Outside the elevator, we found ourselves in a clean, white-walled room that reminded me uncannily of the Foodmaxx that Zapper and I had explored down south.
Except that this one still contained pristine shelves and didn’t have the pervasive odor of decay and rot that most everything outside the dungeon had these days. Also, no monsters that I could see, which was a plus.
What it did have, however, were shelves overflowing with supplies.
Just from what we could see past the elevator doors, there were several shelves three layers tall showing a myriad of camping supplies: stoves, sleeping bags, tents, lanterns, compact dish sets, everything a human might need to survive in the urban wilderness.
Next to that was a shelf crammed with piles of clothing, from short summer shirts to big winter coats. I couldn’t see what was on the shelf past that, but I could read the sign in front of it which read: toiletries and cosmetics.
[Oooh,] Zapper said from somewhere beneath my chin. [Think there’s a shelf of food in here somewhere?]
[Zapper, we just ate.] In response to that, my stomach let out an angry gurgle. I amended, [Just don’t go devouring the first food we see. Something tells me we won’t be able to simply take what we want here.]
[Aww, okay, Boss.]
Stepping out of the elevators, we looked around us as the doors quietly slid shut. Shelves stretched out in both directions, with signs on the ceiling indicating what we were likely to find—‘books’, ‘farming equipment’, and ‘auto repair’ in one direction, with ‘medical bay’, ‘armory’, and ‘fudge shop’ in the other. I considered our options.
[Let’s check out the armory, first,] I finally said. My mind was still dwelling on the prospect of finding something I could use to supplement my current skills. Probably futile, I know—after all, if canids were made for holding swords, we would have been born with opposable thumbs.
Still, it was the best lead I had at the moment.
[Okay... Oooh, maybe we could stop at the fudge shop on the way!!!]
[Pretty sure that would kill you, Zapper.]
[Won’t know until we try, right, Boss?] The little dog wagged his tail as he followed after me. I just sighed.
We found the armory section after only a few minutes of walking, passing a row labeled ‘appliances’ and another labeled ‘doomsday devices’. Unfortunately, the selection of weaponry was much as I’d feared: rows of swords in shining racks on one side, bows and crossbows on the other. Nothing for a dog to use.
Just to be certain, I studied a few items until a message appeared.
Warning: This item is incompatible with your assigned race.
Great. A dog just can’t catch a break sometimes. With a sigh, I led Zapper further into the store.
We passed more rows, most of which contained items of little interest. ‘seed vault’, ‘cookware’, ‘electronics’, and ‘fine china’ were all straight out. Seriously, what did this dungeon think we would be doing while we were here? Setting up a new home like a pair of newlyweds? We already had a fully furnished safe zone waiting for us downstairs...
A few shelves were of more interest, at least. Both ‘safe zones’ and ‘travel rations’ got a quick perusal, though without any way of carrying supplies we ended up leaving items until we’d explored more fully.
Also, there were no prices, like, anywhere? How was a dog supposed to know before taking an item off a shelf? I guess we could have simply grabbed something and waited to see what happened, but as I was still leery about those ‘high-level entities’ the tutorial had warned us about earlier, I decided not to risk it.
There were also a pair of shelves that caught my attention, though I wasn’t sure if they were useful or not: ‘alchemy’ and ‘enchanting’.
Both set off a flurry of images in my head, but I couldn’t quite figure out what they were trying to tell me. Both were about making stuff, I guess?
A mystery to solve later.
Then, shortly after Zapper spotted a sign that said ‘cafeteria’, we came around an end-cap featuring bottles of hairspray and almost ran smack into a robot wandering the other way.
[Whoa!] I leapt back, knocking down a display for an inflatable raft, then tensed for an attack. My eyes bored holes into the interloper.
Error: Invalid target.
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[Stand down, Zapper. I don’t think this is an enemy,] I said to the little dog, whose feet had already begun to smoke, leaving charred marks on the linoleum. Returning my attention to the robot, I gave it a closer inspection.
The machine was vaguely humanoid shaped—but only vaguely. It had a pair of treaded tires in place of legs, and its arms were coils of thick wire with clamps at the end. Rather than a head, it had a long cylindrical tube that blinked with a warm light as it twisted first one direction and then the next. No face, or obvious cameras that I could see. Did this thing even have eyes, or some other, more obtuse method for finding its way around?
[Bzzzt! Customer presence detected. Activating customer greeting protocol in 3... 2... 1...]
I glanced at Zapper, unsure what to say. It was weird hearing this machine talk in the same way we could. I’d only ever encountered that with dogs—and a singular rat.
[Bzzzt! Hello
[Boss, I don’t like this,] Zapper whimpered. [Those weird noises are making my head hurt. Make it stop!]
The weird buzzing sound was getting on my nerves as well, but I tried to give Zapper a reassuring look. [It’ll be okay, I promise. Just try and endure it a bit longer.]
Turning back to the robot, I said, [Greetings. We’re, uh... adventurers? Dungeon delvers? Whatever. Are you the one we pay if we want to purchase anything?]
[Affirmative, bzzzt! Is there anything in particular you need help locating? We have quite an extensive inventory here, though we’re still waiting on a final shipment from
[It’s getting worse...] Zapper moaned. He covered his ears, though considering the voice was inside our head, I didn’t think that would really help.
[Listen, can you... talk normally? Without all the buzzing noises, please?]
[One moment... customer has requested a customized experience. Submitting system request now... Bzzzt!]
Zapper let out another whine as the robot quivered. A moment later it shook itself, its light blinking several times.
“Testing... testing... voice pack installed correctly. Is this more to customer’s liking?”
[Uh, yeah, that’ll do.] I didn’t honestly care how the machine spoke, so long as Zapper stopped freaking out. Already he’d lifted a paw and was watching the robot warily.
“I am happy to be of service. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?”
[I don’t—wait! Yes, yes you can.] My tail started to wag. [Do you sell anything here a dog—er, a canid can use? Most everything seems to be geared towards humans.]
[Also, there are no prices listed!] Zapper added. [It’s confusing!]
[Yeah, what he said.]
The robots circular light spun several times, like it was looking around. Maybe it was. “Affirmative. Adjustments shall be made to inventory to show only items suitable to
[Um... I guess.]
“One moment. Beginning filter protocol.”
I almost lost my footing as the floor shifted beneath me. Shelves rushed past, disappearing into a white mist that had sprung up all around us, roiling just at the edge of the little patch of linoleum left to us.
Beside me, Zapper let out a howl of terror. He looked like he was about to take off running into the mist, so I lunged forward and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck just in time, lifting him bodily off the ground.
All around us, the rest of the dungeon floor was lost to sight. The mists swirled and rolled, pressing in closer around us... and closer.... and closer... Somewhere in the distance I heard an immense grinding, like two mountains clashing together. The floor beneath us shook. Some part of me wondered if it would give out at any moment, leaving only darkness to swallow us both.
And all the while the mist drew closer, until it was only two feet away, then one, then six inches. Four. Three. Two...
With a lurch that almost brought my rattlesnake lunch up for a second appearance, the floor stopped shaking. The mist retreated. I stared around us in wonder, Zapper dropping from my gaping mouth.
Gone was the immense store that had been there before. Now we stood in a room that was maybe twenty feet to a side, if that. Behind us, the doors of the elevator yawned open, inviting.
Instead of shelves, several tables were placed at a height so low, even Zapper could easily see their contents. Small paper cards sat next to each item on display, though the writing was illegible from where I stood.
“Store has been rearranged to user preferences,” the robot intoned. “Is there anything else I can assist you with?”
[Uh, no. That’ll be all for the moment.] Part of me was terrified of what might happen if I asked for anything else.
“Very good. I will enter standby mode until further assistance is required. Good day.”
The robot’s light dimmed, and it slumped forward. Zapper and I watched it for several minutes. When it failed to move again, I glanced at the little dog.
[Shall we see what’s on the tables?]
[Sure, Boss. But if any of them start making strange noises again, I’m out of here!]
I let out a little chuckle. [Fair enough. At least we know where the way out is.]
Cautiously, I approached the first table. It was mostly items we’d seen already seen before, like safe zone generators and dried food rations. The minor safe zones like I had in my inventory were listed at 3 uncommon cores each, while there were also several ‘major’ safe zone generators that sold for two rares. I glanced at them, but moved further along the table before the system could populate a description.
A bit beyond the ordinary everyday stuff was a row of five bracelets, some metal, others simple leather. I hovered my gaze on the first.
Bracer of Dog—
[Boss!] Zapper’s voice echoed from the other side of the shop. [Come quick! You gotta see this!!!]
Turning, I trotted over to where Zapper stood staring at a trio of items. My eyes widened as description boxes filled my vision.
Hotbar Interface Cube
Skill Upgrade Core — Basic
Beginner’s Adventurer Guide
...Well, now this was starting to look promising.