16 Dungeon Cleared!
In the desolate dungeon cave, a group of skeletons and a young man with hair as dark as pitch-black darkness were locked in combat with a giant golem.
At first glance, the young man appeared exhausted, sweat visibly dripping down his forehead as he gripped the ominous-looking flail. Yet, upon closer inspection of his surroundings, one could see piles and piles of crushed golem parts behind him.
Metal pieces, shattered stones, and mounds of mud which served as testament to his fierce battle.
While the young man and the three orc skeletons were engrossed in battling the golem, another skeleton nearby was busy gathering the glowing golden cores scattered around, like a child collecting candies.
Shiva had been on his 'mission' of destroying the golems for the past five hours, and this one remained as the last surviving golem.
However, it wasn't as if Shiva emerged unscathed. One of the Orc skeletons had been destroyed in the process of battling the golems, leaving him with only four remaining and exhaustion weighed heavily upon him, stretching beyond his usual limits.
All the while, the corruption giant lay beside the coffin, patiently awaiting Shiva's next commands.
"Huff! If not for this narrow space, I could've used him to blast these scraps to pieces!"
Nevertheless, true to his word, Shiva had crushed all the golems, leaving this one intact as he needed time to gather the golem cores scattered around, along with the glass coffin.
Normally, the dungeon would start to collapse as soon as the last monster was slain, so Shiva began preparing to leave before finishing off the last golem.
One regrettable thing was that, despite destroying more than a hundred golems, Shiva hadn't gained any levels.
The reason was obvious: when an individual slays a monster, the tower acts as medium of retriever and rewards them with experience, which is essentially the life essence of the monster.
Therefore, the stronger the monster defeated, the more life essence the slayer receives. However, since golems weren't actually living beings, Shiva didn't receive any life essence from them.
Nonetheless, the golem cores themselves were incredible rewards.
"Time to leave," Shiva muttered to himself, noticing that all the cores had been collected in a makeshift sack made from his shirt.
Proceeding to pluck out the golem core from the final golem, which was held to the ground by bone hands and orc skeletons, he remarked, "Thanks for the cores."
With this addition, Shiva now possessed exactly 150 golem cores: 50 from the stone golems, 50 from the mud golems, and 50 from the metal golems.
Although he couldn't use them anytime soon, when he met that 'person,' he could potentially create a golem army of his own.
Now that all the golems in the dungeon were destroyed, Shiva heard the voice of the System.
<You have cleared the dungeon 'Tomb of Fallen Legend.'>
<The 10 dungeon will collapse in seconds. Please exit the dungeon.>
A blue portal materialized in front of Shiva as soon as the message ended.
"Carry the coffin," he commanded the skeleton orcs, who promptly went to pick up the coffin. Each lifted a corner, and soon Shiva and the group of skeletons walked out of the dungeon.
***
Exiting through the red portal, Shiva and his company emerged, and the portal began to disappear, melting away into nothingness.
As soon as the portal vanished, Shiva heard the voice of the System, accompanied by golden runes appearing in front of him.
<You have cleared the dungeon 'Tomb of Fallen Legend.'>
<You have completed the class-specific quest.>
<You have acquired a new class-specific skill, 'Feast for the Dead (D).'>
An excited smile spread across Shiva's face as he looked at the new skill. He had actually failed to clear the quest in his past life, as he had to run away from the golems. But now, things were different. He had successfully cleared the class quest, which he hadn't been able to do before.
Eager to see what the skill had in store, Shiva concentrated on it, and a detailed description popped up before him.
__________
<Feast for the Dead>
Rank - D
Destroy your undead servants to extract the essence of death and use it to heal yourself!
_________
For a moment, Shiva stood still.
The description of the skill was short and simple, but its potential uses weren't. The first thing he felt was a pang of regret—for missing out on the chance to acquire this skill in his past life.
However, this was quickly overshadowed by joy. Joy and happiness that he had managed to obtain such a valuable skill now.
With countless undead servants under his command in his past life, having a skill that allowed him to sacrifice them for healing was a powerful ability.
Shiva had commanded innumerable undead servants under him in his past life and would likely do so in this life too, so having a skill that could be utilized by sacrificing his summons in exchange for healing himself was an incredibly powerful ability!
"I am so glad that I cleared the dungeon," Shiva murmured to himself.
He was yet to ascertain the full extent of the skill's efficacy—how much it could heal, to what degree it would work, and so on. But just the knowledge that he now possessed a means to heal himself filled him with satisfaction.
Satisfied with the reward, Shiva turned his gaze to the coffin before him. Despite being a golem, the man lying within was so handsome that he could put even top models to shame. He may be a construct, but he was Shiva's precious friend nevertheless.
"Just wait a bit more, my friend," Shiva murmured, gazing down at the coffin. He could use his 'Raise the Dead' skill to bring his friend back to life right now, but Shiva refrained. Although the skill had the power to resurrect the dead, it didn't allow the summon to grow or possess any intelligence.
Of course, his first summon had received the blessing of the Tower, making it a different case. However, if he used the same skill on the golem, it would merely become a mindless skeleton, akin to the orc skeletons loitering around him.
Instead, Shiva desired to bring his friend back with the chance to grow stronger alongside him, just like he had done in his previous life, using a skill that's more effective than the tower's blessing itself.
"It won't be long before I enter the tower."
And that's where the answer for his resurrection lies!
---***---
