Final fight before the beginning

Tamashi was currently inside an enormous cave, at least three kilometers high, with stalactites ranging from a few centimeters to tens of meters long, extending from the ground, hanging from the ceiling, or even merged together, forming massive pillars. Unfortunately, a large number of these beautiful calcite spikes had been torn from the cave’s walls, scattered on the cold and wet floor like rubble from a construction site.

That was because Tamashi wasn’t alone in the cave; he was engaged in a life or death confrontation with a Cave Dragon—a monstrous creature more than a hundred meters tall, with gigantic and razor-sharp fangs and gray scales as tough as steel.

BOOM!

Narrowly dodging a deadly strike, Tamashi leaped back and started gathering mana, intending to cast a spell.

Wanting to prevent that, the dragon charged forward. Before Tamashi could react, he was ripped in half by the dragon’s colossal maw—or so it seemed.

When the dragon’s fangs sank into its target, instead of tasting human flesh and blood, they simply cut through thin air, as if its human prey was never even there.

As dragons were rather intelligent creatures, it quickly realized what might have happened—the human had tricked it.

Somehow appearing from nothing right above the dragon, Tamashi—whose body was now glowing a bright azure—extended his hand forward while levitating in the air. In the next moment, a giant ball of clear water was in front of him, ready to descend upon the overgrown lizard whenever Tamashi wished. But he wasn’t done yet.

The dragon flapped its wide and thick wings, aiming to take flight again and squash the annoying human like a mere bug. Its plans were impeded, however. The dragon’s six legs were stuck in mud—which had at some point inexplicably replaced the cold, hard stone that made up the cave’s ground before.

Struggling to break free, the dragon used its wide wings to support its huge and heavy body, gradually lifting itself from the mud and moving to the swamp’s edge, while roaring so loudly it could deafen any human that found itself anywhere near that terrifying sound.

It didn’t seem to have any effect on Tamashi whatsoever, though; he just continued to feed mana to his spell, which was growing in size by the second.

Just as the dragon was nearing the edge, Tamashi stopped supplying mana to his spell... and released it.

Everything in the cave appeared to be frozen in time for a split second—everything except the massive torrent of water hurtling toward the dragon at tremendous speed.

Before the dragon could so much as blink, the water ball had already smashed right into its head and neck. If one were to look at the scene in slow motion, they would notice that at first, the dragon’s gray, stone-like scales cracked, then shattered like glass, reduced to dust. Right after that, the dragon’s head and a chunk of its neck were violently blown off, nothing but crimson mist remaining of the dragon’s once magnificent and tyrannical head.

But it didn’t stop there.

The water spell continued flying at a great speed, and when it hit the ground, it exploded into a myriad tiny droplets that flew in every direction, piercing the dragon’s lifeless corpse countless times, leaving almost invisible wounds. They also crashed into the cave’s walls and ceiling, causing the entire cavern to tremble violently.

Tamashi, protected by his anti-magic shield, observed the scene with an awkward expression.

“Ahh... I charged the spell a bit too much, didn’t I?”

You have leveled up.

Hearing a human—but also deeply disturbing—voice in his head, Tamashi opened his system screen and took a look at his stats.

“Nice, a couple extra points for me,” whistled Tamashi happily. “Now it’s time to see the loot... Even though everything is gonna be wasted anyway, except for the coins.”

Ignoring the danger of a cave-in that could come at any second, Tamashi flew deeper into the cave, completely unbothered. Soon, he spotted a faint golden glow peeking from behind a large boulder.

“There you are.”

Flying towards it, Tamashi found exactly what he expected—a small chest made of obsidian emitting a golden radiance.

“Haaa... It just doesn’t feel that exciting after opening so many of them,” sighed Tamashi, slightly disappointed.

Nevertheless, he made a small gray key appear in his hand—he had taken it from his inventory—and unlocked the treasure chest in front of him.

“A rare potion recipe, a couple thousand coins, a random coin pouch, an epic magic scroll... Uhh, a random points pouch! Let’s open it right away! Ah, only two? Well, better than nothing, I guess.”

After Tamashi collected everything from the obsidian chest, it began to fade before vanishing entirely. But Tamashi didn’t care about that, already walking toward the dungeon exit that had appeared as soon as the chest was opened. Stepping into a glowing magic circle, Tamashi once again glimmered with a blue light before disappearing altogether.

***

Tamashi stepped out of a similar magic circle, but in a completely different place.

He was in a small room that seemed to glow from every direction, looking like something out of a medieval-themed movie. The entire Gothic ceiling was made of gold, with a wavy, perforated design, resembling bright yet tiny stars in a golden sky. The walls were covered with paintings framed in gold, depicting saints, bishops, and kings who had possibly once stood where Tamashi stood now. Beneath the paintings, the lower parts of the walls were decorated with polished rare stones, their intricate patterns holding the whole room together with graceful beauty. At the far end of the room stood a delicate gilded screen, dividing the room from the chapel, revealing an altar encircled by even more panel paintings. The dark stone floor was surrounded by simple wooden benches running along the walls, with a red carpet in the middle.

Man... I just can’t believe humans managed to design and build masterpieces like this. I could stay here for hours, studying every little detail. And that’s just one of the many rooms this castle has to offer. I’m so glad I decided to visit Europe while I still have the chance.

Since he had used a spell to turn invisible before stepping into the portal in the cave, the cameras that guarded this place couldn’t see him—and neither the magic circle, since only people that were "blessed" by the system could see those.

Therefore, he took his sweet time, exploring almost every room in the castle while casually walking through walls or even flying through them.

After almost three hours of exploring, he decided to call it a day, since it was getting late. Observing the castle from the sky, he took in the magnificent view for one last time.

Karlštejn—that was the castle’s name—was surrounded on all sides by lush, dense forests. Nestled among several mountains and standing atop one, it held an important strategic position for the people of the medieval Czech Republic, which made it possible for the castle to survive into the modern era. Its walls were a yellowish white, and its roof a dark grayish blue—both made of stone typical of that era. The buildings were also surrounded by tall and sturdy walls, making the whole place nearly impenetrable.

“I really hope it doesn’t get destroyed in the chaos that is about to descend upon Earth in... God, there’s only a week left? Time sure flies, huh?”

With those words, Tamashi made his way to the ground and stepped into yet another magic circle, vanishing once again.