Our assembled group stood at the entrance of the dungeon – which was both exactly what I’d imagined and nothing like what I imagined. Sitting placidly right in the center of an unassuming clearing, the portal entrance looked like nothing I’d ever seen before.
It was ovalish in shape, though it had no defined edges as far as I could tell. The thing consisted of a mass of purple and blue streaks of what I could only describe as energy spiraling around a glowing white-blue center. The streaks gradually lost their vibrancy and faded away as they travelled further from the middle. It was about a meter tall, and half as wide, and it pulsed sporadically as it sat, sending out waves of Flux that I could feel caress my skin.
The seven of us spread out in the clearing, taking a seat in a circle as we ran through our strategy once more. Formation, I’d learned, was an important thing. The bounds were loose – after all, nobody could really hope to have an ordered formation in the chaos of battle – but the general outline had to be adhered to strictly.
For the first stage, it was outlined with Lionel and Gyda in front – and Lionel usually just a step ahead – Galas somewhere in the middle, and Tara and Najam in the back. Ren’s place was somewhere in front of Galas, though he had the most freedom of the group. He had his place, but he was allowed to break away and circle around if he deemed it necessary.
The decision for my place was handed over to me, and I happily placed myself right behind Gyda. She and Lionel were the people I wanted to learn from the most, and also it just seemed like the funnest place to be. Throwing stuff from the back seemed so boring.
Aside from formation, there were the materials we needed, too. And the most important of those materials was a little thing called a Flux Potion. Packaged in little, clear glass flasks, a Flux Potion was a bright, sea-blue liquid that apparently acted both to provide emergency healing and a boost to the drinker’s Flux reserve, if healing wasn’t needed.
They were apparently cheap – although, since I’d gathered by now that Najam was probably affluent by most people’s standards, I didn’t know how accurate that statement was. Regardless, we’d brought thirty-five of the little flasks, which meant there were five a person. I’d been warned to use them sparingly, since dungeons were long and exhausting affairs, and once a person was out, it would only be a matter of time before they eventually died, even with a designated healer healing.
It took a short few minutes for us to run through the strategy again, since Najam had already drilled it into our heads before we left, and for the Potions to be handed out. And with that done, we were finally ready to enter the dungeon.
We entered in formation, so Lionel was the first to step inside. Ren and I watched in wonder, standing beside each other, as Lionel tossed back a smile at us, stepped into the purples and blues of the portal, and simply disappeared, as if the mass of energy ate him up.
Gyda followed a step behind him, and after her was me. I took a deep breath, and, with a shared look with Ren, the both of us stepped in at the same time.
The energy brushed against my skin with a funny tingle, like tickling fingers all over my body. There was a flash of white as I felt some resistance, like I was stepping through jelly, and then, all of a sudden, I was on the other side.
The white of the world faded away to reveal a vastly different sight. I was stood in a dimly lit stone hallway. The only light present came from the torches that were hung on the side walls, spaced with about a meter between them. Their orange, dancing glow cast about the cobbled pathway at our feet, leading down a seemingly endless length forward.
Gyda and Lionel stood waiting a few meters in front of Ren and me, watching us with smiles. They seemed to be expecting something, but as I walked over to them, I couldn’t figure out what exactly it was that they were waiting for.
“Do you see it yet?” Gyda finally asked as we reached them.
I shook my head. “Nope. What are you talking about?”
Gyda smiled again. “Just give it a second. You should see it soon enough.”
We waited a moment, but nothing happened. Najam and Tara finally walked in then, and they made their way over to us with the same expectant smiles. “Do you guys see it?” Tara asked as soon as they reached us.
I was just about to shake my head, and ask what exactly we were waiting for, when it finally happened.
‘Synchronization complete,’ a voice suddenly sounded in my head. The voice was metallic, but distinctly feminine, and I immediately traced it to the chip I’d stuck to my head. There was no other explanation, after all, for a voice in my head. Unless I’d finally cracked and gone insane.
A second after the voice sounded, a holographic window flickered to life before me, like an old TV screen turning on. The window was a light sky blue, semi-transparent, and floated in front of my face.
“Huh,” Ren said from beside me. “Color.” His voice sounded strangely emotional, like he was saying the name of a friend he hadn’t seen in a long time. A friend he’d never thought he’d see again.
Najam and the rest, seeing the both of us staring into the space in front of us, all burst into great smiles. “You see it now?” Tara asked excitedly, affirming my suspicion that the screen was only in my head.
I nodded. “Yeah. It’s this weird screen. What is it?”
“It’s the dungeon’s stat board,” Najam explained. “It should show you things like its name and difficulty rating, monster type, stuff like that.”
I shook my head. “Nope. That’s not what I’m seeing.” And indeed, that wasn’t at all what I was seeing. The board showed nothing at all about the dungeon, in fact.
********
Name: Ruby Redthorn
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Level: 15
~~~~~~~
Strength: 14
Agility: 12
Toughness: 15
Mental: 13
Reaction Time: 147 ms
Strike Power: 1132 fin
Flux Reserve: 200/200
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
~~~~~~~
$#^#: $#@
$#@%: %@#^^$#
********
What I did see, however, seemed to be all about myself.
Najam and the rest seemed as confused as I was, at my refusal of his words. “So, what are you seeing, then?” Najam asked.
“Uhh, I’m not too sure myself. It’s showing me my name, my age. That much I get. Then it’s showing me a bunch of other stuff I don’t understand.”
Understanding dawned on the faces of the people gathered, aside from Ren.
“Ahh, I see. It’s your own stat board,” Najam said in amazement. “That’s very interesting. I didn’t know it was possible for a chip to fully synchronize without the Adventurers Guild’s help.”
“I suppose it makes sense, though,” Tara said, “if you think about it. They say that dungeons are really just pockets of the Tower itself. If that’s true, then, given the connection between the chips and the Tower, it would make sense that a dungeon would be able to fully synchronize a chip.”
“Ok, but what is this?” I asked, still staring at the strange screen before me.
Najam smiled. “It’s your stat board. It’s essentially a way of quantizing your strength.”
“Quantizing?” I asked.
“Yeah. It basically attaches a number to your physical attributes – it helps compare yourself to others, roughly.”
“Huh.” I went silent, considering my board again. “Wait…why am I so low??”
Najam’s group laughed at my exasperation. “Oh, I doubt you’re very low, Ruby," Najam assured me. "Especially for your age.”
I shook my head vigorously. “No, no, it’s way too low. All my stats are like, in the low teens.”
Najam laughed. “That’s perfectly normal, Ruby. Amazing, even. The numbers being low doesn’t mean that you’re weak, just that you have a lot of room to grow.”
“Think about it this way, Ruby,” Tara said. “A ten in any of the stats is the absolute limit of what the human body could possibly achieve without Flux, assuming perfection in every aspect that plays a role. Perfect genes, perfect diet and training – the absolute limit of the human body’s potential is a ten. If you’re already past that, even if it's by a little bit, it’s an amazing achievement.”
My crushed self-esteem slowly seeped back into me as she spoke, relief washing over me.
“Wait, what about Level?” Ren asked from beside me. “I can get the gist of most of the other stats, but I don’t understand what Level is supposed to mean.”
“Level is essentially the broadest summary of your overall strength,” Najam responded. “It’s what’s used most commonly to measure strength, since it’s the most convenient. It’d be hard to compare every single stat of a person to another’s, after all.”
“But because of that,” Tara said, “it’s also the most inaccurate. Because it’s an average, there’s a whole host of problems that can crop up with it. For one thing, people of exactly the same level could have wildly different stats.”
“Not to mention,” Lionel added, “the stat board itself isn’t really an entirely accurate assessment of someone’s overall fighting strength either. It’s purely focused on the physical aspect of a person, but it fails to take into account things like creativity, intelligence, experience, stuff like that.”
Gyda smiled then. “Exactly. That’s why Level isn’t the biggest part of deciding who’d win a fight. That’s how you get people like our little Najam over here,” she gave the boy a little elbow nudge and a teasing grin, “who can defeat people several Levels higher than themselves.”
Najam flushed under the praising looks of his group, and I took their attitudes to mean that it was quite a feat to do what Najam could.
“Well, anyway,” Najam began, trying to divert attention away from himself. “It’s great that you can see your stat board, but we should be moving on now. Put the screen away so that you can access the dungeon’s board.”
I gave Najam a look. “And how do I put this screen away?”
“Oh. Uh, just, kinda think it away? I guess,” Najam said, in a faltering voice that told me this was another thing that was supposed to be common sense. “It kinda just goes away when you want it to.”
“Hmm,” I said. I didn’t find Najam’s explanation very helpful, but to my surprise, it worked out pretty much exactly that way. I simply decided that I wanted it gone, and the screen flickered away. It was strange; like flexing a finger: something that was both a conscious decision and yet not one I had to form into words.
When the first screen left, another popped up a second later.
********
Welcome to the Zergy Dungeon!
Welcome, player of this deadly game!
Welcome, brave warrior!
Prepare to fight, to win, to find glory!
Or else, find Death.
~~~~~~~
Name: Zergy Dungeon
Difficulty Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Level Suggestion: 15 – 20
Party Suggestion: 5 – 10
Status: Uncleared
Stages: 3
Monster Type:
* First Stage: Zergies
* Second Stage: Evolved Zergies
* Third Stage: Unknown
~~~~~~~
Do you wish to challenge this Dungeon? (Y/N)
********
“Huh,” I said as I finished reading over the information on the board. “Interesting.”
“If you’ve finished reading the dungeon board,” Najam said, “just answer the question at the bottom to proceed.”
I opened my mouth to ask how I was supposed to answer, but the question died in my throat. I figured it was better to try something first, before asking. So instead, I simply thought to myself, Yes – feeling more than a little silly as I did.
The board, fortunately for me, reacted to my thoughts. The blue screen flickered, and the writing on it changed.
********
Do you wish to join the Bow Hawk party? (Y/N)
********
Following the same process as before, I thought a quick Yes to myself, and the board changed again, showing me a list of the names of everyone in the party already, displaying my name amongst them. Ren joined just a few moments after I did.
Seeing that everyone was finally in, Najam clapped his hands together and let a smile of anticipation stretch over his face. “Alright! We should be all set, now. Let’s get a move on, shall we.”
With matching smiles, the rest of the Bow Hawk party fell into formation, and we began to make our way down the seemingly never-ending, dim stone hallway.