Passed through the threshold of the gigantic stone doors. I realised they weren't stone; they were some black marble, maybe obsidian? But that would mean that whoever made this place must have been rich. Was this an ancient ruin filled with monsters and treasure?

  If I were an adventurer and not some office jockey that accidentally burned down a forest. Exploring this death trap would really excite me. Instead, I was checking the room for enemies. Never stop checking the room for enemies. Got to make that a habit.

  My sensible dress shoes landed with a hollow sound. They were not for stealth. Ill tell you that. Looking around, I noticed a shallow fog of mist clinging to the edges, as if they were afraid of something.

  The first chamber stretched wide, swallowed by eerie shadows that made me want to leave immediately. But the spooky old temple beat fire any day of the month. So moving forward was the only way, and so I ventured in valiantly. Grime covered my shoes, I noticed with a glance.

  "Damn, that will take ages to get out." I foolishly spoke aloud.

  Jenny told me to shush in a voice I vaguely recognised from some movie. I took her suggestion to heart and promptly shut up. Cautious, I assessed the room, noticing it was octagonal. A pathway leading deeper into the temple. Torches dotted the wall, somehow still alight after all these years. Or someone was still living here.

  Not wanting to venture further, I collapsed against a side wall and let my body relax. Needing to rest and assess my options, the obvious thing was to look at my ill-gotten gains.

  [Experience Points Harvested: 500xp]

  Five hundred? To be honest, considering the size of the blazing inferno, that seemed kind of small. Jenny promptly set me straight with another prompt.

  [Experience Points Harvesting Field. Range: 30 metres.]

  Okay, that makes sense. I don't get experience points like normal people do. The system must tag the XP somehow. Me, I am just having Jenny soak up any unclaimed experience points hanging around. Is that right, Jen? I sent a thought to my system advisor.

  The affirmation explained a lot. But right now was not the place to ponder the intricacies of the system. Now was to use all my ill-gotten gains to reform myself into something that could survive. I pushed away the guilt of burning down a forest, intending to deal with it later. Survival was my only path, and it began now.

  We spent a full hour going over the resilience attribute and all the aspects to ensure it functioned correctly. One thing emerged: we had to get it right. Changing an integrated attribute was difficult and borderline impossible.

  "Alright, Jen, integrate the resilience attribute. But first let me prepare." I withdrew my belt from my slacks and bit down on the leather. "Alright, do it." I said through gritted teeth.

  The integration was way worse than before. I was thankful for my foresight in putting something between my teeth. Without it, I would have likely bitten off my tongue and screamed loud enough to wake the dead.

  Every fibre of my being radiated excruciating pain, and I cursed my luck for not having a pain reduction skill. That would be one of the first skills I would try to gain. With this pain, every integration would just be consecutive hells, one after the other.

  Thankfully I blacked out, or maybe not since something could eat me while I'm unconscious. But I didn't really have a choice. Darkness claimed me like a lover's embrace, if that lover was abusive.

  Not sure how long I was out, but I eventually groaned awake. Sore all over and ready to restart my horrible journey again. Trying to stand, pain shot through my legs like lightning, and I promptly sat back down.

  Well, let's check my journey so far. Escaped from the home office, ended up in a forest, nearly gotten eaten by some hentai looking forest monster, became a chew toy for some doggies and finally burned down a forest with a spray can and lighter.

  "Did I miss anything, Jenny?"

  She played gentle music, as that was indeed everything. With that out of the way, I finally stood to my full height. Stretched my aching limbs, feeling them crack and shift under the skin. Painful yet oddly pleasurable.

  "What's my resilience at right now?"

  [Resilience: 10]

  "Only ten points, not too bad. But will that hold up with my twelve in force? I guess we will find out." I declared, scanning the room.

  The circular antechamber was dimly lit by what I suspect is most likely magical torchlight. Spaced evenly on each side of the wall, undeterred by the faint wisp of air that came through the entrance. Casting a glance at the walls, I noticed pulsating roots emerging from cracks in the stone. Like blood vessels coating the walls, they didn't bode well for the general theme.

  I was getting serious spooky evil temple vibes and hoping the place was easy enough for my low level. But I seriously doubted that, but exploring this place seemed the right choice. I can't just chill here forever, and going back out is not wise either.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Now, I wasn't a tracker, but I noticed some faint footprints on the floor. The dust and general need for spring cleaning made it obvious even to the untrained eye. Looks like a group of maybe-humans came by this way. Are they friendly? No clue, hopefully they are and they can direct me to the nearest town.

  Travelling deeper into the antechamber, I came across the scene of a battle. Blood soaked walls, deceased abominations on the floor. The tableau left nothing to the imagination. Four corpses, each of them very dead from a variety of wounds. They were also not entirely human, humanoid to be sure, but the rest, not so much.

  "Don't these things look familiar?" I said aloud.

  Humanoids covered in grey fur, with the body of a human and the head of a canine. Essentially, if you took those Gnarltooth cubs and mashed them with a human. You get these dog-men creatures. Only these guys were wearing leather armour and had well-made swords.

  I wasn't a blacksmith, but those looked like forged steel. I briefly considered doing a scan, but that seemed like a waste of system points. A quick look suggested it was a serrated machete.

  "Well, it's as good as any weapon."

  Plundering the deceased dog-man, I took his machete and even tried on his leather armour. That didn't fit, but a smaller dog man to the right fit pretty well. Took me a full twenty minutes to don the apparel.

  "Okay Jen, maybe set up a quick equip program for the to-do list." I suggested, already lazy.

  Hearing a soft ding in the back of my mind, noted another addition to the to-do. Which comprised finishing the rest of my attributes and now figuring out an armour equipment feature to my system.

  "Should be able to make some sort of inventory space. But that might be complicated, might as well just copy the bag." I gestured to my suitcase turned into an adventurer's bag.

  Sadly, there wasn't a mirror close by. I really wanted to see if I looked like a certain lone wanderer or a well-dressed dweller. Wondering if I should put my tie back on, I dumped it into the bag. I wouldn't want an enemy to pull on it and choke me to death. The moment the bag opened, and I dropped the tie, good old Jeremy leapt out.

  "Sup Jer, had a good nap?" I said with some spite.

  The little feline bastard has been of no help during the adventure. Maybe I should put a crown on his head and start calling him a prince? I quickly dismissed that idea. His ego needs no more stroking. The little fur ball already thinks he is superior. And I suppose he kind of is, considering how we first met.

  Machete in hand, leather armour covering my worn-in business suit, system construct telepathically linked to my brain, localised in a phone in my left breast pocket, and now my cat following alongside me. This ancient temple does not know what it's dealing with.

  Stepping over a dog mans corpse, I stopped for a second. My bag had a lot of inventory space. With that thought, I went full pack rat and stripped the dogmen of anything valuable, dumping that into my bag. And not being a perv, I left them with some clothes on.

  I mean, the dead and the captured deserve some dignity at least. To strip someone of all their clothes and leave them on the ground stark naked is just in poor taste. Then again, I have left near-naked corpses scattered around the map whenever I play a certain video game with dragons.

  With the looting done, weapon in hand, we ventured on through the spooky temple. Wanting some help, I followed the footprints, and they turned left down a forked pathway. The centre had a sturdy portcullis barring me from going that way. But through the rusted iron bars I could see another circular room with a pedestal at the centre.

  "Maybe a church to the blood god. But I don't see any skull thrones." I absently said.

  Jeremy immediately hissed up a storm, and my machete rose to a guarded position. I mean, at least I hoped it was a guarded position. Scanning the chamber through the portcullis, I had expected some abomination to drop from the ceiling and start a boss fight. But it was as silent as a grave.

  Confused, I looked down at the still-hissing feline and noticed he was facing another direction. Scowling at the right-hand corridor, like he hated the stone carvings that dotted the wall. Glancing at one carving sent a chill down my spine. Depictions of shadowy figures pulling hearts out of victims and plugging them into abominations.

  Shaking away the thoughts of that happening to me, I steadied my mind. What occurred next explained all the hissing. Footsteps echoed from the corridor, thankfully only from a single person pacing. I had hoped friendly adventurers were coming, but another dogman, decked out in similar leather armour and wielding a machete, dashed that hope.

  Stopping in his tracks, he stared at me with those yellow eyes before turning to the corpses. The snarling that followed revealed the dead guys might have been friends of his.

  "Would you believe I didn't actually kill them? Just robbed their corpses?" I professed my innocence, and being the reasonable sort, he tried to stab me.

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