DIE TRYING [A Roguelite Extraction LitRPG]

Wade stared at where the trapdoor should be. It looked like a pile of mud to his eyes, there just wasn't enough light to see any kind of detail. But the nametag floating above spelled out his salvation.

The trapdoor was barely visible even in the light, but now that he looked closer at it, he could see the outlines.

His head turned back to the cavern centerpoint, and all the tunnels leading out. He could run through one of them, find a place to hide like he'd planned. But this was already the best place he could pick to hide. Even with the light point-blank it had been impossible to find from the mud and grime. Only his identify had pointed it out.

This had to be his best bet.

Wade's hands dug into the dirt and mud, sinking through and tapping around to see what was hidden under all this. It was barebones, just a few planks nailed together. He started feeling for the underside, finding the mud holding it down somehow. Or maybe there were latches? Was he trying to open it from the wrong side? He couldn't tell, too much of it was buried under the mud.

"Come on, come on." His fingers traced the edge of the frame. On the other end of the tunnel, he could hear the stones start breaking down. The skeletons were gonna be here soon. He couldn't see them since he was already around a corner to get to this part, but that also meant they couldn't see him. If he managed to squeeze through this tunnel and close the trapdoor behind him, they might never find it, running past it to the tunnels ahead and start looking for him where he wasn't.

He felt a latch of some kind. With fumbling fingers, he unlatched something, and tugged the trapdoor again. Mud was suctioned under it as it was yanked open, revealing a shaft with wooden planks embedded in the wall. There wasn't any light anywhere down there. Past the first few rungs, it was just darkness even with his flashlight.

"God fucking damn it."

You got this boo~ o(≧▽≦)o

He saw the text for a second, and promptly closed the light app, stowing the entire phone back in his pocket. It wasn't doing any more good right now other than pointing him out to anyone at a distance, and he'd need both hands for this.

It was creepy, damp, nearly pitch black and probably had something sleeping at the very bottom with a lot of teeth. So far that would be right up his luck. Wade took a breath, and tried to center himself. It was this or the skeletons.

He heard stone break beyond the cavern, and immediately started climbing down the nailed planks, finger strength straining, neck sending a few shots of pain from the frantic movements. His leg was fine with the movements of climbing a ladder, it's just running that forced him into a limp.

As soon as his head was below the floor, he grabbed the trapdoor inner handle and closed it back until he heard the wet click of the latch under the mud. It had been nearly swimming inside the caked-on grime, so he knew it was still all over the top of the trapdoor. And without lights out there, hopefully all of this made it as hidden as it had been before.

Wait. There was a way to test that for good.

"Identify." He whispered.

It still marked this as a "Hidden Rebel Trapdoor", not just a 'Rebel Trapdoor' - so that meant it still had to be hidden right? Right??

New problem: With the trap door closed above him, and too afraid of light shining through the wooden panels if he turned the phone on again, it was now completely pitch black. He felt he was hovering over empty nothingness, with only his toes and fingertips holding him up. For all he knew the shaft would go down a few hundred feet and if he let go he'd die. Or it was only a short drop.

Wade wisely decided to climb down as fast as he could before his finger strength failed him and he fell down an unknown distance. He couldn't see the rat's health bar anywhere, which meant it had gone out of range when going down this way.

It went on for a short while, before his feet stumbled over muddy ground instead of the next plank down. Wade let go of everything at that point, fingers burning with the effort.

He held the hiss of pain in his mouth, trying to be as quiet as possible. He stayed there for a moment, breathing in and out.

Then he heard the sound of rocks breaking apart further up.

His phone vibrated at that same second.

Stay quiet now~ you should be fine down here imo. Good thinking (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b

Wade turned do-not-disturb on and then clicked the screen off. He wasn't going to risk Play sending him a text at the worst possible time, or calling him. Fucking troll just might.

The only other sound down here was his rapid breathing. He steadied it, afraid they might sense that somehow. He hadn't yet tested how skeletons even saw the world. For all he knew, they could see his soul or something, and he'd be fucked no matter where he hid.

Wet splatters started sounding from above. Then the sound of a deep thud on the wood as something hit the trapdoor. No other sounds of it being yanked. More wet sounds and scratches.

Another thud. Had they found the doorway? "Identify." He whispered.

Red health bars appeared everywhere above him. Wade nearly panicked before he realized they weren't moving down. They were racing sideways.

The wet sounds were them sprinting through the tunnel. And the thuds had been the occasional skeleton bolting over the trapdoor without noticing it.

A minute passed. There were still trampling sounds above. He lost count after thirty red health bars had raced past him. How many goddamn skeletons had been after him?!

Another two minutes passed in the darkness, it felt like nearly a hundred skeletons had sprinted past above. A stampede.

Finally, after one last thunk above him, the sounds stopped and so did the health bars passing by. Wade stayed at the bottom of that dark hole, just trying to breath and settle his heart down.

Okay. What the fuck was all this.

Out came the phone, screen turned on. "I want answers." Wade hissed at it.

Fiiiine, I guess i can do a few questions, but don't make them boring.

Location first, and he knew where he was at least. That'd be a place to start. He opened his stats to double check the name.

Ancient Nathir Shelter-city - Lowest Level
Lethal Difficulty

He could take a guess at the Lethal Difficulty part. But the other part? "Where did you send me? What's a Nathir Shelter-City?"

idk, didn't even know it's officially called a shelter-city. All anyone knows is that they're big completely sealed up Nathir ruins and nobody's ever been inside one.

No one's ever been insi- Wade almost spiked his phone at the ground. Almost. "So you threw me, blindly, into a murder dungeon nobody's ever explored? Because what? You were curious?"

It builds character. As in your character stats. (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞

Great. His 'sponsor' was a sociopath with all the charm of a parking ticket. "Did you know it was going to be lethal difficulty down here?"

Nope.

"What if I ran into something in here strong enough to kill me you didn't know about? Like strong enough to kill a god, and accidentally released it out into the world?"

good thing it would be killing you and not me, right?

"You absolute piece of-" He took three more breaths and only then felt centered enough to keep going, he tried again. "How do I get out?"

idk, maybe win the game?

New Regional Quest: A grim fate for all - Locate all 23 players within the local region, or their remains. Rewards: Possible allies.

Funny how the System was more cooperative than Play.

Ohh, I see I'm not the only one who had this idea. Interesting.

"Right. Find others first, that's a good first step. I can get behind that."

Happy to help (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b

"Eat shit and die." Other players like him might technically be opponents in this stupid game, but if they were all level 1 like he was running around in a lethal difficulty map, then only idiots would refuse to team up for safety. Wade leaned his head back and started running options. "What do you actually know about this place? Who are the Nathir?"

Ancient civilization from a few thousand years ago. It's said they all went into hiding inside these cities, but that was looooong before my time. Nobody's ever seen any alive.

"Am I going to run into one of them here?"

That's what I'm realllly curious about. They could be all dead, or sleeping in some deep stasis. Or something else. You should see if you can find them, that's probably where all the good loot is.

It dawned on him. "You dumped me here as your personal grave robber."

I prefer personal Indiana Jones, or Tomb Raider. Much cooler titles imo, but yeah, you got the main gist of it. Now go find some good stuff down here so you can grow up big and strong o(≧▽≦)o

The System seemed to agree with that, because two new quests popped up once Wade started thinking more on Play's words.

New Regional Quest: Uncover the fate of the Nathir. Rewards: One Storefront Coin.
New Regional Quest: Recover the schematics for Project Dying Light. Rewards: Seven Storefront Coins.

"The fuck is Project Dying Light?"

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
No idea! But you know, ancient long dead civilizations don't build massive city-sized dungeons for no reason. And the system's offering seven whole coins for that one quest. Probably important. (✧ω✧)

Screw that. Wade had one real goal in all this: "How do I get out?"

Start by exploring this tunnel? idk, I'm not the intrepid treasure hunter here. You are boo~

He took a deep, calming breath. "I mean back to Earth, back to my house and my life."

Win the game, or just die in a ditch somewhere idk. ┐(￣ヮ￣)┌

"Just… die somewhere? What the hell?"

You gotta admit that'd be a pretty funny start lol

He shook his head, whatever Play's true motives for all this, he was going back to Earth one way or another. Fulltime at Hobby Froggies, focus on what was important. That seven dollars an hour bump, all the hours he needed and benefits.

He opened the stats menu, using identify to look through everything he had. So far, he'd managed to survive solely using Identify. Other stuff on the interface might give him more of a chance.

Buffs:

Play's sponsorship into THE GAME.
Market's blessings (Language, Passage, Luck)

He already knew what Play's Sponsorship meant so far. What about the other one? "Identify."

Market's blessings (Language, Passage, Luck) -

Allows you to read, write and speak fluently in any language used by general trade. Allows passage into Azdrial with all currently equipped gear or independent beings, and allows return passage back in the same manner. Increased overall luck and success in gambling.

Wait - right there. He pulled up the phone and held it next to the status screen. "Azdrial, it says passage to Azdrial, that's where I'm at right now, right?"

It remained silent. Then buzzed and the screen lit up.

Getting closer~

Wade pushed his luck. "Then, there's a way back using this buff?"

That's what it says on the tin to me.

"How do I trigger it?"

How about this, go explore and maybe kill something first and I'll give you answers on what's going on like you wanted~ Deal?

There wasn't much of a choice, but this was the closest he could get to forcing Play to give him answers. "Deal."

New Personal Quest: Deal with the Devil: Kill a target of sufficient levels to impress your storefront sponsor Play. Rewards: Answered questions.

wowowow, I offer some help for basically free, and the System calls me a devil??

"Well, that's what it says on the tin to me." Wade said, tapping the interface.

Ohh are we feeling a little petty? Well fine, two can be petty. No more answers until you start exploring around here~ (*¯ ³¯*)♡

The phone screen's text was wiped out, and nothing came back. Wade asked a few other questions, but Play decided not to answer anything so long as Wade stayed curled up on the floor of this hole.

He let his head hit the wall for a moment, thinking through. He'd need to explore this area anyhow. Up the ladder was a no-go. Wherever the skeletons had gone, some might still be in the area, and they'd drag the horde back to him.

The tunnels beyond were even more creepy now that he knew he could run into something out there, and there wouldn't be a convenient cave-in to hide behind. Fuck, he should have brought that pickaxe or something. Could he climb back up there and get one real quick?

Wade looked up, and decided it would be too dangerous. Besides, he hadn't been able to do any real damage with the weapon even in the best case situation where the enemy couldn't fight back.

Did the System have anything he could use to fight?

It did. Wade's half-paniked mind suddenly focused on the one thing the System had shown him. Something he'd discarded as useless earlier on: The Skyviper Archer thing.

He brought up the menu with a single thought, and there ramrod in the center was the description. There might be more to it now that he could use identify.

Skyviper Archer (Common) - Damage dealt by ranged weapons such as crossbows, slings, and bows are empowered with corrosive when used in a jumping attack.

"Identify"

Jumping attack - Any attack initiated while user is vaulting or suspended in the air.

Amazing. Give a jumping requirement to the guy with a fucking limp.

Corrosive - Damage over time. Effective against any target with a physical body.

He felt his left eye twitch at this. "How much damage over time, you stupid god fucking da-" He let out a string of insults.

What was the point of identify if it couldn't even tell him the most basic information? Knowing how much damage he could do with the boon was the most important part of the entire thing. What stat did it scale on? Could it be affected by anything else or just flat damage? Could consumables increase the damage, or debuffs on the target? If he wanted to build on this, he needed to know how it worked under the hood.

He really needed a weapon. Something ranged like a bow or crossbow so he could start making use of this boon.

And so far, the only plan he'd had that could possibly get close to that objective was to complete that identify quest and get a coin to spend. Possibly outright buy his starter weapon. He was close to getting it too, he just needed a few more unique targets.

Wait. Wade had an idea. Could he get those last few hits with identify before he left this tunnel? His hand tapped around the walls, then felt the wooden rungs he'd used to climb down with.

It didn't quite feel like wood-wood. No splinters for one, thank god. It also hadn't felt like rotten wood, which it should have turned into given the damp environment. More a waxy texture, sturdy, and he could feel water droplets on each rung like there was some kind of wax on it. If it wasn't wood, what the hell was it then?

"Identify."

Mana-treated ironwood plank.

Glasses of the trade: Identify targets 28/30

So close. So fucking close.

He fumbled his hands around the wall now, feeling the difference in the texture. The dirt and stone here was different. It wasn't flaking off, or had a rough stone geometry to it. More smoothed out.

He focused on it.

Mana-empowered compacted dirt.

Glasses of the trade: Identify targets 29/30

Mana-empowered? Second time he'd seen mana appear inside materials.

He checked over his character stats, and his mana remained at- no wait, it had gone up.

Mana: 2/100

What the hell did that mean? He knew he started at 0 a little while ago.

Health was still at 94 out of 100. The number was accurate enough to his situation. Was his body generating mana at a small rate maybe?

"Identify."

Mana - Exposure remaining before general mana necrosis.

Health - Physical health remaining before system termination.

It didn't give him another point for the identify quest since it was system notifications, but that was besides the point. "Play, what the fuck is this? What's system termination mean? The System just kills me if I hit zero??"

And what was mana necrosis?! Necrosis did not sound good at all, especially in the murder dungeon filled with undead skeletons. Was that what happened to everything else down here? Was he on some kind of time limit before mana hit 100?

No answer.

He triggered Identify again, and let it run across everything, hoping to catch something in the future. He just needed one more hit, and he'd get this quest completed. And possibly buy himself a proper starter weapon or something.

Mold. Dirt. Stone. Looked exactly the same as it had before, no upgrades there either. Stone. Stone. Stone. More mold. The darkness didn't feel as oppressive when everything had neat little labels floating above them.

And best of all - no health bars. Those were his saving grace so far, telling him there wasn't a threat or a jumpscare up ahead.

He wasn't going to get any more answers from Play so long as he stayed here. The god wanted him to explore, and if he wanted to complete this quest, he'd need to explore too.

So he took a deep breath, got up, then shuffled blindly forward, one hand tracing the wall, the other stretched out before him, expecting to run into something.

He didn't dare turn the phone light on just yet, what if any amount of light leaked through the trapdoor? Better turn that on later, after he'd gotten some distance first.

Then Identify pinged something new up ahead.

Mana-treated ironwood plank.

Another one. A way up maybe? But he only saw a single plank on the nametags here.

He shuffled through the darkness for a little bit more, before he felt he'd gotten close enough he could use the light on his phone to check more details. Only so much Identify could show him.

Good thing he did. It wasn't another ladder up or down. The light instead revealed a fork in the tunnel, where the path twisted off. If he'd continued walking blindly, he'd have missed it completely.

And the wooden plank here? First real sign of civilization. As in literally a sign.

He saw strange scratchings embedded into the wood plank, nailed up right by the tunnel fork, like a signpost. Wade blinked, and… they suddenly made sense. He just understood a completely alien script as if he'd always known the language.

And it really was alien. The writing was almost guttural. Wade could tell it wasn't the word choices, rather the language itself was built to be insulting, almost barbaric.

Market's Blessing?

'Tier 9 Security Golem down this direction. Proceed with caution.' Was the rough translation, with the insulting tone removed. What it actually said was something more like 'An idiot and his life will soon be separated, as down this path lies the domain/patrol path of a Tier 9 Security Golem.'

And, hilariously enough, Wade could just tell the writer of these signposts had gone out of their way to write the most neutral possible tone they could. There's just no way to write 'caution' without insulting the reader. Lovely people.

"The fuck is a tier nine golem? Play, is this part of the System?"

He hadn't expected an answer back. But the phone actually buzzed this time.

Naw, System's new to the world here. Only you can see it, and me because I'm your amazing sponsor (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b

So Tier Nine meant something more grounded to reality, instead of an actual level? Or rather, the official name of this thing? "And the golem part?"

The Nathir were known to build war golems, yeah.

Wade narrowed his eyes at the phone. "How dangerous are these golems?"

Ones we know about are broken down with most systems offline, but all of them are ecological disaster zones anyhow lol

Ecological disaster zones? "Like some kind of leftover World War two minefield?"

Yeh. Tad bit more dangerous thou (ง ื▿ ื)ว
I'd take a wild guess that's why this zone is listed as lethal difficulty.

Which means there were even worse than the skeletons out there. Even more lovely.

Wade tried asking more about what these golems were, but Play remained quiet. No more texts on any followup questions. Which meant he needed to continue exploring.

Problem was, the deeper into this rebel tunnel he was walking, the more creepy it felt. Like any moment he'd turn his flashlight down a path and see some kind of monster further ahead. At which point, he was fucked.

Only thing that helped him was the Identify. So long as he kept it online looking for threats ahead, he felt slightly less scared. No health bars ahead, no enemies.

He decided instead of blindly discovering more of this tunnel, he should sit down and properly look over the rest of his stats and options. He'd checked the buffs, stats and his only boon already, so his eyes roved down to the debuffs.

"Identify."

They were equally explained.

And even worse.