Noah was walking home. His name wasn't actually Noah. It was Jkmnop, pronounced as Noel. First of all, it was a girl's name, and second of all, it was a very bad joke. His parents were nice people and had calmed down a lot in the last few years, but they used to be batshit crazy when he was born. And now he was stuck with that name. He had tried changing it a few times, but his mother always made those puppy dog eyes at him and said that it was a special name for a special boy, and she loved it, and she loved him, and started tearing up, so he hadn't. So his friends called him Noah. He also had trouble finding a job in the past, because most people thought his job applications were a joke.

It was after midnight, in the middle of winter, and there was no one else, besides him, out on the streets. Thankfully there was no snow, and the air wasn't so cold, as to be uncomfortable to breathe. Noah was coming back from the movie theatre. He was not really interested in watching that particular movie, but he and his friends had nothing better to do that day. The movie was passable, made infinitely better by inappropriate jokes and weird sounds. Good thing there was no one else in the movie theatre, besides them.

One of his friends with a car offered to give Noah a drive home, but between the mountain of junk food before the movie, the huge popcorn, and coca-cola combo, and the candy that he snuck inside, he was feeling bloated. The 10 to 15 minutes of walking from the theatre to his home, would take care of, at least some of the self-hatred, he would be feeling tomorrow, so Noah decided to take a stroll. He was walking through the park, almost home, enjoying the cold winter night, his stomach, filled to the brim, applying pressure to his diaphragm and making it hard to breathe - the usual.

To get home, Noah had to go through the parking lot, next to his building and an old electric transformer. It was one of those squat, square buildings, he knew were related to electricity, but had no idea what was inside and how it worked. Noah knew he wasn't supposed to mess around it, and on rare occasions, when he could actually hear the power buzzing inside, he would steer away from it. This was not one of those times, and just like hundreds of times before, Noah passed a few meters away from the transformer.

Then, just as he was passing by, there was a bright light, the unmistakable sound of massive amounts of electricity discharging, and pain. For a moment, Noah became super aware of his surroundings and felt his mind accelerate. He understood that he was being electrocuted, and all the horrible implications of that. He knew what electricity did to the human body. Electrical burns were a nightmare. They weren't that visible on the outside,but what they did to the body on the inside was horrible. Muscle tissue and ligaments were destroyed, internal organs fried. Even if he survived, Noah would be a cripple for life. That horrible realization was coursing through his mind, as electricity was coursing through his body.

But there was also something else, something powerful, something vast, something ancient washing over his body. It somehow didn't feel bad or painful, but Noah was being electrocuted right now, so maybe that overshadowed it. Then came another blinding flash, and Noah was falling. He instinctually tried to find his footing, but in his electrocuted, partially paralyzed and possibly dying state all he managed to do, was to kick off the ground, that was also falling, and float mid-air.

A split second later there was a huge crash, following which, Noah met the ground again. He fell back first, and after his back, his head was also introduced to the ground. There was the sound of an egg shattering on concrete and a warm, wet feeling spread from his head to his neck and upper back. At the same time, a profound coldness gripped his body.

As the understanding, that he was dying, dawned on him, a bunch of messages appeared in front of his eyes, the last one red and blinking, ending with the words

Do you accept?

Noah felt rage coming to life in his chest. It was burning at the unfairness of what was happening to him, at the pain and his powerlessness. No, he did not accept this. In an attempt to spite whatever power or fate had done this to him, he raged and tried to dismiss the window, showing whoever it was his defiance. But as his consciousness was fading, his limbs contracting from the electrical damage, and the cold, spreading in his bones, some of the words registered in his mind and a ray of hope shone through the darkness, descending on his mind.

Just as he was angrily trying to dismiss it just a moment ago, Noah now frantically tried to accept the red blinking message. And just as it was hard to dismiss before, it was easy to accept now. Then darkness claimed him.

.

.

.

Noah was power. He was a being of pure energy in human form. He could feel his heart beating, slow and steady. With each beat life, warmth and power spread out. Noah was one with the blood flowing through his body. He could feel himself being pumped out of his heart, racing through his arteries, slowing down as they became smaller and smaller, saturating his muscles and organs with power, and then sluggishly flowing through his veins back to the heart. He was everywhere and everything in his body at once, he was life, he was power.

Then the moment ended and Noah opened his eyes. He was lying on the ground, looking up. It must have been only moments from him hitting the ground to him waking up because there was still a cloud of dust floating through the air. As he was lying on the ground, he realized something wasn't right. Above him, instead of the clear winter sky and the twinkling stars was a cave ceiling - rough and uneven.

Noah sat up and felt a few drops of something roll down his back. He felt the back of his head and his hand came back wet with warm blood, although there was no wound anymore. Turning around and saw a puddle of blood, mixed with a clear fluid where his head had been. He remembered the sound of a shattered egg and realized he probably cracked open his head and the clear liquid was spinal fluid. Touching his head again to make sure, he again found no wound.

Noah looked at his arms and legs, opening and closing his fists. The memory of electricity burning through his body was still fresh in his mind, it had happened moments ago after all. The smell of burned flesh was in the air, confirming the experience was real. The feeling of his muscles painfully contracting and his joints locking up in the moments after he hit the floor, with his head cracked open, death creeping in, would haunt him forever.

Now though, he felt great, better than ever actually. His body felt new and improved, rejuvenated, and he was only in his mid 20's. Also, he felt strong, like the time he actually stuck with going to the gym for almost two years, but more, much more. And he was willing to bet he could do a perfect split, he could feel it, and he definitely couldn't do that 5 minutes ago. Something definitely happened to him. Remembering the messages from before, they appeared in front of his eyes again.

You have entered the Lost City dungeon complex.

You have entered `The Descent` dungeon.

Clear the fifth layer to exit the dungeon.

You are level 1. You have 1 skill point.

Choose a path.

Path of the Crafter. Your level limit is equal to the highest leveled item you have created. Gain experience from crafting related actions.

Path of the Farmer. Your level limit is equal to the highest level plant/animal you have grown/raised. Gain experience from farming-related actions.

Path of the Hunter. Your level limit is equal to the highest leveled monster you have killed. Gain experience from killing monsters.

You have killed Dark Rat Matriarch LV.3

.

You have killed Dark Rat Chambermaid LV.2

.

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

.

You have killed Dark Rat Youngling LV.0

There were hundreds if not thousands of kill notifications.

Due to the amount of enemies killed Path of the Hunter chosen automatically. +2 skill points

You have 3 skill points.

Choose your traits. You have 5 Trait points.

Noah stopped reading. What the hell was a dungeon complex? And he was stuck in a dungeon right now? Monsters? Traits? Skills? He had read his fair share of fantasy and was familiar with the transported to another world genre and RPG systems. It was kind of cliche actually, ending up in a dungeon. Still, it was hard to believe it actually happened to him. It was far more likely, that something hit him in the head, and he was now hallucinating while bleeding out on the ground. Let's be honest, he loved those type of stories, so it actually made sense. And he did actually crack his head open.

But what if it was real. The pain he experienced sure felt real. The blood on the back of his head also felt real. Noah, in the admittedly short time he had been here, hadn't noticed any of the logical inconsistencies of dreams, and probably hallucinations, although he hadn't done any hallucinogens, so there was no way to know. His train of thought was also quite clear and consistent. So it was best to treat everything as real, and take things seriously. Which meant finding out if there was any immediate danger.

From his sitting position, Noah could see that he was still next to the electric transformer, where the incident began, but after about five meters in all directions the paved road ended and cave floor began. He was in a long corridor, maybe 50 meters on one side, and hundreds on the other, both ending with sharp bends. Noah noticed there was no light source whatsoever, and yet it wasn't dark. The cave wasn't as bright as day, but there was ambient light enough to see clearly.

'That's just a dungeon thing I guess... I hope'

For now, all Noah could do was not think about it and pray to some higher power, the lights stayed on. Anyway there was nothing else in the corridor except him, and he couldn't hear anything threatening either, so he got back to the notifications.

You have chosen Arcane essence as your first Trait.

Arcane Essense(Unique)-You were bathed in the primal pool, from which everything originated. Your life and your magical essences have merged with pure, primal arcane to form arcane essence. The origin of all magic runs through you, or maybe it is you, only time will tell. The vItality and wisdom stats have merged in the arcane essence stat. Your mana pool has merged into your health pool, creating the arcane essence pool. Skills that require mana or health will now use the new combined pool instead. Regeneration has increased tenfold. Arcane essence has changed and energized your body making it stronger.

This message was a rich red color, compared to the black text of the other messages. It also was hinting at some quite ridiculous things. And, although Noah could feel the arcane essence coursing through him, and it was indeed powerful, primal pool and origin of all magic it certainly was not. There was mention of time, so maybe in the future, it would be, but he would have to stay alive to actually find out.

Squashing the image of himself manipulating primal forces and breaking the laws of reality, Noah moved on. The mention of stats and pools did catch his attention, and a window opened up, but Noah ignored it because something else demanded his attention-a blinking red message. His brain had been conditioned to link blinking red lights with time-sensitive or life-threatening matters so he focused on it.

Arcane Incorporation

A large amount of monster essence has been released into your surroundings in a very short amount of time. The arcane essence in you is resonating with the monster essence. It is possible to incorporate a portion of it, merging it into your arcane essence pool and permanently increasing it. From now on killing monsters will increase your HP pool. The amount increased depends on the level of the slain monster compared to your current level.

Noah realized the message wasn't blinking, but fading in and out of existence, and the fading in part was getting shorter and less frequent. He had made up his mind to take things seriously which meant carefully thinking through big decisions like his Traits, which seemed important and were limited, but time was running out. The Trait sounded great, gave the possibility for limitless growth, and since his life was his mana, and the magical inclination his previous Trait suggested, meant he would be spending it, more of it was a good thing. Mind made up to just take the risk, Noah accepted the Trait....and nothing happened. He tried again, getting the same result.

The text right now was in his faded out phase and was barely visible. Come to think of it, it had been that way for quite some time. Noah, who after being denied, realized he really, really wanted the Trait was doing the mental equivalent of repeatedly and violently pressing the accept button with his finger, with increasing amounts of force and frequency, and then slamming it with his mental fist.

"Come on you Stupid, FUCKING, PIECE OF SHIIIIIT!", Noah screamed at the window

The message finally, and barely faded back into existence and he got the notification.

You have chosen Arcane Incorporation as your second Trait.

But Noad did not register the message. Large amounts of red mist started drifting around him, rising around the edges of his walkway and spreading in the cave tunnel. Then, red lightning surged out of his very being, spreading through the cloud-like blood vessels in a body, until it reached every last bit of mist. Then the jagged blades of lightning started retracting, dragging the mist with them inside of Noah. There weren't any messages, but he felt energized, stronger in a way, more alive.

You have chosen Arcane Incorporation as your second Trait.

Arcane incorporation- Your arcane essence has resonated with monster essence and can incorporate it into your HP pool when you kill a monster. You gain 0.1 HP for every monster at 1 level above and 1 level below your current level. Incorporation scales by a fraction of 10 every additional level above or below your current level. 2 level above your own +1 HP, 3 levels above +10 HP and so on. 2 levels below your own +0.01 HP, 3 levels below +0.001 HP and so on. The maximum possible amount of health gained is 10 and the Trait only works when killing enemies on your own.

' 0.1 HP? Well, every little bit helps I guess. It would be too overpowered if it gave more. Wait how much health do I even have. If I have like 1000, this will be bullshit.

Again the status window appeared and this time Noah looked at it.

Status

Name: Jkmnop(Noel)

Noah felt like screaming. He got dragged to who knows where got electrocuted, cracked open his head and then pretty much came back from the dead, they, whoever that maybe, could at least change his name.

Name: Noah

"Well at least one good thing came out of this" Noah said to himself. "Thank you" he sarcastically said to the empty air.

A feeling that came down to an amused "You're welcome" floated up in his mind. The disturbing part was, the feeling was foreign, and definitely didn't come from him.

"What? Hello? Who is this?", Noah hesitantly asked.

He got another amused feeling, which didn't help and freaked him out even more. Looking around, Noah couldn't see a source, and he was skeptical a low leveled rat was hiding behind the corner messing with him via telepathy. Was it the system, it did change his name after all. He got a positive feeling.

'Ok, the system is talking to me, and probably reading my mind, which is definitely not disturbing at all.' Noah thought and got back amusement.

'So how about you help me out or something?', Noah sent the systems way, but this time got a negative feeling.

'Okay, whatever...'

Level 1

Arcane essence-20

Strenght-20

Dexterity-20

Endurance-20

Intellect-20

HP:343.6/343.6( 2% per min / 6.8 HP per min)

Stamina:200/200 (0.2% per sec / 0.4 per sec)

Unspent points: 10

All his stats were at 20 and he had 10 unspent points. The unspent points had to be from becoming level 1. Noah probably had 10 points in all stats at the begging but wisdom and vitality merged into arcane essence and then strengthened his body, bringing the other stats to 20. Was intellect part of the body. Why was it strengthened too? The other stats made sense, intellect not so much. A question for another day, since he had no way to figure it out right now.

Judging from how his stamina scaled with endurance and assuming HP scaled the same way with arcane essence Arcane incorporation had given him almost 150 HP, which was a massive boost to his original 200. No wonder he felt great after since that was practically his life force.

Noah lifted his clothes and was quite surprised. Before, he was kind of not out of shape, but not actually in shape. Now he was at, what had to be, peak human physical performance. All the fat from his body was gone, his muscles were clearly visible below his skin and now, that he looked closer, all scars and other imperfections were gone. His muscles were strong and lithe, clearly optimized for movement and endurance. At least he wouldn't have to worry about his soft, untrained and easily tired body.

Noah got up. He felt powerful and flexible, but that was just a feeling and had to be confirmed. After actually doing a split without a problem and almost ripping his jeans while doing it, he did some push-ups. Before he could do maybe 30 before totally exhausting himself. Now he did 70, without even breaking a sweat, his breathing and heart rate unchanged. That was definitely peak physical performance.

Stamina:191/200 (0.2% per sec / 0.4 per sec)

Noah was getting excited over his new body, his thoughts going back to the origin of all magic part of Arcane essence when he saw the puddle of blood and spinal fluid on the ground.

'Shit'

He wasn't safe here. He was in a dungeon, full of monsters, and his life was in danger. He remembered all the kill notifications. Now that he thought about it, his piece of walkway must have fallen on top of a dark rat nest and killed everything in it. Why he was given experience for the kills was a mystery, but he technically applied some force to the slab of earth, so he wasn't going to complain. The vast majority of kills were baby rats at LVL 0, but there were still hundreds of level 1's, dozens of LVL 2's and 10 lvl3 matriarchs. Even if these were normal rats, if such a large swarm attacked him, Noah would die, and he had a feeling these weren't exactly normal rats.

But the thing bugging him was, there was no rat patriarch, nor any combat-related variants. Maybe there weren't such variants on this layer at all, but it was safer to operate on the premise that there were. So where were they, and were they coming back, was now a pressing question in the back of Noah's mind. Either way, wandering around without having chosen his traits and skills was probably a worse idea than staying here, so he wasn't moving until he made his choice and had some way to defend himself or escape.

Hopefully, the surge of arcane that brought him here and the huge crash afterward, had scared all the rats away. Noah also knew rats were wary of food that killed their brethren. He wasn't sure if it also applied to places where large amounts of them died, but hopefully, the other monsters would sense all of the dead and stay away.

Just to check things out, Noah went to the edge of his piece of paved walkway and saw that a wave of blood had splashed outwards from beneath and onto the cave floor. This close, he realized he could smell blood, raw meat and sewage. It was quite nasty. The falling piece of earth and pavement must have fit perfectly in the rat nest, crushing everything in it to paste and splashing it out of the edge.

Just as Noah was about to go back to the center and pick his traits, he saw movement to his left. There was something trying to crawl out of the edge between road and cave floor. Looking closer it was a blood-covered rat with the back end of its body crushed.

Noah once saw a bunch of rats next to a garbage bin, that were big enough to fight cats one on one. This one was bigger, pushing the size limits of normal Earth rats. While looking at it a Lv.1 floated above it and disappeared as soon as Noah acknowledged the message.

'That is a level 1 rat? Shit! How big are the level 2's and 3's then? I might be screwed...'

He was debating going and stomping on the rat to put it out of its misery when the monster noticed him. It was out of the crack, and now turned to Noah, and started dragging itself towards him with his front paws, one of which was mangled. It was leaving a noticeable trail of blood behind it and was about to die any moment, so Noah wasn't alarmed. He should have been.

The rat screeched at him, a barely noticeable white glow swirled around its teeth and paws, and it pushed off with its front legs. The mangled one shattered, sending it off course, but the rat still shot out like a bullet, grazing his thigh and taking a chunk of meat with it. Noah grunted from the pain, too shocked to even scream and clutched his leg. There was a hole in his jeans and he could feel blood running down his leg.

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

Turning around, Noah saw the rat lying in an expanding puddle of blood, a few meters behind him. He quickly limped back and put his back against the electric transformer wall. Dropping his jeans, he saw a chunk of skin and muscle missing from his thigh. The good news was, the wound had already stopped bleeding.

HP:334.9/343.7( 2% per min / 6.8 HP per min)

Noah had gained 0.1 HP, and his current health was steadily ticking back up. In the 10 seconds, he stared at his HP going up his wound had visibly healed and was starting to close up. He kept looking back and forth between his status and his wound, and after about a minute and a half, the wound was gone.

HP:343.7/343.7( 2% per min / 6.8 HP per min)

That half-dead, crippled, level one rat had almost killed him. The monster had aimed at Noah's throat, but his leg shattered, changing its trajectory. If it hadn't and the rat ripped that piece of meat out of his neck, instead of his leg, Noah was doubtful about his survival. Taking a deep breath, he got up and quickly, and as quietly as he could, ran around the edge of the paved road, looking for more rats crawling out, but thankfully there were none.

Getting back to the transformer wall Noah, understanding the severity of his situation took a deep breath to calm down and opened his Traits menu.