and being summoned to a place filled with death.

Amidst his laughter, an idea came to him. Since the world reset every time he activated the altar...

He smirked, despite having no facial features.

***

"WAAAAH!"

BAM!

The last of the skeletons fell on the stone cold floor.

After his first victory, he had prayed at the altar and reset the floor countless times. Meaning the skeletons had been 'alive'. Meaning he could gain sp and train.

The result...

__________

Name: ???

Titles: Fallen, Interrogator, Bone shatterer

Basic Stats:

- Strength Lv4 [Medium-L]

- Endurance Lv3 [Low-H]

- Mana Lv0 [Nonexistent] (your mana suck)

- Agility Lv2 [Low-M]

Skills:

- Alive but dead Lv14 [Divine]

- Reaper of souls Lv10 [Pinnacle-L]

- Will to survive Lv3 [Low-H]

Cause of previous death:

- Caught unprepared (LOL)

__________

The Fallen had mainly leveled up his physical abilities. With mana being a mysterious stats, he wasn't inclined to take the risks. With his increased strength, endurance, and agility, he could take care of the group of skeletons fairly easily.

But he had discovered something. The Fallen had first invested in strength, but when it reached the medium level, the sp cost skyrocketed to 10000sp. Then he had leveled up the others but noticed a change in their costs too. It seemed like for any upgraded basic stats the general costs of the others will increase by a certain amount, depending on how high the stat was.

Therefore, killing skeletons wasn't enough anymore, unless he spent an eternity doing it. But hearing bones shattering, weapons breaking, and especially their laughs drove him crazy. He needed to do something else or he would go madder than he already appeared to be.

From now on the Fallen decided to head into the parts he didn't explore yet, which was pretty much the whole first floor.

He headed out. The floor at the foot of the tree was almost cleared of skeleton apart from five or six lying on top of each other. He couldn't care much about this detail and made his way to the only exit of this plaza.

Before he could reach it, the clicking sound of bones rattling against stones came from the pile of skeletons.

They assembled and formed a 3 meters tall figure. It was a stark-naked huge skeleton armed with a enormous club that formed from the fusion of the remaining bones lying around. The monster roared at the Fallen with such strength that his eardrums would have busted if he had any.

CRACK!

The bone colossus smashed provocatively into the ground with his weapon, ruining the stone floor.

'Will to survive' automatically kicked in. The Fallen had tried to use it again after the first time, but never managed it. It appeared that to activate it he had to face a dangerous situation. The Fallen got ready for battle with his improvised club in hand, although one thought kept crossing his mind.

'I had cleared this area more times than I care to count, but why didn't I see this thing before?'

Sigh.

"I hate this dungeon."