Leaving the royal room, the two forced companions had not spoken to each other. A dozen soldiers had silently joined them and were following. It seemed to Xicackna that instead of reaching the surface, they were sinking even deeper. Unable to hold back any longer, she broke the silence:

“Is it an underground dungeon?”

“No: we've wiped out all the Dungeons near the hive a long time ago. We can't just leave like that. What are you going to do: fight the dungeon monsters with your ridiculous little sword?”

“Uh... I lost it... Unless you got it from the tigers?”

“Tss... That thing was worthless anyway: to fight Dungeons, level isn't everything, you need the right equipment. Most high-level equipment has already been assigned or, in any case, requires a minimum level to be able to use it... Or a minimum value in a characteristic, sometimes. Even ‘F’ rank equipment, recognized by the System brings considerable advantages, especially for a low level.”

They entered a small, well-guarded cave in which weapons and armor of all kinds were lined up in an orderly fashion. Moving with the ease of habit between the shelves, Kol-Gaar grabbed various leather and fabric objects, then returned to Xicackna.

"Here: these few objects should slightly increase your chances of survival."

He helped the princess put on a rather ugly garment over her dress and hang leather and fabric protections around her legs and hands. She watched as the System added them to her creature sheet:

ACTIVE EQUIPMENT:

Leather Bandages (F) [+1 Agility] [Hand Armor]

Beginner’s Tunic (F) [+1 Armor] [Chest Armor]

Leather Leg Guards (F) [+1 Armor] [Leg Armor]

Pedestrian Bandages (F) [+1 Agility] [Foot Armor]

“Why does a tunic add as much armor as leg or foot guards?”

“The System, Kol-Gaar explained, it's better to ignore its inconsistencies”

“And, if I get hit in the head, I suppose the armor on my feet helps protect me a little, right?”

“Not really, but still a little, more or less. The enemy also has an increased chance of critical hits on unprotected limbs or if it manages to target a flaw in the armor.”

“That's nonsense...”

“It's like you're deaf too: I told you it's better to ignore the System's inconsistencies!”

The princess snapped her mandibles at the prince to show her annoyance. He did the same and she had to admit that it was more impressive coming from him because his mandibles were at least three times bigger. Of course, it was still nothing compared to those that workers or soldiers could have and Xicackna realized how terrifying they could seem to their enemies… Ah, if only that were enough to make them flee…

“Take this too.”

He handed her a strangely shaped sword:

Advanced Beginner’s Sword [F] [+1 Strength] [Weapon]

“This is the weapon I used before I obtained my current spear. Considering your physical weakness, I don’t know if it will make much difference in combat… Oh, I feel like this mission is going to be so tedious…”

She frowned. Yes: on this point, Xicackna completely agreed.

Kol-Gaar had also grabbed a handful of mysterious drinks protected by glass vials. One by one, he made them disappear into thin air, before the princess's astonished eyes.

“How do you do that? Is that one of your skills? One I haven't been able to see?”

The prince returned her astonished look and took a minute to understand what she meant. He then seemed even more astonished:

“You… You don’t even know about Inventory? Really?”

He must have thought that Xicackna was joking, but he quickly changed his mind when she looked confused. His gaze then turned jaded and he explained to her.

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“Well… I suppose that most dungeon monsters don’t have this power. However, it seems that monsters with a higher rank, the ‘Bosses,’ have a small inventory that can be recovered as loot… In fact, maybe even the other monsters have it without knowing it? Think hard about ‘Inventory’ and see what appears.”

She followed his instructions and immediately a strange System window appeared. Blue, like the others, it did not contain text but boxes. Three boxes. One of them was occupied by a kind of pebble. Trying to see it more closely, she saw the image grow to occupy a new window, above the inventory one.

Stone of Regrets (L) [Loot drops on death. Bound. Cannot be used] [The Stone of Regrets fuses with its user's profile, allowing them to rewind time after each death.]

She tried to grab it, but her hand only passed through the image, the words "Loot drops on death. Bound. Cannot be used" highlighted to indicate the futility of her effort.

“I see three boxes,” she said, “two empty and one containing an item that I can’t remove.”

The prince scanned the air with “Analyze,” which apparently allowed him to detect the window. “Observe” didn’t allow that action, and Xicackna found herself jealous.

“Interesting,” he said. “Well, you have two empty boxes left… that’s very few for an inventory… Nothing like a regular[1] beginner adventurer’s inventory, but you can always use real bags to carry more equipment. They’ll just be vulnerable to shocks and less easily accessible.”

“And you, how many boxes do you have?”

“Currently? Thirty-four. It is also possible to accumulate several identical objects on the same box, ten at most. You will also notice that some objects take up more space. My spear, for example, takes up two boxes.”

“So, a spear takes up two boxes and a tiny, tiny stone one?”

“Yes.”

The System was a real torture for the refined senses of the Zcarbbs, natural lovers of logic. However, Xicackna knew that she would eventually get used to these aberrations and consider them normal, like so many others before.

They then went back up to the surface, to one of the terraces overlooking the palace. Strange circles were drawn on them and a strangely shaped worker was in one of them, about its size. Their small group settled in the center of the largest circle and Kol-Gaar began to emit complex pheromones aimed at the mysterious worker, who looked a bit like a tree without branches.

Immediately, Xicackna felt that the message was being relayed, much further and in a much more targeted manner than what the hive mind usually allowed. If other similar relays were elsewhere, it was perhaps possible to communicate with a distant hive?

They waited a few minutes. Xicackna, unable to hold back any longer, was about to ask a question when suddenly a figure appeared in one of the small circles surrounding the large one.

The image was vaguely ghostly and represented a mature princess, dressed in a very ornate dress. The apparition seemed able to see them because, speaking through a voice that came out of nowhere, it spoke:

“Oh, is that you Kol-Gaar? Couldn't you have booked in advance instead of calling me that? Well, where do you want to go? Oh? Hello, you!”

Xicackna realized that the great princess was speaking to her.

“I don't know you. You're a little old to be a new adventurer. Were you late in receiving your class? Or maybe you've never been called for tasks outside your hive?... Oh... Wait a minute...”

She sniffed the air, apparently seeming able to perceive scents despite the distance.

“Hey! You're not from the hive of Xéméne... Ah, I can't seem to associate your scent. Are you from a recent hive, which doesn't yet have transportation facilities? But... Hey, Kol-Gaar, you're leaving to found a new colony, right?”

“Stop your nonsense Ilya-Na! She's just a novice adventurer whose training I've been entrusted with. Her name is Xicackna and she comes from the disappeared hive of Xolona: they were taken by the System and locked in the Dungeon as monsters.”

“Oh really? Is that really possible?”

“My queen Xèl-tar-Lomenia will send you her information for the next meeting of the Planetary Union. In the meantime, I've been given the task of taking care of this kid so that she isn't massacred too quickly by the monsters once she gets back...”

Xicackna, annoyed by the way he had called her, strongly pushed the prince who fell on all his legs. He immediately retaliated by sending her a blow to the abdomen which threw her to the ground and stood up.

“So, I was saying that I have to go to a beginner's dungeon. It's about finding something where she can make a few mistakes without too much risk.”

“Then, I could have a small dungeon of rank ‘F’. The clearing of the Goblins: it's a classic, there are often some that appear with this name.”

“Okay.”

Raising her hands and a kind of staff, Ilya-Na seemed to use a skill. Immediately, the circle lit up and a multitude of blue particles seemed to escape from it. In the blink of an eye, they were somewhere else, in the middle of similar circles.

It was a sort of cave… No: a mountain so full of holes that one could not see where the cave began and where the outside began. A crowd of Zcarbbs was busy on the dark slopes that resulted, numerous suspension bridges and rope ladders allowing them to move around in complete safety. Their smell was unknown.

Fascinated by the sight of a new hive, Xicackna stepped forward. She was roughly restrained by her clothes by the prince.

“Hey!” she protested. “Let go of me!”

“What are you doing? Are you an idiot or something? Do you want to get captured by the soldiers? If we don’t wait for the guide, we’ll be treated as hostile by their commoners!”

Although she wanted to protest, Xicackna didn’t find anything to complain about. At the same time, this was her first time traveling outside her home: it was normal for her to make mistakes! There was no point in insulting her!

Finally, a young local prince arrived and, without ceremony, invited them to follow. They walked through the settlement, and an additional escort joined them when they reached the light outside. Their group walked like this for the rest of the day, and then for much of the next after a brief rest. They finally found themselves in front of a heavily fortified outpost, where their guide left them in the care of the princess in charge of the place. Her job was mainly to keep the soldiers from slaughtering their escort while they approached the gate.

It was a green door floating in the air, exactly like the ones Xicackna had seen from inside the Dungeon. Before entering, Kol-Gaar warned his protégé[2]:

“We are going to enter a Dungeon where the enemies will be small, vicious green creatures. Normally their level should vary between one and five, but do not underestimate them. Never stray from the escort and do not touch anything: there may be traps…”

“That’s enough! I survived in a world that was crawling with much worse monsters! Do you think I managed that without a minimum of common sense?”

The prince did not verbally acknowledge that she was right, but he at least stopped treating her like a little girl. With a few simple orders, he organized the soldiers around them and they entered the monsters' lair after them.

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[1] Reminder: Noble Zcarbbs start at level 5 and therefore have 5 inventory slots…

[2] Not sure of the translation…