The rest of the second floor was uneventful, more navigating tiny spaces and me apparently manipulating space and time to give everyone an easier path.

We eventually made it back to the entry room. We decided to take a break and for everyone to clean themselves up after I showered everyone with guts.

"Ok Nicole we need to have a talk…" Root said.

"Ok… that sounded way too much like my Dad for a moment…" I said.

"Please stay focused… you need to learn how to pace yourself for starters. Yes you are able to fight well above where you currently are… but you leave yourself with very little left." Root said in a near parent-like tone.

"Alright, recommended amount of effort to be used?" I asked.

"One half to two thirds… if you need to retreat you still have plenty to work with. Never let yourself go down below one quarter unless you’re in a safe space. Anything past one quarter and your body starts to take more and more of a hit in its own endurance." Root said.

"Alright I think I understand the logic there." I said and it did make sense.

"Good second, your job right now is navigation and support. Any one of us could have handled that entire room with different levels of success. We are fighting to learn how to deal with new conditions." Root said.

"... well fuck me, why didn't anyone tell me that before?" I asked.

That was clearly not the anticipated response he was expecting.

"You… fuck… you really have not had our education and I keep forgetting that… That is on all of us." Root said.

"Remember until I came here I was never in a life or death situation before as well. My world doesn't have monsters or dungeons or any of this. Just please remember that." I begged more than anything.

"Fair… just follow what we say and don't always jump right in. We can all take a hit or two, you on the other hand might get killed out of hand." Root said.

"Ok… point taken, me am squishy." I said dramatically.

"By the way have you leveled up yet?" Root asked.

"No but I have to be damn close, I've ranked up several times in multiple skills." I said.

"Yeah… we might need you to get a direct kill or something. I'm kind of surprised that one you detonated didn't push you over." Root said.

While we were discussing and resting in the entryway I took the time to set up two more clay-more charges. I was really getting the hang of it now. Instead of just a semi directional blast I could now really shape the explosion. I think that might have had as much to do with my alter shape ability as much as learning how to use the skill.

Luckily my mana regeneration had really picked up speed. I think it also naturally regenerated faster in the dungeon most likely due to the proximity of the core. If distance made any sense in what I suspected, was a multi dimensional set of soap bubbles clinging to the side of the universe.

We started to push into the next floor, the first floor took over an hour while the second took maybe 30 minutes. The rest in between were what slowed us down the most.

"How many floors do we have?" I asked, forgetting what was said before.

"8 in total with the last floor always the boss floor. As long as we don't get the first floor again expect no floor to take more than half an hour. Mind you… your ability made the first floor by far the easiest." Fin said.

"Honestly with a bit of luck I hope we manage to avoid the city. If you mess up too early then it becomes a slog of combat through the entire floor, which is still a simplistic maze." Fin said.

Eventually we exited the narrow shaft that was the passageway from the entry room to the third floor. We were greeted by a mess of fine dust that was getting everywhere.

"Mushrooms, I recommend you wear a mask or something. The spores are not directly dangerous but if you breathe in too much… well" he said with a dramatic pause.

"Well what?" Orlo said with a bit of fear.

"He's being dramatic, I don't think it's that dangerous." Lluvia said.

She walked forward then stumbled and started coughing.

"It's not directly dangerous but it will mess with your senses." Fin said while he covered his mouth and nose.

"Let me try something… things have been similar enough already." I said and walked into the spore clouds just a bit.

I took in a deep breath and began coughing as well. I fought the sensation of choking and waited for it to settle down. It eventually did to my relief then I began to 'hear' voices.

"A visitor to our realm, why have you come?" I could just make out in the whispered voices.

Instead of talking I attempted to 'think' at the voice.

"We are peaceful travelers that have accidentally stumbled into your land. May we traverse?" I asked.

"We shall send a representative to guide, please follow and do not harm." The voice said.

"Alright… our guide will be here in a moment please no one try to attack it." I said a bit drunkenly.

"What? What are you going on about, they try to invade your mind." Fin said.

"Please trust me… the similarities are too close already." I said with what I hoped was confidence.

"She's been right before in odd ways… but everyone be on your guard." Root said.

"Your funeral." Fin said and maneuvered himself closer to the floor entrance.

It was several minutes before a largeish figure showed up in the spore cloud. Then halted about 5 feet away from me.

I attempted to reach out to the voice again "your representative has arrived, is it an aspect of you or an individual." I asked.

"It is an aspect of us." I received in reply.

Right… hivemind if I remembered correctly…

"Alright children, let's follow the nice sentient mushroom." I said to the group behind me.

"What? How?" Fin said in confusion.

"Oh also do not attack or do anything threatening; they are not normally hostile. They will however defend themselves or well it will defend its bodies… I think. Everything is still sort of hazy." I said.

Everyone had put masks on while I had partaken of the spores. Iser in his curiosity lowered his mask and took several deep breaths. He coughed but eventually got used to it as well.

I then thought at him instead of talking. "Telepathic communication via spore infection. If it's like how the fiction this comes from then we should have it for a period of time after as well."

"I… this is very different… thinking instead of speaking… and you seemed to pick it up so naturally. I find… it difficult to… use." He sent to me.

"Translation ability? Maybe? We don't have telepathy either so I should be stumbling over words as much as you are." I said.

"Maybe… let's hope this is short… the spores still irritate." Iser communicated.

We followed the creature with me in the lead and Iser just behind me. The group was tense but not overly so, well except for Fin. He had to be placed just in front of Turnip and we had to temporarily remove his weapons before he accidentally did something dumb.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The walk took only maybe 15 minutes and was uneventful. Our group was guided to the other end of the maze-like floor.

"We thank you for your generosity in letting us travel through your realm." I said through the telepathic connection.

"It was refreshing of you to ask. So many travelers misunderstand our intentions. We leave you with a parting gift as friend of our circle." The voice said.

The large mushroom creature then worked at its wrist for a moment and unhooked a leather object and handed it to me.

I accepted the gift then bowed in gratitude to the creature and followed an eager Fin back to the entryway room.

It didn't take us too long to get back to the entrance room then all hell broke loose.

As soon as I squeezed through Fin had me pressed up against the wall my body partially blocking the path in. He seemed angry and confused.

"How the fuck did you know that… none of the guides knew about that." He screamed in my face.

I panicked and frozen in fear my feet just dangling above the ground as Fin pressed me into the wall. Then a moment later I was free and Fin was stumbling back clutching at his side.

The rest of my friends streaming into the room. Orlo quickly pulling me off to the side. Turnip had tackled Fin and Lluvia had a knife to his throat.

"What the fuck was that… assaulting one of our party members!" Root yelled at Fin.

"How… how did she fucking know that would work? What is she! Is she even human or is she something else entirely!" He said in a rage filled panic.

"Fuck… lets set him down so I can tend to the knife wound on his side." Root said.

Turnip and Lluvia laid him down and he no longer resisted. The combination of the spores and his own experience was no doubt very confusing.

"Alright just take a moment to breathe and I'll have you patched up. You still got a solid dose of the spores so I can accept you are not in your right mind at the moment." Root said while he started to tend Fin's wound.

I could tell Root was giving Fin a reasonable explanation out of his actions when he attacked me. For Fin's sake I hope he saw and went along with it.

"He's not entirely wrong to question." I said.

"To question sure, to attack you is another matter entirely." Root said.

Fin definitely looked like he had calmed down quite a bit and I could see tears in his eyes as well.

"I'm sorry…. I panicked and let that panic get the better of me." Fin said.

"Fair, most of us have seen dungeons play mental games before. Magic spores that make you hear voices are definitely up there." Root said reassuringly.

"The fiction from my culture… my world… that those creatures were from is a game… the creatures in that game are called Myconid. A telepathic hivemind of fungus, generally peaceful in nature." I said.

"This is the same with the Displacer Beast?" Fin asked.

"Yes, even the creatures that attack Lluvia would be the Underdark version of Bugbear. It all however comes from a rather well known game in my world. With one major exception." I said.

"And?" Lluvia asked.

"Well… if time moves at the same rate then this has been around for hundreds of years. The game my 'versions' came from is 40 or 50 years at most." I said.

"So this version somehow influenced your world?" Iser said.

"It would actually seem that way… that is assuming time moves at the same speed here as it does where I am from… that is a cluster fuck I don't even want to try and think about right now though." I said.

"So what you're saying is you knew the rules of the dungeon before ever stepping foot into it?" Fin said, almost relieved.

"Yes? I think so? It not exactly a one to one relationship between what I know and what I have seen but there are connections and parallels." I said.

"That's why you shouted Ropers when those stone creatures attacked us." Lluvia said.

"Yep… in the game that's what they are called." I said.

After a pause…

"Look I figured fiction was going to be difficult enough to swallow. Being told aspects of your reality is a game in mine? I didn't know how people would react." I said.

"Someone should tell her…" Orlo said

"Tell me what?" I asked.

"The reason why we all delve into dungeons and stuff… It's entertaining." Turnip said.

I felt like an absolute idiot for not seeing that sooner.

"It gets the blood flowing and your adrenaline running." Root said.

"No one in your world does anything like that?" He asked.

"I… yeah… we called it extreme sports. It was relatively safe with practice but yeah if you fucked up you could die." I said.

"Yep, sounds familiar." Orlo said.

"Honestly if your entertainment had creatures and stuff like what we have seen down here so far? Well at least it's not stuff animals… again." Root said.

"Again?" I asked.

"Yeah a dungeon that is filled with kids toys, that one was certainly twisted." Root said.

"How is Fin doing?" I asked.

He will be fine but the blade did cut some of the intensity. I've sealed it up with a minor mending spell but it will take a few hours before he should try and walk." Root said.

"Nicole… I'm sorry you have been an asset down here and I let my suspicions get the better of me." Fin told me.

"I honestly get it… and the spores did fuck with you that's for sure." I said.

"Do we push forward?" Orlo asked.

"We can, Nicole's been doing a major lift for navigation. Fin can you go over the other possible floors? As well as the boss room?" Root asked.

"Sure, you seem more than capable to handle the rest of the dungeon even with the combat handicap." He said.

"Hey… no your right…" I was about to argue.

"Alright so there are 4 more possible rooms to encounter." Fin started.

"First is the city, navigate the maze-like streets while avoiding being caught. There will be a bunch of 'Elf' like creatures with dark purple skin, almost black with white hair." Fin said.

"Drow City, got it" I said, that earned a look.

"Second could be an old temple or ruins and you will be hunted by bird-like creatures but not nearly as feathers as your Harpy friend." He said.

"Dire Corby… out run." I said.

"Third is hunted by some sort of dark skin dwarf. In similar caves to what we had seen before." He said.

"Duergur" I said.

"Flight through a city of small gnome-like creatures." Fin added.

"Deep Gnome. Lots of rock elements being summoned?" I asked, that took Fin aback.

"Yes" he said.

"I will add that things can be mixed up a little. Of being hunted in open caves it could be by beasts, elf, dwarf, or bird rarely the gnomes however. Most often by beast or dwarf." Fin said.

"Ok now what about the boss?" Root asked.

"20 foot tall giant, with two headed beast. It's arms that of snakes bodies. It is nearly immune to magic and resistance to most physical blows." He said.

After a pause.

"No name for this one?" Fin asked me.

"O there's a name for it… Demogorgon, Prince of Demons." I said.

"Ok… that actually feels like it fits." Fin said.

"Does looking at it cause madness?" I asked hesitantly.

"It can be disconcerting for sure but no nothing like that." Fin said.

“Anyone ever reported creatures with tentacles coming out of their mouths?” I asked.

“Sure if you believe the rumors.” Fin said with a self deprecating chuckle, then paused for a moment of confusion.

“Wait… that's just a rumor among the guides? How? What?” he said in wide eyed astonishment.

“Add Illithid to the list of encounters… fuck me I really hope we don’t run into them…” I said with real fear in my voice.

"Alright, how's everyone else doing?" Root asked.

He received 'fines' all around.

"Nicole how much longer for your mana?" He asked.

"Maybe 10 minutes? I also received an item from the Mushroom person. Let me take a look." I said.

I then used my identify ability on it with just a small bit of mana.

Truffled Folding Leather Armor, Fine Quality, New

"Folding Leather Armor?" I asked Fin.

"A rather rare drop, when you trigger the brace you can very quickly encase yourself in a durable leather armor. The truly valuable one is the 'Folding Plate Mail'." He said.

"Any idea what a 'Truffled' version of it might do?" I asked.

"No idea… maybe you can eat it?" He said.

I equipped the leather brace on my right hand leaving the left armor with my modified Vambrace. I then with my mana probed at the leather brace similar to how I have been for several other items. Finding what I expected I triggered it then felt my body become encased in leather armor. At least all the spots that didn't already have it.

"It looks sort of moldy, it's not just me right?" Orlo asked.

"Yes, an interesting coloration actually, gray, green, blue, and brown." Iser said.

"Can equipment be harmful to the wielder?" I asked.

"I mean you can cut yourself on your own sword." Root said.

"Ok… let me try again. A magical item can do something to an assailant. Can that something aso affect the wielder?" I asked.

"I expect so, it all depends, any idea what it could do?" Root asked.

"None other than the theme, it might be normal. I'm kind of hoping for something more however. Iser, any methods I can learn more about an item?" I asked.

"It would take some time but I can identify additional properties." Iser said.

"We're already waiting for Nicole to recover mana anyway. Might as well have you two figure out anything useful." Root said.