Rise of a Dungeon Lord

50 years later

"Breaking news!"

"Lord of Space Elric becomes the first of mankind to breakthrough an SS-class dungeon"

"Fire Fist Davis and God of Lighting Adam Young fought at a tie for three days and three nights successively sinking three islands in the process"

"On other news, the influx of dungeons into the blue star has seen a geometric rise over the past 50 years"

"Is this the sign of a new era? With the birth of heroes such as Lord of Space Elric, Fire fist Davis, and Ice Queen Elsa, do we humans stand a chance over the ever-increasing dungeons and monsters?

"Stay tuned for all this and more on Hunter Tv, I'm your host Elizabeth Swan and I wish you a good night!"

Putting off the television, a beautiful figure could be seen sitting on a snow-white couch

"So it's been fifty years..."

"Big brother where did you go, didn't we pinky swear?"

with slightly misty eyes, she was about to continue reminiscing, but unfortunately, a hoarse voice interrupted her thoughts

"Young lady, the Miss is waiting for you"

standing at the entrance was a tall figure wearing a white long dress and a fox mask.

"I see tell her I'll be on my way"

hearing her reply, the figure immediately turned into a shadow and disappeared as fast as he came.

"Sigh... it seems I have to go now"

taking one last look at the television, she wiped her tears getting ready to leave the room.

"Don't worry big brother, I'll find out what truly happened that day and get revenge!"

"For both of us!"

clenching her fists, she seems to have transformed into a whole different person from a sad grieving maiden to a cold immortal goddess.

.....

Arthur POV

Somewhere in an unknown void, a faint silhouette could be seen making a slight sound from time to time

"Where am I?

"What am I"

"Who am I?

With a clear tone of confusion, these three questions sounded through the void, unfortunately, no one was there to answer.

Soon, like water, time began to flow, maybe days, weeks, months, years, just a dark silhouette mumbling trying to find answers on its existence.

After a period of unknown time, an unexpected change occurred in the void.

All of a sudden, the silhouette started to glow, brighter and brighter gradually giving itself a stable form.

"What's going on!?"

"Who's there!?"

Seeing his sudden change, emotions he had never felt such as fear, excitement, and curiosity, flooded his heart. Thankfully unlike the usual no response from the void, a slightly familiar mechanical voice sounded I'm his mind

[Congratulations to the host for successful integration!]

hearing the voice, emotions of curiosity and joy could be heard in his tone as for the first time he got a response

"Host?"

"What is a host?"

like a child having learnt a new word, he started repeating words and asking all the questions he could.

[....]

[Although I expected this to happen I guess it can't be helped]

"host?"

"toast?"

"Host is toast?"

Ignoring its host's constant rambling the system began to emit a soft light which enveloped his entire figure

[detected that the host soul is slightly damaged and unstable]

[consuming original source!]

If someone could look closely at this moment, they would notice that his originally somewhat vague figure began to become somewhat clearer.

Soon after a period of time, a slightly stable figure was formed.

with each ramble, it seemed a layer of his former intelligence was coming back.

"host?"

"host I'm the host!"

"Arthur is the host!"

"I'm Arthur!

Soon, a heart laugh resounded through the void seeming to celebrate his complete awakening

*haha little blue, it's great to see you too!*

*However, how long have I been floating here?

looking at the empty void all around, a touch of confusion appeared on his face.

[Fifty years host... it's been fifty years]

*Fifty years huh?*

"Wait fifty years!!*

he couldn't help but burst into an exclamation as he heard such an outrageous number.

*Elsa, Miss Reyna, Aunt Livia, thinking of all those figures he hadn't seen for fifty years, all of a sudden the joy of remembering his name was immediately diluted.

*however, I can't just think of negative things, let's try and cheer up*

trying to cheer himself on, began to think of any bright side to the current situation.

*Yes I've got it!

*At least thankfully I'm alive, that's good news!*

thinking of that last lightning strike, he shiver ran down his spine

[....]

Unfortunately, it seemed a certain system thought otherwise

[not meaning to burst your bubble host, but from human standards, you cannot be classified as a living being]

*What do you mean by "cannot be classified as a living being?"*

listening to those words, a bad feeling suddenly came.

[meaning that host, you are dead-]

"dead? dead? how could I be dead?"

learning he was dead, his slightly recovering soul started to fluctuate as motions of manic anxiety overwhelmed him.

It seemed the systems work on his soul earlier didn't perfectly fix it

*I can't be dead! I have to go home now, Chu Ting, aunt Wang, they're all waiting for me!*

[Host calm down!]

[your soul is currently unstable right now, from long exposure without a body]

*dead! dead! I can't be dead!*

unfortunately, the already depressed Arthur seemed to have tuned all news as he was lost in his paranoia

[Sigh... why did I get a host like this]

Emitting a soft light the fluctuating soul began to calm down

[Host, you didn't allow me to finish what I was saying]

[dead, you're dead physically]

[Your body was crushed into pieces by the collapsing dungeon, then smashed into smithereens by the last lightning strike]

*hehe sorry about that*

with somewhat shy and awkward laughter, he tried changing the topic

*By the way, am I like a ghost or something now?*

looking around the void, a strong sense of curiosity filled him,

[Um...no host, your current situation is a bit special]

*Sigh let's not talk about that for now*

Obviously from the hesitation in the system, he could tell his situation wasn't something that could be explained simply.

Pressing down his curiosity, he decided to sort out other things before coming back to that.

*Where are we tho?*

Judging from his surroundings, he couldn't relate this to anywhere on the blue star. However, he had to make sure before jumping to conclusions, thankfully the system seemed to know all that happened while he was unconscious.

*So system, where are we?*

[.....]

hearing the silence of the system, an ominous premonition suddenly came to mind.

*we won't really have left the blue star?*

[host according to my analysis, we're currently-]