“I’ll repeat myself,” Zefor said as his fingers began to dig into the table’s wood. If it was anything similar to what he’d seen so far in this Dungeon World, then it was beyond William’s abilities to damage, no matter how rickety. “Which missing truth do you want to test my patience with?”

  William unintentionally tried to back up. Being on a twelve thousand levels plus deficit tended to make things a bit harder to react to confidently. “Z-Zefor?”

  Fuck! He figured out I was keeping information hidden? How?

  “There are rules that we have learned the it abides to. Laws of its existence that govern it, including all of the its breaks and ruinous abilities that slip through the cracks. The ones that concern us are a couple. First and foremost, all its breaks come in pairs, William. You’ve spoken to me about one as though that is the only thing you had. I was clear with my words and demands. Rightfully, I should rip you to shreds, but will give you a chance. What is the pairing and what are the significant drawbacks to balance it out. Something as simple as yours simply does not exist. Start speaking, William.”

  William stared at the red skinned ancient being before him for a good long second. He had been trying to outsmart a creature that had lived for as long as human civilization had existed based on current archeological research, if not longer. He wasn’t even alive for a fraction of a percentage of its existence. Yet, here he was trying to–

  “Well?”

  William sighed and resolved himself to this joke of fate. Being stuck between a hard place and a rock was not an ideal position so early into his becoming overpowered career. There was no choice but to give the ancient man what he wanted. He would try to hide as much as possible, but he understood that it was unlikely to succeed considering he was threatening to torture him endlessly for thousands of years. He didn't doubt the ancient monster was long lived enough to fulfill that promise.

  “Want me to start with the negatives?” William asked as he rubbed his face.

  Zefor nodded.

  “To start, I can't analyze anything—”

  “Wait, what?” Zefor said as he reeled back. “You can't analyze? What do you mean you can't analyze? That's the most basic function of the it and would require a massive reimbursement to be removed. You wouldn’t even be capable of differentiating between friend and foe until they make it clear themselves. I can see how that would be abused against you in a hundred different situations, much less finding anything special. Some of the most powerful items in existence actually look like mundane things. Lots of rocks.”

  William shrugged there wasn’t much to it. “I just can't. Every time I analyze it tears my head apart. The only time it does work is if it pulls up its own analysis. I have no control over it.”

  Zefor pulled out a blindingly bright stone that resembled the skill shards he had found within the bowels of the dungeon they were in. William felt his mouth go dry. This one was in a different world compared to the abject trash in his inventory. His eyes blurred as he looked back into his inventory. There was no comparison. A literal sun next to darkness.

  “Did it react?”

  System Self Prompt Analysis -

  [Skill Shard] - Blight Dragon’s Blood (A+)

  Tips and Hints -

  Higher ranked [Skill Shard]s cause positive mutation likelihood to increase.

  William nodded his head. “Yeah. It self prompted.”

  Zefor tapped his chin as the (A+) ranked [Skill Shard] vanished back into his inventory. He thought for a few minutes while William regretted not trying to convince the red man to let him hold it for a second. He didn’t even need to keep it. Just unlock the class and stick to it instead of trying to level multiple classes, even though he knew that it was a ridiculous idea.

  Thankfully, he hadn’t been able to commit to his overreaction to seeing something so powerful.

  Wonder what the hell an (S+) ranked shard looks like. I got to make sure to finish that big quest and get back to earth after beating the final boss, just to get access to it.

  “Let’s try this then,” Zefor pulled out a basic looking dagger, silver metal with a glossed wooden pommel that swirled at the end, then placed it on the table. “Anything on this?”

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  William waited for a few seconds as he focused on the dagger, but the system did not react. He shook his head negative.

  “Pick it up.”

  He followed the old man’s command and picked up the blade. He marveled at how perfectly it fit in his palm like someone had taken his measurements and tailored it uniquely for his grip. When the system did not react, he shook his head again.

  “Give it to me–”

  William handed it back to Zefor.

  “–William, I bequeath you this dagger. Use it wisely.”

  Weapon bequeathment by Requisitely Powerful Being Detected -

  1 Basic Dagger (made by The Red, The Doom, Ancient Devourer)

  +29 Strength

  +25 Dexterity

  +33 Vitality

  +10 Arcane

  William’s jaw dropped and eyes widened further and further as he kept reading the stat boosts again and again. That was more attribute points than he had total for nothing but a basic dagger that was made by Zefor. He intentionally chose to ignore the titles that came after the dagger. William could already imagine equally impressive titles and names considering he was over twelve thousand levels above him.

  If anything he expected something more frightening; Galaxy Annihilator, World Atomizer, Multi-Galaxy Emperor of Destruction and Suffering

  “I see. What did it say exactly this time?” Zefor said with clear amusement at William’s reaction.

  “Weapon bequeathment by Requisitely Powerful Being Detected. Then it listed a basic dagger and a couple of titles like the Red, the Doom, and Ancient Devourer. Lastly it showed some impressive attribute boosts.”

  Zefor frowned deeply. “That’s not a good sign. Means you wont get a reaction from the system if you are bequeathed with an item from someone it does not consider worthy… and considering I am the first being it recognized, it’s going to base future parameters on my strength. Which basically means–”

  “I’ll never get a bequeathment self prompt ever again.”

  “Keep the dagger.”

  William closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Eventually, that dagger would not be anything special if he survived long enough. This was not a worthy trade to lose an entire function of his system. Was he supposed to complain?

  Fuck this. Im dead either way, not like its going to make a difference.

  He had more important things to concern himself with, including trying to figure out how to convince the ancient being in front of him to somehow give him a few [Skill Shard]s without sounding like he was demanding it. He had to be roundabout with it enough that it would be plausible and give him the best possible chance at it working. William had no clue how he was going to pull it off.

  “How about this?” Zefor pulled out a second dagger, though this one was made of obsidian and nothing else. It looked machine made and then sharpened.

  William shook his head again.

  “And this–”

  They went on for what could possibly have been hours. Longer than any time he had been awake ever since he had arrived in this Dungeon World. Zefor kept experimenting with ever single possibility that the ancient thing could think of. It was an endless, grueling process that was mindnumbingly boring. All the way to testing the looting function and its eccentricities. Worse yet, he didn’t gain much other than a single Imperial Standard sword and another [Earthly Realm Rune Shard].

  Zefor didn’t say anything until they returned back to the cell. “It is as I suspected. You can only analyse if the item in question is active or the situation is considered an active action to retrieve it. Looting primarily. Weapons are not considered active items, but [Skill Shard]s and [Rune Shard]s are since they directly affect the system and your ability to grow. A world shaking sword in the hands of a child is nothing but a lump of steel.”

  William was learning things just from being around him. The entire process had been enlightening. “So, what does all of this mean. For me, I mean.”

  “It means, you’re screwed. This is a very large setback, though it does not account for two broken piece that account as an advantage. What’s the next one?”

  “I only have a quarter of my inventory available to me, no access to any tutorial during arrival, an (F-) class, arriving in a Dungeon World I am clearly too weak to be in, and arriving literally a couple dozen large steps from an ancient being that is likely older than human civilization entirely,” William said, though he paused to think and hum in case he missed anything. “Oh! And you threatened to torture my soul for as long as you are alive and I dont mentally become ruined.”

  Zefor’s eyebrows slowly raised with every disadvantage he heard. It was his turn to have his jaw drop.

  “I’m not sure if there are any other negatives honestly. I’ve been here for about a day so far if I consider looping after every death at the same time as a reset on the clock. I’ve only started to get hungry… do you by chance have any food?”

  It was not beyond William to try to fish for some more heavenly items that would give him as much runes just by munching as the heavenly water did. He was going to get more benefits out of this bullshit one way or another. Even if it meant being somewhat shameless.

  Zefor waved his hand and a bowl of rice with some type of strange bird meat on top. No spoon. The ancient man was too busy thinking to notice William’s surreptitious fist pump.

  William did not even hesitate to dig in with his hands. He had no experience at eating rice with his fingers, but he knew without a shadow of doubt that he was not about to leave a single grain left on the plate. He munched a couple bites as flavors he had never tasted before exploded in his mouth. A heavenly taste that left him dazed for a few seconds. Nothing like this had ever entered his digestive system. He doubted human culinary skills could even compare to something like this.

  Heavenly Food Consumed -

  + 150 Runes

  He stared at the plate before him, trying to fight off the pseudo intoxication that had hit him.

  There were runes to be gained.