The sounds of battle echoed throughout Farron Keep. Judging by noise alone, one might think a fierce, earth-shattering clash was taking place.
Yet, within a minute, everything returned to silence.
Half an hour later, a familiar figure pushed through layers of obstacles and charged into Farron Keep again.
And again—before a full minute passed—the noise stopped.
Another thirty minutes… oh? Ohhhh!?
This time he actually lasted two and a half minutes!
Three deaths, and he'd extended his survival time by a whole minute. Rounding it up—if he died thirty more times, he'd last over ten minutes! And if he died three hundred more times, he could last more than an hour!
Pathetic.
"Are the Abyss Watchers just too overtuned…?"
Inside the lord's chamber, Wade watched Darrick's cycle of death and revival through a crystal ball.
He had noticed Darrick early on—not by chance, but by inevitability.
When most players were still floundering in the mud, three monsters suddenly appeared and, relying on sheer raw stats and absurd luck, rushed straight toward the final boss. Anyone would be curious enough to check that out.
Roger—an old acquaintance. Usually seen in the Gourmet Zone playing with Pokémon. Recently, though, his luck had turned pitch-black. He'd practically run out of Poké Balls without catching a single one. The embodiment of suffering.
Antilly—a "new character." Every time she appeared in Qiying's vision, she was beside Roger. They even died at nearly the same time. You could treat the two as a bundled item.
Occasionally, two young players tagged along—Wade had even fought one of them before. The girl was a complete stranger, constantly bickering with the young man.
These four gave him a strange sense of déjà vu. If Roger was the Pokémon Professor, then the two youngsters fit the classic rival pairing perfectly.
Fate had a taste for irony.
As for Darrick, Wade had seen him before—during the first anomaly in the Sein Dungeon. Darrick's performance was utterly average, forgettable even.
He never expected that this very same Darrick would get ahead of the main raiding group and be the first to reach the Abyss Watchers. Hidden masters truly did exist among the ordinary.
Curious, Wade sent a clone to investigate him in the city—and while he was at it, gathered info on every silver-ranked adventurer there.
If you had money, information was never a problem. Nothing he wanted was classified—ask around enough and all secrets trickled out.
"Don't underestimate my intel network… Darrick, your parents are dead, you have wolves, you have a house, right!"
Though Darrick claimed he had lived with wolves since childhood, a proper investigation easily exposed his ties to the Chester family.
Which led to the obvious conclusion: this guy harbored deep hatred toward demons.
Wade knew Darrick didn't dare form the covenant when he first saw the Old Wolf of Farron—so why did he suddenly dare today? Something must have triggered him.
Ah! Didn't a demon attack happen yesterday!?
Everything clicked neatly into place. Wade reasonably concluded that Darrick sought the covenant for strength—to take revenge on the demons.
A classic old-school web-novel protagonist setup.
Wade was also interested in the demon attacks—but his interest lay in figuring out how to instantly obliterate demons, those annoying, profitless pests who disrupted adventurers.
The demons he'd encountered so far were artificial, created by the anti-dungeon organization—worthless trash mobs that yielded no Mana. Real demons might drop something, but for now, they were all garbage.
But since the demon continent had dungeons, demons should also be capable of producing Mana.
Since Darrick was going to fight demons, Wade decided to give him a subtle push.
But actively granting cheats? Impossible. He refused to be treated like some indulgent sugar daddy burning Mana for free.
Power earned by one's own hands was the most precious.
So—
He decided to slightly increase the Mana drain on Darrick, letting him die a few more times.
Fighting strong enemies was growth—especially since the Abyss Watchers weren't just well-designed on paper, but technically brilliant in combat.
"I'll help you only this much. The rest is yours to figure out."
Wade watched Darrick through the crystal ball and prepared to adjust the Mana drain.
"…Wait."
He frowned.
"How many times has he revived already?"
While Wade pondered, Darrick died two more times—lasting up to three minutes.
But his death count had reached six!
Six deaths! Even with a large soul reserve, he should've hit the danger threshold. Yet Darrick still charged in without hesitation.
Wade stared intensely.
After the seventh death, Darrick returned to Firelink Shrine. He looked on the verge of a mental breakdown, curling on the ground as if his skull was splitting apart.
But he took out a potion and chugged it. Then tore open a magic scroll. A gentle light enveloped him, easing his expression as his mind stabilized.
Ah. A consumable addict.
When the Mana drain became overwhelming, he dosed himself with drugs and magic to stabilize. A clever tactic—though harmful in the long run.
"This guy would've been a grinding maniac on Earth."
Wade further reduced the Mana drain.
As a creator, watching someone willingly pour in this much effort, money, and even health into clearing his dungeon stirred a faint sense of… sentiment.
Meanwhile, fewer players entered the dungeon today—probably due to demon attacks—giving demons one more point of hatred in Wade's mind.
With nothing else to do, he kept watching Darrick—from dusk to dawn, and dawn to dusk.
Darrick's resting time lengthened. Even with reduced drain, he was nearing his limit.
As dungeon-closing time approached, he prepared for a final attempt.
He had already reserved a high-quality Holy Light Baptism at the Church for tomorrow, so he could restore his mental state and continue fighting the Abyss Watchers.
Adventurers didn't understand "Soul," but they knew very well that headaches determined whether they could keep exploring.
The Abyss Watchers were waiting. Illusion or not, both sides seemed tired of this endless battle.
Ten minutes.
That was Darrick's limit. Ten minutes—and one second more meant death.
"Come on…"
The Watcher opened with a leaping thrust. Darrick rolled aside. Next came the three-slash combo.
Just as expected—the Watcher chased and struck.
At this point, Darrick had memorized every cue. One motion of the Watcher's arm and he already knew what technique was coming.
But was it really that simple?
At the five-minute mark, exhausted, he suddenly realized the Watcher had changed rhythm. No longer locked into predictable patterns—his attacks grew flexible, mixing in feints and small, deadly tricks.
Everything before had been mere warm-up.
Now, the real fight began.
The Watcher's stat design was too beautiful. One hit meant death. Darrick was forced to perform a no-hit run.
At the ten-minute mark, the Watcher's assault intensified. Darrick's left arm was severed.
In a last gamble, he responded in mid-combat with a familiar motion—
The opening stance of the Abyss Watchers' sword-dance.
"After watching for so long, I managed to pick up a little."
He smiled proudly and launched his final attack. The Abyss Watcher mirrored the move.
A single exchange later, Darrick was cleaved in half.
He crumpled to the ground, the light fading from his eyes—but a faint smile still curled at his lips.
After a full day of struggle, he had gained his greatest reward—he'd learned a rough imitation of the Abyss Watchers' techniques.
Perhaps… he should call them "teacher."
Clang!
A greatsword dropped beside him—the weapon of a fallen Watcher. Dazed, Darrick lifted his gaze and saw the Watcher beckoning him.
That gesture… was it telling him to challenge again?
"…"
In that moment, Darrick felt indescribable satisfaction.
He had been acknowledged—acknowledged by the Abyss Watchers!
Overwhelmed, he trembled. And before losing consciousness, he thought:
I want to spend my whole life in the Dungeon!
His affection toward the dungeon surged—and the dungeon sensed it immediately.
At the same time, something unexpected appeared before Wade.
A system message popped up:
[Darrick Chester's Bond exceeds 50!]
["Kindred Heart" Module Unlocked!]
"Kindred Heart" was the option beside "Available Monsters" that had always been grayed out.
Curious, Wade opened it—and was greeted by a row of illustrated portraits.
He recognized every face—Darrick, Leon, Roger, Stella, and more.
Each drawn in refined, game-style character art—Darrick surrounded by wolves, posing like an Abyss Watcher; Stella praising the sun atop a pile of bows, spears, and greatshields; the Holy Knight Albud pointing at the viewer like Uncle Sam, eyes blazing with zeal.
Wade scrolled further—and suddenly choked on his own saliva.
He saw something insane.
Leon's illustration—
Leon stood with one foot on an elderly man who resembled him, gripping a woman who also looked like him by the collar, pointing mockingly downward with his free hand.
He was laughing maniacally, wielding a reverse-grip sword and a rapid-fire crossbow. At his feet were shattered dung jars and a flaming straight sword.
The once righteous, handsome youth had devolved into a twisted villain!
[Kindred: Leon Bask]
[Bond: 45]
[Summon Talent: Brutal Beating Frenzy]
Greatly increases allied unarmed combat power, but allies enter a berserk state
"What the hell is this 'Kindred Heart' mode…?"
After reading the description, Wade finally understood.
"So it's… a hero unit system."
Messing with things like this was way more fun.