The next we see of our beloved mc, he is in his room. He found out about the past, the past of this "body" he had taken. It seemed to be him, but of an alternative world. He knew that his old world wasn't just a dream as he could vividly remember what had happened there. This new one also wasn't a dream cause, well, he punched himself in the face and didn't wake up. And he certainly hadn't woken up on a cart where someone with long hair told him "Hey you. You're finally awake."
It seemed like he was someone who was the "strongest in the world". He had one a tournament or something in the past, but didn't want that identity to mesh in with his daily life so had kept it a secret. He chose to roll with it as the original version of the body probably had a good reason.
He was still confused about this world, so he decided to go through his thoughts about how this world was structured. Definitely not because a random author needed world building.
So, this world was different from his world in a very small way. Normally you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. That difference was the existing of elemental powers. Each person manifested an element when they were born and got a second one after a few years. The element was of course genetic, so they got it from their parents. Each person also got a certain specialization or "combat type" as the nerds called it. He was a primarily mage and secondarily a swordsman. He could feel that his body was more Intune with the mage aspect, but to be fair, being a mage was boring. Hence, he decided to take the physical path of swordman. He always like to be a melee fighter in those games where on constantly rolled.
A new sport also came through called Elementalis, which almost the entire world took part in or watched. There also was the World Elementalis Association (W.E.A) who were basically the authorities on the sport. Everyone who took part got a license with their State, Country and World rank in it. This license ended up becoming the main proof of anything in the world.
There was also a competition called the "World Elementalis Tournament" held every 4 years where everyone in the world could take placed. This helped decide who the strongest in the world were, who the true elites were. Those who ranked in the top 100 of the world were called the World Rankers, got a fancy looking license with WR followed by their rank and unprecedented fame. He was, unsurprisingly, WR1. Which meant that in the last World Tournament he had gotten first place. His rival had gotten second place, after a grueling, epic and record bracingly exciting match with him.
This world, due to its natural Elemental energy also spawned many different creatures and dungeon. There had to be a way of classification so W.E.A decided to classify them. The different classes were F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS and SSS. Each class had 3 subclasses. So, F rank had F-, F and F+. F- was the weakest and least dangerous while SSS+ was the most dangerous. Dungeons and creatures both followed these classification criteria. F class beasts and dungeons and creatures were fairly common. SSS class creatures were either only known from myths and legends, or were in extremely hard to reach places such as the absolute depth of the ocean, but hey, nobody was dumb enough to go there, right? There were only 3 SSS rank dungeons in the world that were known. One in the US, one at the north pole and the last at Australia. Of course, that place needed to get more dangerous.
Everyone was also given a rank based on what rank creature and dungeon they could solo. So, if one could solo both C rank beasts and C rank dungeons, they were at C tier. He himself was only at SS tier. He had long since soloed the SSS dungeon but couldn't fight a beast at that level as he couldn't find one.
Well, that was enough of a time waste, he thought. He had managed to piece together enough of this world through the memories. It was convenient that whenever he thought of something or experienced something new, his mind would be immediately filled with the original's memories on the subject. Hey, he even got used to the pain, kinda.
With that out of they way, he felt that he had to get used to this body and this power. So, he decided to hit a rank A dungeon. Nothing too dangerous. He felt in his mind that he could open portals using his sheer power. So, he opened one to a dungeon known as Corrupted Willow Dungeon, which was in Districtville. This dungeon was filled classic undead that was fairly popular in media. These weren't just normal undead though. This dungeon was once a flourishing natural one of the plant elements. It was filled with many plant-based monsters and creatures that used to love living in forests. However due to unknown reasons, this ended up getting corrupted and the plants withered, while the creatures that died were reborn as undead variants. These variants then went and hunted the rest of the creatures inside, slowly, and cruelly converting every victim. This caused the rank of the dungeon to skyrocket from E- to A-. People noticed and started flocking to the dungeon in hopes of clearing it. However, when they inevitably perished, their life essence and energy wasn't absorbed by the dungeon, but got corrupted and the poor souls ended up getting reanimated and joining the ranks of the creatures in there. This caused the rank to further increase to A+, which almost caused a break. However, the previous World Top 10 Rankers managed to clear it and stabilize the dungeon, at the cost of the previous WR2 and WR7 who ended up getting corrupted and became the boss and miniboss of the said dungeon. However, since the break was stabilized, they grieved for him and continued on with their life. This dungeon had aa total of 3 floors, which was very less for an A+ dungeon. This was because it was originally E-. He decided that this much research was enough and decided to tackle this dungeon now. He chose to tackle this dungeon solo, just like the original had done. He chose this because he was the absolute. The strongest. Going in with a team will just be a hinderance and a distraction.
The plaza in front of the dungeon was empty. Nobody really wanted to run this because of the risk of getting corrupted and becoming a beast. That was a really bad way to die as your corpse wasn't recoverable and was defiled. He went to the reception, which every dungeon had to make sure people don't randomly go in the dungeons without warning.
"Hey kid, this is the Corrupted Willow Dungeon. If you haven't heard it was once normal, but got corrupted. Now even creatures and dungeon runners who are killed in the dungeon get defiled by the same energy that corrupted that dungeon and become mindless mobs. Go play somewhere else. It's too dangerous here."
He didn't respond, just showed his license, and continued into the dungeon. The guard outside was shaking, cursing himself because he disrespected the WR1. Of course, as any gossip loving person, he spread the news the celebrity had come to run the corrupted dungeon.
While the world was in shock, as the WR1 hadn't run any dungeon since the tournament, he himself had simply passed through the warp to the dungeon. Inside was a huge forested valley. The grass that once used to be luscious and bright green was not in a sickly pale green color. The flowers and trees in this floor were all withered and leafless. Moving forward, he took in this world around him. He could smell the stench of death in the air. As he continued forward, the stench became worse and worse until he finally found the source of the smell. It was a pack of wolves. They were all rotting and emaciated. Their lifeless body had almost no muscle as their ribs and stomach were on full view without skin to cover them. Their eyes had lost all life, completely whited out.
As he approached closer, they got a whiff of him. It seemed that they still had their superior sense of smell. They slowly surrounded him. It seemed their instincts remained with them too. They could feel he wasn't an easy prey, but starvation had driven them into a corner. Two wolves were in front of him, while two were behind him. One wolf took each flank. He didn't feel threatened as he just stood there casually. He was curious to how they would react.
Suddenly the wolves on his flank charged him while the ones at his front and back did the same, but were slightly slower. He could see all of this though. He did a 360 while kicking the wolves on his flank shattering their maw sending them flying. He moved to the right, dodging the wolves at the front and back. He plunged his fist into the chest of one of the wolves crushing its heart and flinging it away. There were now three of them in front of him. He rushed to their midst crushed the skull of a wolf with an overhead kick and turned around and launched a fireball each at the other two. This was very effective and burnt them to cinders.
He thought he was done when he got a sudden feeling near his back. He immediately ducked and saw a wolf go above him, missing its leap. This was the same one whose heart he had crushed. He immediately felt foolish as everyone knows that the undead were controlled by the brain. He chucked another fireball at this one and finished it off. He slowly turned behind him as he saw two more wolves arrive. These were the ones that had taken his flank. They felt a primal fear after seeing the flames that ended their compatriots and started to flee.
He was taken aback by this. not wanting to allow anything to leave alive, he manifested a bow and two arrows of fire and fired them at the wolves. They couldn't survive as the arrows struck true, at their brain and killed them instantly. Unfortunately, these wolves were corrupted and their parts couldn't be used for anything, so it was a waste to hunt them.
He looked around and found a mirage of a forest in the distance, which he knew was the next floor from what he had researched. Feeling the mana in his body, he started to control it. He pushed a small amount to his legs as he took a runner's position.
*BOOM*
An explosion sounded as the ground around him cratered and he ran forward towards the mirage. He took out various wolf packs using fire as he went near the mirage. Around 70 wolves were slaughtered by him using fire arrows and fire balls, as he realized that these were the most efficient ways to kill the undead. As he neared the mirage, the scent of death became worse and worse and he could feel the air around become more corrupted and oppressive. He neared a ridge nearby and looked down. That, was a view not many people would enjoy.
There were many mutilated and rotting bodies littered around the ground. One could make out many wolves, boars, deer and even a few humans. On top of a pile of corpses sat a huge wolf. This wolf was much bigger than the ones found around the floor, reaching the height of a school bus. Tendrils of corrupted energy and miasma hung around it like vines as it sat chewing on the bones of the fallen creatures around it. It wasn't as emaciated as the other creatures of the floor probably because it was the one that took all the prey. Even its eyes had a glint of a pale green energy, which showed that it still had some semblance of a consciousness.
The wolf sensed the arrival of a new energy in the vicinity, but didn't seem to care much. It had been a strong entity, undefeated for years and was the strongest in its surrounding. As this new creature neared it, the wolf rose up. It recognized this new creature as a human, who were extremely delicious and rich with energy. Just thinking about the food its mouth started frothing.
As John, which is our glorious MC's name, approached the wolf, he sensed the killing intent radiate from it. He realized that this was the miniboss of the floor. He decided to test the waters and waters and chucked a fireball at it. Sensing the undead's hated element, the wolf howled, sending forth a wave for darkness and miasma that caused the fireball to fizzle out and the wave passed through him. However, he hadn't taken any damage, if anything, he seemed more refreshed.
"Ha, you actually think you can hurt me with a wave of darkness? I have power over the element of darkness. Such weak darkness energy could never harm me. You merely adopted the darkness. I was born in it. Mutt, let me show you the true power behind darkness."
John stretched his arm above him, sensing the darkness energy within the wolf. He began siphoning it, which caused the wolf to panic and tush him. This irritated him. He merely dodged a bit to the side while kicking the leg of the miniboss, cleanly breaking its bone. As the wolf howled in pain, he proceeded to shatter its other legs to stop its movements. He continued to siphon the wolfs energy and used it to manifest a long spear that was pitch black. It was filled with all the energy from the wolf. he thrust his arm forward, sending the spear ahead of him towards the wolf. it cleanly struck it through its mouth till its tail skewering it. With a snap, he caused the spear to explode, obliterating the wolf sending different body parts in all directions. A rain of blood and miasma bathed John as he slicked his hair back. A cruel smile appeared on his face as he relished this power.
A portal appeared around him with an image of a forest. This was the portal to the second floor of the dungeon. John wanted to see what kind of creatures would be roaming in the next floor and see the extent of this new power of his. If this power was actually as high as the original's memories stated, he could have whatever he wished for. He believed in a world that was ruled by strength alone. His dreams and ambition might actually be able to brought to reality in this new world. As these thoughts passed through his head, he passed through the portal and the world faded to black.