The hours passed, and the darkness began to slowly recede. Fred yawned, feeling a bit tired and sleepy. They talked every now and then, and maybe Fred snoozed a few times too.

Fred saw the city lights in front of him, and he began to tilt his head. Rosalie suddenly turned away from the road and onto the side road.

"I thought we were going to the city." Fred quietly asked.

"We are, but I want to make a slight detour. Have you ever been in a dungeon?" She counter-asked.

"I killed some rats in the basement; was that a dungeon?"

"Don't think so. Did you get a warning you're about to enter a dungeon?"

"A warning?!" Fred was not sure what she was talking about.

"Yep. Well, it sounds like it was a simple quest. Dugeons are different. More complicated. You will see soon enough."

"So we are going to the dungeon?"

"You guessed it. It's a ranked dungeon; there are no rewards, but if you pass it, your rank will increase to E." Rosalie explained.

"I thought you did not care about the dungeons."

"I don't. But my son does. He has an online friend, and he wants to explore dungeons together. But his friend is rank D, and Felix has a long plan for how to catch up. But this first dungeon requires teamwork, and if you help him, I will throw in another sandwich!" Rosalie smiled, rather playfully.

Fred was slightly annoyed. He realized it was likely, or at least partially, why she offered him a ride. And he did not mind doing the dungeon together, but he still felt a bit cheated. If she had told him this back at the guild building, he would have been excited about it the entire way! Not that this ride lacked excitement. It was fun, and Fred learned a lot too.

"No, I wanna do this. Let's do this." Fred smiled back; his sleepiness was gone, and he was excited.

Suddenly, a system menu popped up in front of Fred. The message tab had a notification icon. Rosalie sent him a friend request. He quickly and quietly accepted it without saying a single word.

"We have arrived." Rosalie stopped the horse and went to wake up her son.

Fred looked around and saw small, rocky steps leading underground.

"Hi, I am Felix!" Her son introduced himself.

"I am Fred." Fred replied.

Of course, both of them could see each other's names on the menu, but it was still nice to have a proper introduction.

Without much ado, they went towards the rocky stairs. Suddenly, a bunch of warnings popped up.

> Location discovered: Eternal Rest

> Ranked Dungeon: Eternal Rest (E)

>

> Recommended rank: F

>

> Enemy level: E

"Are you coming with us?" Felix asked his mother.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Rosalie smugly replied.

"No! We can do it on our own!" Felix immediately refused.

Felix announced it and simply disappeared underground. Fred looked at Rosalie.

"Go on then, and good luck!" Rosalie nodded.

Fred simply went ahead, and soon the sky disappeared completely. He soon found himself in a large cave. The air was damp, and a layer of fog hid the ground below. He saw Felix at the end of the cave, before the huge door. There was a huge torch right next to the door and a plate with an inscription.

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Fred walked towards Felix and immediately cursed as his foot fell into the puddle of water. His socks and shoes were now soaked. He finally reached Felix.

"So what now?!" Fred asked, annoyed about his feet.

"Well, the cave is filled with ghosts that use freeze attacks. But we do not need to fight them. They won't go near the fire. Can you carry a torch?" Felix asked, and at the same time, he removed the torch from its socket.

"Of course."

"You need to hold it firmly in your hands. If you drop the torch, if you put it on the ground, we're both dead." Felix told him and gave the torch to Fred.

The torch was not heavy. Fred could easily hold it with one hand. Fred read the inscription too. It simply said, "Always carry the warmth with you."

Fred nodded. He was ready. Felix pulled the large door's handle; it opened, and they went inside, into a maze of caves. Fred opened a map, but the map tab was disabled. Felix led the way. His left hand did not let go of the wall.

"Do you know a way?" Fred asked.

"Nope. It's randomly generated. But if we always follow the left wall, it should get us to the exit."

They continued. Despite the discomfort of wet feet, it was relatively easy. Fred did not see any ghosts either.

"Rosalie told me this requires teamwork; do you know why?"

"Of course. At the end of this maze, there's a chest, and you need two hands to open it. But there's no place to place the torch. If there's two people, one can hold the torch while the other opens the chest." Felix explained.

Fred was quiet. Felix really did his research. If anything, Fred felt guilty about tagging along and getting the dungeon reward for free.

After half an hour of walking, they finally reached another door. Felix pulled it open, and they both saw a great cavern with a chest at the opposite end. Felix's eyes began glowing brightly, and he rushed towards the chest.

"Wait, stop!" Fred shouted, but it was too late. Felix was already too far away.

Fred then saw a horrifying sight in front of him. He did not see the ghost, but he saw Felix's feet become white, from right to left. As if something invisible flew right through him and frozen everything in its path.

"Hel..." Felix screamed; he completely froze into a mere ice statue before he could finish.

Fred rushed to save him; he ran as fast as he could. but half way to the boy, he tripped and fell face down into the cold puddle. He still held the torch, but it fell into the water, and the fire went out.

A mere second later, Fred felt an intense cold in his arms; he could no longer lift them. Another second, and his entire body was paralyzed, frozen in place. A third second later, his consciousness froze.

Fred jumped up from the laying position. He felt how the headset's cables tugged them down. His heart raced as if he had just woken up from a nightmare. He shivered, removed the headset, and went towards the kitchen. His finger tips were still tingling from the cold. He filled the glass with warm water and drank it, and the warm water made all the traces of ghostly cold disappear. All that remained was uncontrolled, burning excitement.

"It was just a game." Fred told himself to calm down.

He went to the bathroom too, and afterwards, he plugged himself into the helmet. He quickly logged in and found himself standing just outside the rocky staircase. His feet were dry too. He was hungry again.

But as Fred looked around, he saw no traces of Felix, Rosalie, or Rosalie's horse. They were gone. Fred opened the menu and saw a new message. From Rosalie.

> My son tells me you betrayed him and frozen him to death, but something tells me he ain't telling me the whole truth, so I won't hold it against you.

>

> We waited a few minutes, but you did not appear. So we went inside—just the two of us. We finished the dungeon. Sorry for doing it without you!

>

> Even after we got out, we could not find you. So we simply left. I hope you are okay! I left you a small present: take twenty steps to the left of the entrance.

Fred sighed. He felt guilty and defeated. Stupid too. How could he not realize that even a single trip to the bathroom might mean hours in this world?

He took the steps and found a small yet very welcome and needed gift: a carefully wrapped sandwich placed on a big rock. He picked up and hit the reply button under Rosalie's message.

> I am horribly sorry. I am okay. I did not mean to abandon you; I simply forgot how quickly time passes here. Thank you for the gift; it means a lot!

Afterwards, he took a look at the dungeon, shivered, and simply decided to come here some other time. The dungeon required teamwork, and he was alone here. He turned around and walked along the road. He eventually reached the main road and then walked towards the city in the distance.

> I am very happy to hear that. Visit my bakery once you're back in the city!

Fred smiled. Rosalie was such a cool mom. A tasty sandwich and an hour of walking later, Fred finally reached the city wall. A discovery message popped up too, as expected.

The city was enormous! Thousands of houses. Maybe even tens of thousands. There were street names and occasional road signs. Fred paused to think of his next steps. He did not feel tired. Well, slight, 'I just came back from work and an hour long walk' tired. The death seemed to have reset the previous tiredness he felt in-game. It felt strange, but Fred already had a feeling for how it worked.

In the end, Fred decided he wanted another stab at the dungeon. But he needed a party, and he did not want to bother Rosalie's family anymore. Instead, he simply went towards the adventuring guild.