[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
Irregularity confirmed
Reclassification analysis complete:
Classification:
LOW LEVEL DUNGEON BOSS
RULE VIOLATIONS
CAN NOT KEEP CONTAINED
NPC WILL NOT FOLLOW SYSTEM COMMANDS
SYSTEM UPDATING 12%
The world around me began to shift. The cracks in the black and grey digital world began to fix themselves and restore to the dungeon area I remembered. The dungeon area where I had died 567 times.
The system message didn't leave my vision.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
SYSTEM UPDATING 45%
I didn't know what would happen once the system finished updating, but my movement was no longer restricted. I walked around the wide area, finally able to analyze my surroundings. I was in an arena-like space, a bare grassy field with a forest surrounding the entirety of it. As the area constructed itself, the color returned—the green, vibrant color of the forest and grass.
I took my rusty metal gauntlets off and touched the grass softly. Rugged hands that I didn't recognize. Calluses covered them. These hands had worked harder than most, it seemed. I was able to feel my surroundings. A tear fell down my cheek slowly. I was able to feel it.
I played video games in the real world. I played a lot of video games, which made my death loop apparent to me. I was in something like a video game. The system had already confirmed I was a dungeon boss, and not a high-level one.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
SYSTEM UPDATE COMPLETE
WELCOME TO AETHROS
BOSS ENTITY: RUSTBOUND KNIGHT
PROTECTOR OF THE VERDANT TRIAL GROUNDS
…
SYSTEM UPDATED TO UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCES
BOSS ENTITY: RUSTBOUND KNIGHT QUALIFIES AS AN ADVENTURER
PLEASE INPUT YOUR NAME
I could tell this wasn't just new to me, but to the system as well. My existence in this world as a dungeon boss somehow made the system glitch and change. I thought about my name from the real world, Jayce.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
BOSS ENTITY NAME CHANGE COMPLETE:
JAYCE THE RUSTBOUND KNIGHT
LOW LEVEL DUNGEON BOSS ENTITY
This had to be the way the world handled this unique situation. If I had to guess, it was trying to rationalize someone being thrust into the body of one of its NPCs, let alone one of its bosses. The more I thought about the situation, panic started to set in. I had died 567 times, so I hadn't had the time to fully process my situation. I was able to feel every breath, something I wasn't able to really do before.
I couldn't catch my breath and I fell to the grassy floor. I gripped the grass, ripping it from the ground as I tried to catch my breath. My chest felt tight. I died in the real world. A semi-truck hit me. My parents probably had to bury a mangled body. I left them alone in the real world just to die 567 damn times. And now I was alone in this dungeon with no clue how to get out, no clue if adventurers were going to continue to return and try to kill me again. I didn't want there to be a 568th time. I didn't want to die again.
"Please," I pleaded out loud to the system. "Please don't let me die again."
Nothing. The system gave me no reassurance. I didn't even know if it was going to help me or drag me down because I was a glitch in its system.
I lay down in the grassy field, my arms spread out, looking up at the sky. Were the adventurers of this world even allowed to join this instance anymore? It had been a while since the last instance. I didn't even know how the dungeons in this world worked. I didn't even know if this was real or some twisted reality hell was torturing me with. Was this hell? It certainly didn't feel like paradise.
As I lay there contemplating my possible existence, the system popped up again:
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
BOSS ENTITY NOW UNBOUND FROM INSTANCE
INSTANCE WILL SHUT DOWN IN 30 MINUTES
WOULD YOU LIKE TO WARP TO THE ENTRANCE?
YES OR NO?
"If I don't teleport out, what happens to me?" I asked the system.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
INSTANCE IS UNSTABLE
DESYNCHRONIZATION WILL COMMENCE
BOSS ENTITY: THE RUSTBOUND KNIGHT WILL BE ERASED
I either chose to live or disappear. The last thing I wanted to do was die. I couldn't do it again, but disappearing… that might be more peaceful than death. Maybe I wouldn't feel a thing. Maybe I just wouldn't exist. It was definitely the easy way out of this situation. Who knows, maybe I choose to stay and I wake up from this terrible dream in my bed. Both thoughts scared me.
I didn't know what waited for me at the entrance of this dungeon, but I also didn't know if I wanted to disappear. The only viable option had to be to teleport out, right?
I didn't even answer the system. It was like it read my mind.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
TELEPORTING TO THE ENTRANCE
The same black and grey digitized blocks that once made up this dungeon swarmed around me. It didn't look the same as the teleportation the adventurers used to come into this instance. My body felt light, and in a second the grassy field and lush forest were gone. My vision blurred as it adjusted to the harsh sunlight beating down on me. A loud whooshing noise started behind me. There was a type of portal behind me, a black and grey wormhole which I believed was the entrance into the dungeon. It was positioned right in front of a huge forest, and in what felt like an instant, it forced itself shut.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
BOSS ENTITY: JAYCE, THE RUSTBOUND KNIGHT SUCCESSFULLY UNBOUND FROM THE VERDANT TRIAL GROUNDS
It seemed I was no longer plagued by the death loop, or at least I hoped I wasn't. My time as the Verdant Trial Grounds tutorial boss might have also been over since I basically broke the dungeon with my existence.
I stood still, thinking about my existence in this world. I didn't think it was possible. Reincarnation.
I was so lost in thought I didn't even notice the group of people gathering where the gate once was.
He was back.
One man stood tall at the front of the crowd, looking directly at me. He wore the same red armor as the man who took me down instantly somewhere between my 370th and 400th death. They started to blur together, but that death… I remembered it more than the others.
He wasn't wearing his helmet this time. His salt-and-pepper hair was visible, along with the shadow of a beard and mustache. A large scar stretched across his face, covering his left eye and forcing it shut.
His voice was deep, like it came from the lowest part of his chest. "How are you possible?"
What was I supposed to say? I didn't know anything. I didn't even know it was possible to reincarnate.
A system message appeared, pulling my attention away from him:
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
AURA LEVEL 38
UNKNOWN PLAYER NAME
PLAYER HAS HIS GUARD UP
Aura level? The system could read power? It even knew he was ready for anything I could throw at him.
"Why are you out of your dungeon, Rustbound Knight?" he asked.
"I don't know," I responded hesitantly.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
PLAYER DROPPED HIS GUARD
He dropped his guard? He doesn't think I'm a threat?
The man stepped closer, alone. None of the other adventurers dared to follow him.
He let out a small chuckle. "Do you know how many times I've killed you? I remember taking you on when I was just learning the ropes of this world. How are you possible?"
I didn't know how to respond. He knew I wasn't a threat. Could he read aura like me? I wondered if he had a system as well.
"Not a man of many words, huh?" he said.
I was face to face with the strongest opponent I had ever faced. If he wanted to, he could cut me down right here without effort. I probably wouldn't even notice it, just like last time.
"I don't know who I am," I said. "I don't know how I'm possible."
The man looked at me for a moment, then extended his hand.
"Well… maybe I can help you figure that out."