[You Have Awakened]
It wasn’t like the stories Brandon had read. There were no sudden powers granted, there were no ominous sounds and tragedies going on outside, even the window was different. It was translucent sure, but as opposed to the blue boxes he had read about there was a simple brown window with a light gold border. Even the text on it was plain, it was a simple Times New Roman in white.
Brandon groggily sat up, assuming at first it was some kind of dream. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and rubbed them a few times, making sure that the crusts in the corners were gone. Once he was sure he was awake he looked back at the window. It appeared it could tell when he acknowledged it because as soon as he reread what it said, the window changed.
[The Dungeon Adaptation System has chosen the
form RPG to most closely match Earth’s Understanding.
Earth has joined the xxxx xxxx. Beginner class dungeons
will be the first to appear on Earth. If uncleared,
The inhabitants of the dungeons may be released.
You will be transported to a beginner class dungeon in:
18:27. Prepare accordingly.]
Reading the ominous message, Brandon got up immediately and stretched. 18 minutes was not much time to prepare. The first thing he did was run out of his apartment to get to his car. It was still early, the sun had not risen yet, but there were a few other people also running outside getting in their cars, looking around scared, and even shouting to each other about things. Brandon ignored it all because he needed to grab what was in his car. He had a backpack with three sets of clothes, a small medkit, a sewing kit, and a few other essentials including flashlights, batteries, firestarters, and more. He had been carrying a similar bag since he had been a scout and wanted to be prepared in case of an emergency. He unlocked the trunk of his old 2003 silver honda civic, still dirty from parking under a pecan tree back home. He grabbed the bag and four water bottles, stuffing them in.
When he stuffed the water in, he closed the trunk and ran back inside. He remembered he had a canteen with a charcoal filter in his cabinet. He opened cabinet after cabinet, pulling things out mildly frantically while glancing at the timer. Only 12 minutes were left when he finally found it. He grabbed it and tossed it in his bag, then he grabbed two bags of beef jerky and a loaf of bread, crushing the bread as he stuffed it in his nearly full bag.
“Okay, that is all the basics.” He sighed to himself and was about to sit down to relax when he realized he was still in his pajamas and needed to use the restroom. He quickly used the restroom, grabbing a roll of toilet paper when he did and squishing it as flat as he could before stuffing it in his bag too. Then he put on a slightly worn pair of blue jeans, a simple white shirt, and his nice leather jacket.
Lamenting that his weapon collection was still at his parents, he grabbed the only one he had brought with him for display. It was a decently crafted short sword based on an old book and movie series, it wasn’t well balanced, nor was it the sturdiest he owned, but it had a pretty damascus pattern, so he had brought it to display while he was at college. He grabbed the sword off the wall and it’s sheathe, he threaded his belt through the loop and strapped it on. Looking in the mirror he seemed to be about to set off on an adventure. Brandon looked around, nearly satisfied. He grabbed his bag and put it on, then with only a minute left, he grabbed his phone to check the news and see what was going on.
Unfortunately, there was no wifi or data signal on his phone, he slipped it into his pocket out of habit and started watching the timer count down. Thirty seconds, he thought. In just a few more, I’ll find out if this situation is real or not. I really really hope its some dream.
When the timer reached 0, the window expanded, the brown turned into wooden planks, taking on a solid appearance, he watched as it became a door, then opened. A swirling vortex of purples, blues, reds, and more swirled in the door and suddenly he felt a massive pull as if gravity were towards the door not the ground. His vision went dark as he went through the portal.
Brandon regained awareness with a splitting headache, he was lying on a hard and cold stone floor on his side, opening his eyes, he sat up and looked around. He was in a mostly empty stone chamber with walls made of large stone bricks circling them. The room looked like a tall cylinder that faded into an infinite abyss above. The only things in the room were a large stone staircase that led up to a wooden door reminiscent of the one that had pulled him into this space and 19 other people still sleeping on the ground. A few were just beginning to stir. He wasn’t sure where the dim light came from as there were no torches or any other obvious signs of light along the walls or in the room at all in fact. He heard a light ding and saw a small window appear in the corner of his vision, focusing on it, he pulled up another system announcement.
[Welcome to the beginner class dungeon,
The beginner class dungeon will begin shortly.
As a one time courtesy, all Items brought with you
Have been converted into magic items
That can be used in the dungeons by the system.
Please open your inventory to inspect them.]
After reading the message, he saw another set of windows in the bottom right, there were 4 total. [Status], [inventory], [quests], [store]. He focused on the Status window first.
[Status]
Level: 0 [0/10 exp]
Health: 115/115
Mana: 120/120
Strength: 12
Dexterity: 11
Stamina: 10
Endurance: 9
Magic Power: 0
I wonder what the base values for these stats are and what they mean. It seems fairly self explanatory, but I am still unsure how exactly they work, especially magic power. No mental stats like you see in games either, interesting. After checking his stats, he looked in his inventory, on the left was an equipped screen and on the right there was a list of things in his inventory. It was all the things in his bag when he stepped through the portal. He hadn’t noticed it was missing until now. Most of the items did not have stat changes to them, but there were a few that did. Everything down to his left sock was accounted for and each piece of jerky. The only items with noticeable stat bonuses were his jacket, listed as uncommon instead of common like everything else in his inventory.
[Pilot’s Leather Jacket (Uncommon)]
Level 1 cold resistance
+ 1 endurance
+1 stamina in cold environments
+2 physical armor.
Durability: 118/150
The other item that had a stat bonus was his sword.
[Unbalanced Damascus Short Sword (Common)]
+3 slashing damage
+2 piercing damage
Durability:100/100
I’d honestly rather have a spear or a longer sword, but… Brandon drew the sword, the light scraping sound enjoyable to hear, this will have to do, he thought, looking at the blade. He slid it back into place and heard another ding.
[Congrats on completing the quest “Check inventory” you receive 1 experience. Only magic items can harm monsters or protect from them and technology does not work here normally. Item [Cell Phone] has been converted to [Dungeon Phone]]
Brandon pulled his phone out of his pocket, but when he opened it, all that was on it was a list of contacts that was empty and a dial pad to type in numbers. He decided to check his inventory and read “A dungeon phone can be used to communicate with others in the dungeon, your number is **********. Giving this to other people with a dungeon phone will allow you to communicate with them.” The rating for his phone was rare.
Brandon heard someone speaking and turned to his right, a shorter man with tan, wrinkled skin and gray hair was looking up at him. He appeared to be in his late fifties and was in a business suit with nothing else on him. He called out to Brandon but it was not in a language he recognized.
“I’m sorry, I can’t understand you, English?” Brandon said back, seeing more people were starting to wake up.
“No English, No english.” The man said and looked distraught.
[The Dungeon Adaptation System’s Universal translator is not yet online. Please wait a few days for the system to finish acclimating to Earth’s languages.]
“Damnit,” Brandon shrugged at the man and headed over to the stairs. Judging by the diversity of the people here, the youngest was around 18 and the oldest was the man who tried to speak with him, but there were many nationalities present as well. He sat at the base of the stairs and watched as people woke up and tried to communicate. Most people were scared or distraught. A few formed groups with what seemed to be people who spoke the same language. He recognized a group of people around his age who were speaking Japanese but did not know enough of the language to follow their conversation.
One girl, with long, fuzzy hair that appeared light brown in the dim lighting, was walking around nervously and asking if people spoke english. She had the lithe body of a dancer and was wearing some comfortable clothes, shorts and a slightly oversized T-shirt.
“Hey, I speak English,” Brandon waved her over.
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“Oh thank fuck” She hurried over and nervously looked at him. Upon closer inspection she was quite pretty.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Brandon.” He held out his hand to shake.
“Kara.” She shook his hand, still shy and nervous. “Do you know what is going on.”
“Honestly, not really.” He glanced up at her and moved over to make room next to him, then patted the stair, “I am just as nervous as you honestly, all I know is I got woken up by this system and am here now.”
“How can that be, you already have a bag and a sword and everything.” She gestured at his outfit.
“I suppose that is fair. I grabbed all this when I saw the countdown. I didn’t know if I could take it with me or not, but it all came. Heck, I don’t even really know how to use this sword. Speaking of items, do you have your phone? Mine became a “Dungeon Phone” when I went to use it.”
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened it up. She had a momentary freak out that everything was missing but calmed down sooner than Brandon would have expected. “Here, my number is **********. Put it in your phone and see if you can message or call me.”
She put his number in and hit the call button. His usual ringtone sounded and he answered. “Hello.” The hello came crisp and clean out of the speaker on her phone, it sounded much smoother and better than a normal phone on earth. He ended the call. “It seems to work at least. He added her number to his contacts and sent a text saying hi. She lifted up her phone and turned it to him, excited that it worked.
“Awesome. Okay Kara, would you like to stick together for now? It may not be much but at least we speak the same language, even if you have a british accent.”
“Hey, right, nothin wrong with my accent.” She said.
“I know, I’m only kidding.” As they spoke, Brandon heard another notification sound.
[The doors will now open. Please proceed through them one at a time.]
Brandon looked up the stairs and saw the heavy and thick wooden doors slowly swing open. He stood and offered a hand to Kara, helping her stand as well. “I’ll go first,” he said with a gentle smile. He wasn’t happy or excited but wanted to help ease her nerves. “I don’t know what will happen inside, but stay safe, hope I see you on the other side.”
Kara just nodded and then Brandon walked up the stairs. Other groups were still talking amongst themselves and were not advancing at the same rate, Kara had waited a moment but then followed quickly behind. The door opened into what looked like a long hallway. Brandon stepped through the door into the hall and got another notification.
[Welcome to floor 1 of the class selection dungeon. This is the maze of dreams. In this maze there are a variety of chests, puzzles, and a few monsters. Please find your way to the center of the maze.]
Brandon looked back and saw the hallway continued where the door had been before. He decided to walk straight to start, to find the center of the maze he would have to either mark the stone walls or remember. In order to not damage his only weapon, he removed a needle from his sewing kit and tried to put it into the mortar between the stone bricks. After a minute of trying, he had to give up on sliding the needle in and put it back. The stones were smooth cut and the mortar thin and too tough for his needle.
Brandon kept walking until the end of the hall where he saw the first fork. He knew the methods to always follow the right wall, to drop things, to use a thread, and even more, but none of the methods to solve a maze seemed appealing to him in this situation. I could follow the right wall, but with monsters that seems a sure way to get killed or even run into traps. After some thought he decided to take the left fork but stopped after a few steps. “Hey, Dungeon adaptation system, you said this was like an RPG, right? Can I get a map or a minimap like there would be in one of those games?”
[Searching memories… Adding map update to be scheduled after language update. Creating temporary map feature for user Brandon Nary.]
A new icon appeared in the bottom left hand corner of his screen, it looked like a half unrolled map. He focused on it and a new window popped up in his vision that showed a translucent map with what appeared to be some sort of fog of war, the only parts uncovered was where he had been and seen so far. Where he was on the map was a small green dot. It was not as useful as an arrow or if he had a full area map but he could definitely use this to find the center of the maze. “Thanks Dungeon System!”
Brandon walked down the hallways more, using his map to fill in areas he had yet to see until he stepped on a loose stone, as his foot sank down, he heard a whistling sound and tried to dodge backwards from whatever was coming at him, but the arrow sank into his left arm then passed through it, missing the bone but leaving a hole and a slit, causing him to recoil and cry out in pain. Falling to the ground and sucking in a breath, he made himself look around, there were no monsters or anything like that, but there were raised stones in the floor and one depressed that he had stepped on. “Damnit, fucking traps.”
Brandon struggled to move for longer than he would care to admit as he adjusted to the pain. He saw the notification that he had gotten the bleeding status from the arrow and was losing health. It had only taken 10 when he was hit but was draining 2 every 30 seconds. Brandon quickly unequipped his jacket and grabbed his medical kit out. He first poured alcohol on both sides of the wound, which caused him to gasp and wince in pain. Then once it was as clean as he could get it in the field situation, he grabbed his curved needle and thread and he began to stitch his arm closed to stop the bleeding. It took him a couple of minutes due to the pain, but he was still above 80 health when he got the notifications.
[Field medicine level 1 acquired. Bleeding stopped]
[Field medicine]
Level: 1
Your knowledge of field medicine allows you to recover the target’s health by 5% when performing field medicine on them. Wounds treated by you have a lower chance of being infected.
Brandon watched as the stitching disappeared into his arm and left no scar or wound behind and the pain slowly faded, but his health remained at 84. I wish I had this skill before I stitched it, but at least it kind of treats it like a game and the wound doesn’t stay around. Brandon got up and put his things back in his bag then looked down the hall again. He could not see anything that shot the arrow, so he took a tentative step forward, only stepping on the bricks that were not raised. He hoped that they were safe. He was able to cross the floor of raised bricks and reach a fork in the road again, this one had four paths and a sign.
[From left to right you will find an increase in the prize you seek, but be warned traveler each path is more dangerous than the last, and you may only enter each once. ]
I will start with the left path then, hopefully it isn’t too bad. Brandon walked down the left path, knowing it wouldn’t lead to the center of the maze but hoping that he could get something to help him. He followed the stone corridor, looking out for anything that could be a trap or sign of monsters. At the end of the path was a simple wooden chest on a stone pedestal. The chest had bands of iron for support and no keyhole. Brandon looked at the chest from multiple angles, even making sure to check the back and the ground in front of it looking for traps. He did not see anything that could be a trap on the chest or around it, so he tentatively reached forward and opened it.
Nothing happened. The lid fell to the back of the chest with a clack and inside were 3 keys, one was made out of a bronze like material, one was silver, and one was gold. Above the keys was a leather bandolier that was large enough to strap onto his arm with three tubes of red liquid. He picked it up and used his inventory to inspect the potions.
[Minor Healing Potion]
Recovers 5% + 15 health when used. If applied to a wound instead of drunk, it counts as field medicine.
Brandon strapped the potions over the hole in his jacket made by the arrow. Then he investigated each key. None of them seemed to have anything special just saying they were the key to a specific lock. He pocketed them, sliding them into his left chest pocket, hoping the metal may help serve as some protection if he got stabbed. He walked back out of the tunnel and turned to the next. He had been relieved there was nothing in the tunnel he explored first, but he was curious what would be in the next. He had prepared to face some danger going in the first tunnel, so why shouldn’t he explore the second.
Brandon began to slowly make his way down the second path, this one was much more narrow, and he was just as cautious as before. He saw the trip wire and the pressure plate behind it well before he got to them. He judged he couldn’t step over it completely safely so he backed up and ran enough to get a running start and leaped over both. The trap was about halfway down the tunnel and he didn’t see another trap until the chest. This chest had bronze bands instead of iron and it was locked as well. There were no obvious traps, so he slid the bronze key into the lock and turned it. With a gentle click the chest lid raised and inside he found a small purple fruit and a pile of copper coins. The fruit was almost like a cherry but as if a cherry had a crystal structure. He lifted it up and investigated it with his inventory.
[Small Crystal Fruit]
This fruit increases magic power by 1 when consumed. This is a permanent effect.
I always wanted to learn magic. Brandon tilted his head back and popped the fruit in his mouth. He was pleasantly surprised by the flavor, it was sweet, almost like a grape but with a citrus taste to it as well. There was a small seed inside he spit back into his palm before swallowing.
The moment he swallowed, he felt a burning sensation like his veins were on fire. Brandon fell to his knees, in extreme pain for the second time today. The pain vanished almost as soon as it had come. He was able to stand again easily and felt no ill effects. If anything he felt more aware, like his consciousness had expanded throughout his body not just his mind.
[Congrats! You have unlocked magic power! Mana increased by 10 and the spells may now be used! The power of your spells depends on the spells base power as well as the power of your own magic power stat. With enough understanding you can create your own spells with a higher compatibility that will benefit more from your magic power stat.]
After reading the system notification, Brandon began to think about the spells he would like to make but quickly admonished himself. I’m still in the dungeon I need to be more careful and pay attention. He stood and reached to take the copper coins but when he touched the first, the whole pile disappeared.
[57 copper coins acquired. Store unlocked at 100 copper or 1 silver coin]
Interesting, I guess it is an internal currency system, I wonder if it can be traded. Brandon made his way back down the path, careful of the trap and leaping over it again. On his way back he was considering the next hall, it was supposed to be more dangerous than this one but this one was doable without much issue. He decided by the time he got to the end of this corridor that he would go down the next one as well.
Brandon started making his way down the third path, this path seemed a little darker, the low level of illumination he had gotten used to seemed less. As he made his way around a slight curve he saw ahead of him a short humanoid creature. It was maybe three feet tall and had a set of sharpened teeth that were yellow and black that stood out against its green skin. It was in a loincloth and Brandon could see its strong and tight muscles under its wrinkled green skin. It was not the traditional Goblin he was used to but it was all it could be, the ugly creature was guarding the chest, it had a short, curved dagger and as Brandon saw it, it saw him.
As the goblin began charging down the corridor he grabbed the sheathe with his left hand to stabilize it and drew his sword. The goblin was only 5 feet away when it jumped at him, the dagger raised above its head. Brandon reflexively slashed out with the sword and hit the goblin in the chest, he could feel that his edge alignment was off as the blade twisted after cutting into the goblin. He left a large gash across the goblins chest and knocked it to the side. When he hit the goblin, a health bar appeared above its head as it screeched. The goblin only lost a third of its health, and even though it had just hit the ground, it was quickly able to lash out and cut across Brandon’s shin.
“Aaahhh, Fuck!” Brandon jumped back and stumbled, he managed to catch himself, but the goblin was almost on top of him again. He swung at the goblins arm to stop the dagger coming towards him. He heard a crunching noise as the bones broke and a tearing noise as the short sword went through its wrist, cutting off the hand and making the dagger fall. A mix of fear and determination drove him as he moved forward and brought the sword down on the goblins head, bringing it’s struggle to an end with a spurt of blood and other matter.