Ted was angry, well angrier than usual. He had come to the dungeon in Gurzan because he had assumed that, as Gurzan was a demon province, he could simply gather the materials he needed and be on his way. But no. No, that would never happen, not in this world of rules. Someone, probably that puff of a guard, had recognized him, even tried to address him, and Ted had simply ignored him.
Apparently, that had not sat well with the guard because now Ted was standing at the entrance to the dungeon, facing a fair few spears directed at him. Some were in the hands of professional soldiers; others were passersby who had joined in. The local Lord was also there and addressing him from the supposed safety behind the line of spears.
"Heretic! We do not allow your kind here; those who will not obey the laws of the gods are unwelcome here and not allowed to use the Gods given resources of the land." The Lord took a breath. "Te'Nar Jix Dal Igd...."
"Shut the fuck up," Ted said, stopping the Lord from uttering his name. "You know damn well that I do not use that name. My name is Ted. And by my horns, you will move and let me do what I need to do in this dungeon, or I will kill you all and then go about my day."
That made many of the speer wielders begin to sweat. The Lord spoke again. "You DARE?! You dare to threaten nobility? Kill him! Kill him now!"
Ted pulled on the dark part of his soul where his power dwelled and waved his hand before him; the charging spearmen before him simply burst into black flame and vanished. Ted picked up his pack from where he had dropped it, shrugged its straps over his shoulders, and plodded forward.
The Lord stepped in front of him. "Stop! I demand you stop! Traitor! Heretic! Liar!" The Lord was practically leaping in his face. Ted would have ignored him, but that last word, Liar, made him stop.
"Liar? Do you even know why I have been branded a heretic?" Ted asked the Lord.
The smaller demon man fumbled for words, and Ted shook his massive horned head. "You know nothing of me. I came here for one reason, I need new tools, and to make those tools, I wanted to get some magic ore and maybe some nice leather for the handle. Had you simply left me alone, I would have been here and gone in less than a day, but now, you have lost a bunch of men and passersby. I'm sure your gods are none too pleased you tried to prevent entrance to a dungeon, either.
The Lord took up a defiant posture. "I am the lord of Gurzan, and you will show the proper respect, or I will have you killed, Liar!"
Ted sighed and drew on the black power again, extending his hand forward and grasping the air to pull back towards himself. The Lord seemed to shrink and compress as he flew through the air toward Ted. When Ted caught the Lord mid-air, he was only four inches tall and made entirely of what looked like the purest obsidian. "Well, it's always nice to have obsidized souls on hand."
Ted went into the dungeon, the lives he had taken no longer on his mind. In the back of his mind, the voice he worked so hard to ignore had become more insistent.
"You have unspent skill points. You have unassigned skill slots. You have enough experience to level up."
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
Ted sighed. He knew the voice would pester him for a day before it finally dimmed, but he had been expecting it as he would have to kill some monsters to reach an appropriate level. His journey into the dungeon's depths was uneventful; his mere presence seemed to scare the monsters away for the first thirty floors. From floors 30 - 45, his presence plus the skill
He quickly located a vein of Magic Ore and began picking away at it with a simple miner's pick. He felt the monster's presence before he could see it and dodged to the side as the Wyrm burst from the floor beneath him. The monster's name appeared as a hazy orange title in Ted's sight.
[Lontor, Wyrm of the Earth Lvl. 53]
"A boss monster, and a Wyrm of the Earth at that. Today must be my lucky day." Ted said, catching the Wyrm with his talons on its next lunge. A widow appeared in his vision, and he was about to dismiss it and begin skinning the beast when he noticed something he didn't see every day.
YOU HAVE SLAIN A BOSS! Item Name Level Quantity Special Wyrm Flesh (1kg.) 25 500 n/a Tooth of Tunnler 38 2 +5 to digging Magic Ore (1kg.) 45 15 n/a Wyrm Hide (1 s/m) 40 50 n/a UNKNOWN ITEM ?? 1 ???? Accept All Close Discard All
"Well, that is odd." He said, looking at the last item on the list. Sometimes Bosses dropped exceedingly rare items that could do insanely powerful things. He didn't need the rest, but it might be worth it. He hit the 'Accept All' button and returned to his mining. As he finished up, he turned to leave and found himself face-to-face with a divinity.
"Hello, Ted." The divinity said with a smile that could have curdled milk.
"The fuck do you want Kar'Ka Roth?" Ted said, heading back to the surface, forcing the divinity to follow after him if he wanted to talk.
"I just wanted to tell you you are still breaking the rules." Kar'Ka Roth said.
"I am well the fuck aware. If that is all you wanted, then I suggest you join the exceedingly long list of mortal and divine entities who can kiss my ass before I even consider following the rules." Ted knew that getting heated with this particular divinity was not the way to handle it, but he had exceeded his daily dose of give-a-fuck, and the voice was still pounding into his head.
"You have unspent skill points. You have unassigned skill slots. You have enough experience to level up. Please open your status and update the info there."
Ted was about to snap again when Kar'Ka Roth surprised him with what he said next. "Yes, I figured. However, I am the one who manages this dungeon, and I saw the locals trying to prevent you from entering, and as you know, that is against the rules, so I will give you this in apology."
He waved his hand, and the voice in Ted's head went silent. "Have a good day, Ted, and remember to follow the rules."
Ted turned to tell the divinity to eat shit, only to find he was already gone.
Ted shook his head. He knew he was already in a better mood because he had less urge to kill the divinity than before.
Ted reached the surface just as the sun was setting and began his three-day trek home, where he could finally get back to doing whatever he wanted.