First Victory

*Huff*

*Huff*

"Almost, *huff* there," Roman said to himself under his breath.

He was currently handing off the side of the cliff's face, only a few short inches away from a ledge he could use to shimmy down the rest of the way. His fingertips were a torn open blood filled mess from the high heat and constant climbing needed to get to where he was. His hands were not used to hard work and he had no calluses on his hands to help him brunt the constant rubbing he got while climbing.

He grabbed onto a place to hold and stuck the [Rack Key] into the wall like a climbing pick. Then he shifted his weight and stretched his free leg towards the ledge of rocks.

*Rocks crumbling*

"Whew, *huff* *huff*" 

Roman hugged the wall as the [Rack Key] fell into the lava pit below along with the dislodged rocks. It was a good thing he managed to shift his weight onto this ledge before the rocks gave way. He didn't care about the [Rack Key], since if a legendary weapon got too far away from its chosen hero it would reappear in that hero's hand. Sure enough, the [Rack Key] reappeared in Roman's hand a moment later.

"Alright, just a little more now... and victory is mine."

He shifted his body slowly down the ledge embedded along the wall of the cliff. It was wide enough for someone to stand, but he still kept himself close to the cliff's wall to prevent any collapsing of the rocks. Sweat dripped off his body like he had just gotten out of a swimming pool, instantly *hissing* as it evaporated upon touching the hot Netherrack underneath him.

He continued this way for another 4 hours, slowly shuffling himself down the cliff face until finally another set of flat Netherrack laid out before him. He had reached a secondary plateau about halfway down the cliff. This was almost perfect for his situation as he could feel it was getting hotter as he descended closer and closer to the lava below. Any further and his [Heat Resistance LV1] would be unable to help him any longer.

"Whew~" Roman sighed while wiping his sweat with his clothes.

But he wasn't left any time to rest as he heard a groaning sound.

*Oinkrrr* *Oinkrrr*

Two piglin zombies appeared and approached him with hungry expressions. The smell of rotting flesh filled the air mixed with sulfur and spoiled milk. The smell alone almost made Roman puke. He swallowed back down his vomit and focused.

"I'm NOT dying to zombies!" Roman clenched his hand around the [Rack Key].

He swung the spiked end of the key toward the nearest approaching zombie, causing the key to pierce into the zombie's raised arms.

*Reaer*

It squealed in what seemed like pain which caused the other zombie to speed up in his direction.

He pulled it back out, which ended up ripping out parts of the decayed flesh upon its exit, before swinging it again. He beat down the piglin zombie until it remained a lifeless mass of flesh.

*Reaer* *Reaer* *Reaer*

But it didn't seem that the other piglin zombie had managed to reach him and took a bite into his arm. 

"AHH!" Roman screamed in pain.

His body was flooded with adrenaline from the pain, which he used to fully focus his anger on the new target. He beat this piglin zombie to the ground and continued to beat its dead body with the spiked [Rack Key] even when it was long since dead.

*Huff* *Huff* 

He looked down at the two masses of unrecognizable flesh from the piglin zombies, before he collapsed to his knees. Without him realizing it, tears started to silently flow out of his eyes. He reached up and touched his eyes in confusion. Was he crying?

*Sob* *Sob*

He let himself cry silently for a few minutes. He didn't even know why he was crying, or mourning most likely. Mourning the death of his innocence, the reality of his situation, or the monsters he had to face. At this moment, he underwent a small change. When he had cried all he could, the look in his eyes was slightly stronger than before. He glanced at the few notifications on his status menu.

[Defeated Piglin Zombie and gained 5 experience.]

[Defeated Piglin Zombie and gained 5 experience.]

[Skill gained [Mental Fortress LV 1]. ]

The emotions he had been dealing with the past few days had finally boiled over in this final moment. But instead of a mental breakdown that would happen with most people, he seemed to have overcome something within himself, as if releasing all those emotions was just what he needed. He even gained a skill within the Status magic for it, which is not easy to do.

*Sniff*

He wiped his running nose with his sleeve and did a quick check to see if he was infected with anything from the piglin zombie. It would seem he was lucky to have gained [Disease Resistance LV 1] earlier, as this had triggered and prevented any infection. 

He took a piece of flesh from the piglin zombie and fed it to the key.

[Unknown material added... parsing properties.]

[Material identified as [Piglin Zombie Skin].]

[Notice: material conditions not met for [Key] function.]

[Should Material be used for [Lock] activation? ]

[Yes/No]

He confirmed 'Yes' and reviewed the new key form information in his mind.

[New form discovered: [Dead Piglin Key]]

{

Key Form: [Dead Piglin Key]

Equip Bonus: M.DEF 2

Special Equip Effect: disease resistance 1

}

It seemed a bit useless to him, but at least he had a new key form he could change if he needed to. For now, he would keep the [Rack Key] in case he needed to continue fighting. He walked a short distance away from the bodies and planned to take a short rest to rehydrate and mentally prepare himself before he continued. He looked off in the direction the 'zombie piglin's' came from with a tired look in his eyes before he closed them softly; resting them for the moment.