The Dungeons of the Crooked Mountains

Eric was born in a world governed by the Great System, into the family of Arena Bergman, a respected miner from Orhus. This joyful event in the Bergman family is overshadowed by news of a terrible illness in the newborn. Eric is completely “zeroed out.” Only thanks to tiny readings of the sources of “life” and “energy” is he still alive.

The healer who took the birth believes this was the work of the malicious spirit Bag. Due to the specific laws of the Great System, a “zeroed-out” Eric cannot use essences of experience and character tablets, so he faces the fate of spending his entire life bedridden. But his father finds a solution—he takes out a large loan from the bank and, on the black market in the capital, buys several Ancient artifacts that have no level restrictions.

Even with the artifacts, Eric is still very weak, and everyone around continues to think he’s a freak—yet now he can move on his own, which gives hope to the Bergman family. But, alas, only for a while… When Rick turns fourteen, his father and mother die in the mine. The bank takes their home, and Eric himself is sent to work off the remaining debt in the Underground of Crooked Mountains.

And so begins the fight for survival of the broken, zeroed-out boy…