Charlie took a few minutes afterward to weigh the gold I’d brought. He sat there rubbing his temples.
“Damn it James. I still don’t have enough cash on hand to pay for this right now without fucking up the deal tomorrow. That’s already going to be a shitshow as is! You can either pick out more stuff from my inventory, or you’ll just have to wait and sell this until next week.”
“How are you paying me tomorrow if you don’t have cash?”
“Tomorrow I’ll have cash, I'm going to make a withdraw first thing in the morning.”
“Right…”
I did have a decent amount of cash on me from the last two sales, so I wasn’t that opposed to buying more of his stuff.
“Alright, I’ll take stuff. Stuff is always good. I was already thinking that I wanted to buy the rest of that armor-piercing AK ammo.”
“Fine, fine. By the way, I messaged that guy yesterday right after you left. He said he can get his hands on some more, but it might be awhile.”
“Awesome! I’ll take whatever he can get, within reason.”
I gathered up every box that he had on hand, all forty of them, and put them into an ammo can which Charlie threw in for free.
As I was stacking them into the can, I noticed a wooden crate labeled “Danger! Explosive!”
“Hey Charlie, what are those?”
“Oh? Flashbangs.”
“Uh huh… How much a piece?”
He stopped looking at the papers he had been sorting and stared at me over his reading glasses.
“James, as a friend, I’ll warn ya fairly. Everything you’ve bought until now is completely legal if just really hard to get. Those flashbangs? Those are legit NFA items.”
I smiled at him.
“So what?”
“Fair enough my friend. Fair enough. Right, well, they are a major pain in the ass to get a hold of. My source sells them to me at twice the price that he can get them for. If I sell them to you at a buck fifty each, and that’s including the discount, then I can still turn a profit on them.”
I retrieved twelve of them, and stowed them in another ammo can that he let me have.
“Be aware that if a fed catches you with those without the tax stamps, that is at least ten years in a federal prison. Each.”
“Right, if they catch me.”
“Good man.”
Nothing else in his current stock particularly snagged my attention, so we worked it out that he’d keep the amount that he owed me on the books, so I could either redeem it for cash, or get more stuff if he got anything in stock.
By the time I finally made it home, it was well past sunset, and I was too exhausted to do much more than feed the pets, eat a small dinner, and go to bed. I would have to do all my experiments and chores in the morning before I made my way to Charlie’s.
I snapped awake at 4am, alert and ready to go. It was becoming an annoying habit. At the very least, it gave me more time to take care of everything I needed to do. I’d need to leave around 10am to make sure I got to Charlie’s on time (taking into account traffic, trains, and roadwork). Tending to the pets and eating breakfast took only twenty minutes. If I spent every possible minute in the dungeon after that, I’d have about… just under fourteen days to fuck around. Extremely unrealistic, I know, but it was good to know that I had all the time I could ever need.
There were several things that I wanted to take care of and try, but first I needed to move some things around. first. First of which was a folding card table and a chair. These got set against the far wall across from the portal. I brought my stack of empty mags, ammo, my gunsmithing tools and cleaning kit, clamps, and a vice.
I sat down at the table, and got to repacking my mags. I loaded up four of the 30 rounders with the 110gr AP, for emergency or boss use. The other sixteen got loaded up with standard ammo. I opened my cleaning kit and gave my rifle a good and thorough cleanse and oil. After it was sparkling and perfect, I loaded a mag, chambered a round, and propped it against the table in the event I needed it. Next up, I had to clear the squib in my 10mm.
I had brass rods of various length and width for a multitude of purposes, so I grabbed the 9mm seven inch, and then set the barrel in my vice. I lined up the rod, and gave it a solid wack with my brass hammer. The mangled projectile launched out the end of the barrel and bounced across the floor, then I kicked it across the room into the corner. I reassembled the pistol, loaded it, and fired it down the hallway for good measure. Then I gave it a good cleaning. All conditions normal.
I moved my gunsmithing and cleaning kits back to my workshop, and brought in my power drill, bits, and a few steel pipes. I geared up, and slung my rifle on my chest, then walked down the north hallway toward the two rooms I had first explored. I poked my head into the north room, and was very pleased to find four goblins milling about. Their heads turned toward me when they heard the selector switch flip to binary. They didn’t have time to move when I opened fire. None of them were able to put up a fight.
By my calculation, taking into account how long I had been in the dungeon last time and the hours I had been doing stuff outside, it had taken approximately twenty eight days for these goblins to respawn. Assuming all things were equal, that was about every month, give or take a day.
I looked into the south room, and found four goblins once again sitting around their fire. I remembered that number five was hiding behind the crates. I had packed four of the flashbangs, and figured I might as well use one to test it out. I pulled the pin on one and tossed it in, then I turned away from the door while I turned down the volume on my ear-pro. I could see the flash reflect off of the stone, and the boom shook dust from the ceiling.
I drew my handgun and walked into the room while I turned my ear-pro back up. All four of the goblins in the middle were dazed, staring at nothing and clasping their ears as they howled. I was not challenged as I shot them, one by one, with clean hits to the head. The fifth goblin was just beside the crates, on the ground in the fetal position. He got two in the chest. All that remained was the orcs.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
I retrieved my drill and tapped a few holes in the dungeon floor, and then mounted two brackets. To those, I clamped the steel pole, with the end of it facing the doorway that led to the south orc. I cracked a glow stick and threw it into the orc’s room, and began to retreat when I heard it roar at the intrusion. I put the pole between me and the door, and waited. The orc came barreling around the corner, but killed his momentum just enough to twist to the side, narrowly missing the improvised trap. This stumbling around opened him right up for a burst of fire, though it still took six rounds for him to stay down.
It seemed that their reaction time was just fine enough that the trap wouldn’t work, at least not without some modifications.
The final orc died without much of a fuss, leaving me feeling that I was overleveled for this area. There wasn’t much they could do to me unless they got the drop on me, or my guns both jammed. I collected my XP gems.
Gained 19 Soul Energy, 210/60
To my ever growing annoyance, I could find only two gold nuggets on the floor, out of nine goblins. It felt to me like the dungeon was reducing the loot amounts on me the more goblins I killed. That selfish fuck. I left the steel pole where it was, since it’d served well enough for my experiment to see if my modifications disappeared given time. I confirmed as well that the Abyssalite chunks I had destroyed had all been restored.
The last place I checked out was the orc’s rooms. To the south was nothing, and in the north?
Well, growing out of the wall, right where it met the floor, there was a giant chunk of what looked like a solid piece of dark red metal. I reached out to touch and identify it.
Abyssal Iron (Tier 2)
One, I think we can all agree that the name sounded hardcore. Two, I learned very quickly that a crowbar is a pisspoor pickaxe. Despite that second bit, I was able to loosen the chunk by chipping away slowly at the edges of the stone around it, until it came away at last. It was massive, nearly two feet long, and a foot wide. It had to weigh over five hundred pounds.
There was a handcart in my garage, so I went to retrieve it. It took forever to get the chunk on it and get it moving, but I eventually dumped it in the entrance room.
So far I had come to a few conclusions. The dungeon enemies, so far as I can observe, do respawn at some point though the exact means and the timeframe is still unknown. The dungeon does repair at least some level of damage it has sustained, but the extent and rate is again unknown. Loot areas are not set in stone, and new things can appear. Enemy variety and locations, so far seem unchanging, but I needed to do some further testing.
The next thing I wanted to test out was my new Quick Craft ability. I walked over to the perfect chunk of testing material I had found and touched it. I imagined the shape of a tanto style blade, and activated it.
Ability: Quick Craft activated
I could feel the Mana flare up from within the Manawell next to my heart, and then travel along the conduits down my arm and through my hand into the iron. I was able to watch it start to reshape before my very eyes. The basic shape of the tanto took form first, as material shifted like sand in the wind. It began to detach itself from the larger piece as it further refined its features, and soon enough I had a perfectly shaped, if very plain, tanto in my hand. It was significantly heavier than those I had handled before at various knife stores, with a grip of solid metal rather than a tang that pieces of hilt were attached to.
I gave it a few test swings and jabs, and found it decent enough to swish about. I wasn’t going to win any smithing competitions with it. I’m not a swordsman or anything of the sort. I know that martial combat is not my thing. Beyond stabbing something with a knife when absolutely necessary, I got no skill with blades.
Mana: 0/1
Something suddenly occurred to me as I was looking at my Status window, and I was left wondering why I hadn’t thought to try it earlier. To test my theory, I needed to level up first.
Level: 6
Soul Energy: 150/85 (Level Up Available)
1 point assignable
Level: 7
Soul Energy: 65/115
2 points assignable
Really, I just needed some points to play with. I tried to major things.
Stamina: Max 100 -> Max 110
Mana: Max 1 -> Max 2
That was all I had needed to see. I knew deep down that there was some method to increase max Stamina, and obviously Mana also had to go up somehow too, but I hadn’t realized it would be so easy. It seemed that a single point in Stamina increased it by 10, while Mana went up by one. I really had to think about how I wanted to handle this. One in each? Focus Mana?
Coin flip time. Heads for Mana, Tails for fifty-fifty. System, take the wheel!
Mana: Max 1 -> Max 3
Confirmed
I should have anticipated that it would hurt, but I didn’t stop to think that far ahead. After what had happened to me when I had gained Mana to begin with, you’d think I’d have prepared myself somehow. Luckily, it wasn’t nearly as bad this time. It still left me curled up on the floor. No, I did not cry. You have no evidence that I did!
Class: Artificer
Level: 7
Soul Energy: 65/115
Aura: 100%
Stamina: 100/100
Mana: 2/3
Fortunately, it did not appear that I would have to wait for my new Mana to charge before I could use it. It was time to finally test out enchantment. I held my 10mm first, and focused on it.
No suitable enchantment target detected.
That is exactly what I had been expecting, but I had to try anyway. Next I tried the tanto.
Bladed weapon detected. Tier 2 material, small size. Required Soul Energy for enchantment equals 10. Requires 1 Mana
I hadn’t anticipated that it’d require SE, but that was a cost I was willing to pay. I focused, and selected the flying enchantment from the magic plate.
Enchant bladed weapon with Limited Animation (Flight)?
“Yes!”
Soul Energy 55/115
I watched while the tanto floated out of my hands and hovered in the air before me while purple tendrils of energy flowed from my hands and danced along the surface of the weapon. Small sigils carved themselves into the metal as it went along, like watching a 3D printer at work making a figurine.
It took about ten minutes to finish.
Bladed weapon has been enchanted! Would you like to name it?
Oh fuck yeah I do!
Name: Dancing Blade
Confirm?
A moment later I was holding it in my hand.
Dancing Blade
This blade will float according to the user’s direction, up to a distance of twenty feet off the floor, moving at up to 50 feet per second. It will cease following directions if further than three hundred feet from the user, and simply hover in place.
Now that was one heck of a cool enchanted weapon. I had always loved the trope of the magic sword or dagger that floated around its master, fighting on its own accord. Sure, this wouldn’t be fighting by its own volition, but a quick test flight around the room showed me that it actually zipped around with some impressive speed, and I could make it come to a dead halt whenever and wherever I wanted it. I felt like I needed to paint my skin blue, shave my head, and wear a plastic shark fin on my head.
Would you like to add an additional enchantment?
Excuse me?
“I can do more than one!”