After one second of absolute darkness, Almond found himself in an alley.
An alley with unbearable stench, filled with trash.
And among those trash was him, lying on a trash heap with his face buried in it.
‘FUCKING HELL.’
Almond sprung up from it, his face warped in misery, but he suddenly felt pain all over his body and fell down again.
[Welcome to the trial of Underworld City Dominion. From hereon, your stats, skills, innate talents, and other power sources in your source space are sealed.]
[Take a look at your new profile and begin your dominion. Survive, rise, and dominate until you attain one of the eight positions of an Underworld King, which would mark 100% completion of the trial. Dying will end the trial.]
[Almond Crowshade]
-Rank: Trash [ 0/10 kills to rank up.].
-Stats:
—Physical:
↳[Strength: 5 | Health: 5 | Stamina: 8]
—Mental:
↳[Mana: 7 | Focus: 10 | Perception: 10]
-Skills:
—> Extraction: You can choose one of the skills of a person you kill. — Can only be used once per month.
Almond stood up again, this time slowly while adjusting to his new, weaker, and painful body.
He looked at his arms and legs as he weakly smiled, ‘I’m as weak as a thin strand of hair.’
At least, that’s what he felt after degrading to such weak stats.
He was about to take a deep breath, but changed his mind and quickly hurried out of the trash alley.
What greeted him outside was a bustling city street with big buildings, giving steam-cyberpunk feels as Almond saw structures, buildings, the technology of shops, and people of various races, some not even looking humanoid yet wearing clothes.
‘Humans, elves, dwarves, and strange aliens…what the fuck is this Underworld City? Is it real or made up by the Black Will Temple? I should have asked how this trial started for everyone. If it was the same, then this is an imaginary world.’
Almond started walking in a random direction on the pedestrian footpath while cars and other strange vehicles moved over the road.
‘My mana manipulation is same at the same level as before,’ Almond’s eyes glinted as he let the mana dance around his finger. ‘But I can’t use my Golden Haze Lightning…’
‘I have intact memories, so my combat ability will work. I just need a sword,’ Almond glanced around while walking.
“Shit, you stinking bastard. Get away.”
Almond was suddenly kicked from behind on his legs as he fell and saw a big man with a coat covering his fleshy body wiggling out four long arms.
He saw the man turning to him, opening his ugly mouth with two big fangs outside, and spitting at him before saying, “Go get a bath at the river, piece of trash.”
‘Fucking hell,’ Almond internally cursed and got up.
Ignoring the pain, he continued walking before stopping at a rather shabby shop with an old man sitting on a chair and reading a digital newspaper.
Almond asked the old man about the location of the river and headed there.
“Fuck,” Almond touched the water and it was freezing cold.
But after taking a deep breath, he jumped in without hesitation.
After washing himself, he looked around and asked around for labor work to settle himself a shelter.
After two hours of non-stop begging, a restaurant owner hired him as a second cleaner.
He asked for some food first since he was hungry, but he got slapped and told to work instead.
After working for three hours, his shift ended and he finally got food.
After eating, he continued working for three more hours before he got a wage of six hours—6 gold coins.
The restaurant was closed, and he got to sleep in the worker’s chamber in the basement of the restaurant with three others on a crude mattress on the floor.
‘I have to become an Underworld King, and my only skill is extremely vital for that. I have to kill someone strong, someone with a super useful skill.’
‘This restaurant is a good place to start. It’s rather famous, and I saw a few people who got VIP treatment from the owner. I have to gather more information about this city’s social structure and forces.’
‘This trial is going to be the longest short trial,’ Almond wryly smiled and closed his eyes as he shut off his mind and fell asleep.
For the next three days, Almond behaved like a curious and hardworking young chap as he appeared eighteen years old here as well and gathered sufficient surface information regarding the physical and social structure, as well as big forces of this Underworld City.
Aside from the eight Underworld Kings that lived in the inner zone of the city, there were 50 Underworld Dukes who ruled various parts of the outer section.
There was no law or rules here as everything was dictated by the rulers.
Almond was in an area ruled by Underworld Duke Leitar Kel Zinom—An alien with an octopus head with tentacles instead of a beard, and a big muscular humanoid frame with green-black rough skin.
Almond saw a person going berserk after using some kind of substance just a street away, killing several pedestrians before Leitar’s subordinates arrived and killed him.
Leitar had three main subordinates, and one of them daily visited the restaurant where Almond worked—Jemsil Rocket, a monkey-humanoid with a slick vest holding two fancy sci-fi pistoles with green and red neon-liquid patterns.
That was Almond’s target, his intended first kill.
For the next three days, Almond used his free time to roam the city and find out more about it, while also looking out for his main objective—poison.
The only way to kill someone like Jemsil Rocket was by mixing poison in his food.
But he didn’t want to be traced, so buying poison from someone was out of options.
He couldn’t afford to trust anyone here. What if the person who sold him the poison ratted him out or after identifying the poison, it was traced back to that seller and Leitar made him talk?
There was no other safer option aside from making a lethal poison himself and using it.
As such, he was visiting places where people dealt with chemicals and herbs, like alchemists.
After trying at many places, he became friends with a rather despondent alchemist with an unsuccessful business as his products were not as appealing as others.
Talk no jutsu worked against this alchemist as Almond at first greeted him by daily visiting him, becoming familiar, helping out occasionally, and cheering him for his efforts.
His–Emotional Support Ego Stroking plan—worked as he intended and he got a gateway to getting information about making poison.
Two weeks passed by in total as Almond was making progress with the alchemist and also becoming an obedient and hard worker in the restaurant.
His image in the owner’s eyes got good, and he got permission to use the kitchen to cook food after the restaurant closed as he told the owner he was aspiring to become a chef.
One more week passed by as Almond slowly cooked to make a stable, tasty dish to add to the menu while refining his poison with the help of the alchemist, who didn’t even know he was helping Almond kill Jemsil Rocket.
If he knew, that Alchemist would definitely puke a liter of blood.
Finally, as his first month came to an end in this city, Almond was ready to enact his first execution.
Everything depended on this plan that was risky yet highly rewarding. Explore hidden tales at empire
‘One month of living like an insect, and preparing all this…’ Almond’s eyes fiery glimmered as he lay on his mattress.
‘Tomorrow is the day I take the first step in my dominion of this city.’