Chapter 2 – Exploring the 1st floor
“…”
I actually have a status screen? That’s awesome!
But why don’t I have an hp bar or something?
[1st floor. Arrived.]
A cave appeared in front of me. It had stalactites like the ones commonly seen in nature documentaries. However, the tunnel had a regular width, or at least one I could walk through.
I looked back at the stairs with surprise wondering if I could walk up them back to my room. But there was one slight problem. There was no end to the stairs leading upwards.
[You are not allowed to step on the stairs to return to reality. If your feet touch the stairs, you are out.]
What does it mean ‘out’?” I muttered to myself but sadly whoever was in charge of this place didn’t decide to give me an answer.
“Okay, I understand.”
I shrugged, but half of it was bravado. Inside I was freaking out. After taking a few deep breathes to calm myself I started walking in the direction of the cave.
Before I walked a hundred steps, I noticed something strange: there was no light in the cave. In fact, it was complete darkness, though somehow, I could still see what was in front of me. However, it was hard to judge how far ahead I could see
Four meters? Or five meters? Man, it feels weird realizing since becoming an engineer I’ve started using the metric system in my day to day life instead of regular miles and feet.
All I knew for certain was a set range around me was illuminated, like a spotlight was focused on me. Once I moved my foot, the part I stepped to brightened accordingly.
The boundary between the bright area and the dark part seemed to be drawn with a ruler. I was staring at it when more words appeared.
[Current floor visibility is normal. Field of Vision: 3.5 m]
[This can be expanded with a related talent or object.]
Well that explained the lit-up area. So, my field of vision was roughly about 10 feet. The fact that I couldn’t see more than a few meters in front of me was quite annoying.
After walking for a few minutes, I came across a cavern. The cavern forked into three directions: left, right, or straight ahead.
“… oh boy. This might be bad.”
This was a ‘dungeon’, something I have only read about online in stories and none of them were safe places. What’s more if the structure was a maze, I could be in some serious trouble. Especially since I could only see roughly 15 feet around me. It would make backtracking to this crossroads incredibly difficult
Looking back, I could see the stairs that apparently lead back to reality were still visible in the distance.
Man, if this was going to become a maze I really regret not grabbing a notebook and pencil before coming in here. Thank god I was so tired I forgot to get undressed or I would be stuck in a cave in my boxers.
Well since I didn’t have anything to draw on I guess the only way to get out of here is by trying to remember everywhere I’ve been. Good thing I have a good sense of direction. Looking back I started to draw a mental map of how far I seem to have come from the entrance when suddenly I got another strange pop-up
[Skill has been acquired.]
[Mental Mapping: Ability to create mental maps. Maps become more accurate the higher the level of the skill. At a high enough level a map icon will be granted to the user.]
[Currently it is LV 1. Benefits will open at LV 5.]
Skill was acquired? I gained a skill just from trying to memorize my way around? Was it really that easy?
[It is possible to gain skills through specific acts and experience in the dungeon. Repeating it will give experience and cause the rank of the skill to rise.]
[Any skill acquired in the dungeon will also be applied in reality. The innate and acquired qualities that the individual is born with will be forcibly changed.]
The words disappeared and suddenly I had a clear 2-d map drawn in my mind but only of the entrance and the hallway leading to the room I was in. Concentrating on the map I got another pop-up.
[Mental Mapping LV 1. 2/100]
This was probably… I turned right at the intersection and started adding it to my internal map. The change came immediately.
[Mental Mapping LV 1. 4/100]
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
No matter how busy I got I was still a college student that grew up in the 21st century. One of my favorite past times was video games so I could kind of figure out what was going on.
I guessed that the ‘4/100’ was experience. It was the experience required for LV 2, and at LV 2, the skill would grow like the words said.
The ability to draw mental maps. Now I would never get lost again! And the pop-ups said something about a place called Avalon. I bet once I pass whatever trial this is I’ll be transported to that place and the ability to create a map in my mind of the land would be incredibly beneficial.
Wondering if it was really that easy to get a skill, I turned around and walked back to the entrance of the dungeon, this time trying to be as quiet as possible. After walking back, the hundred or so feet to the entrance I gained yet another skill.
[Sneak LV 1. 1/100]
My heart jumped. It really was that easy! Holy crap! And didn’t the pop-up say the changes were permanent? And it would also be the same when I returned to reality? I just obtained a skill I could use no matter where I am. So, does that mean I could map out an entire city in my mind? That once I get out I can sneak like a ninja? That would be so awesome.
I’d walked maybe a hundred feet and they were both already 4/100. It didn’t seem like it would be very difficult to fill up the remaining 96 points. I continued to add to the map on the screen as I walked. Trying my best to be as quiet and light footed as possible.
8/100, 15/100, 24/100…
The map was incredibly useful. Several times I would have become lost if I didn’t have it. I would probably be crying in a corner unable to either reach the end of the dungeon or the beginning I had come from. However, I stayed calm and made the right judgements. It really helped that I hadn’t run into any strange monsters in here.
[The level of a skill has risen.]
[Mental Mapping LV 1 -> LV 2.]
[Mental Mapping LV 2. 2/200.]
[Sneak LV 1 -> LV 2.]
[Sneak LV 2. 1/200.]
“All right!”
There was a feeling of accomplishment.
I checked the map that I had made so far. The structure of the cave was indeed a maze. There were several dead ends and some long routes that connected to previous intersections. However, there was something I had noticed about the structure of the cave. It seemed to be contained to a rectangular shape and there was one part that I hadn’t visited yet. It looked like the only way into that part was through a branch in an intersection several hallways back.
While backtracking to the appropriate intersection I had a thought. Something was strange about this whole thing. Maze. Dungeon. In any story I’ve read about these kind of things there was always something in them, whether it was a monster or some kind of treasure. However, I haven’t found anything like that. Just some vines and stalactites. Maybe the occasional wet stretch of moss.
If I left the maze without finding anything…
“Eh?”
As soon as I had that thought I reached the last part of the maze. It was a dead end with a staircase leading down. The stairway underneath the square hole looked like the one in my room.
In front of it was a square box.
[Wooden Box. A weak box that may contain an item. It is possible to smash it.]
It said the box could be smashed.
Then letters appeared above the stairs behind the box.
[Stairs. It leads to the 2nd floor.]
[The moment you step foot on it, the current floor exploration is over and you will return from the dungeon. The next night at midnight, you will start on the floor at the bottom of the stairs.]
So, it was fixed to one floor per day, but the real point was the next words.
[Changes in the following floor: Dungeon space has expanded. Monsters below E rank will emerge. Has possibility of resources spawning]
Monsters… I trembled at that word. No matter what lore, story, game, or movie monsters were one thing. A creature that are humans. And unlike all those I have had no experience fighting them. Hell I’m a college student who spends most of his time in front of a desk studying. How on earth am I going to kill anything?
“…”
I stopped thinking about it. They weren’t directly in front of me and I had an object to focus on: the box. Luckily whatever ran this thing used the first floor as a testing area and didn’t decide to include some kind of guardian for it.
Gulp. I gulped and pushed open the top of the box. The interior of the box was dark. It was a completely black void that showed nothing.
All of a sudden… I heard a swishing noise as three spikes shot out of the chest and impaled into mine.
Thud.
There was a sound as they buried themselves into me. The impact knocked me back and then I felt something else entirely. Pain.
“…Eh?”
Id been impaled? ID BEEN IMPALED!
“Ah, waaaaaahhhh!”
A huge pain overwhelmed me and my knees buckled before just collapsing onto the floor. I have never felt so much pain before. It was almost enough to make me black out.
Pain was quickly followed by fear. I felt like my chest was on fire. The fear of dying in the middle of nowhere, not even on the same dimension. I couldn’t believe it as I looked down at my chest. It was a surreal sight as letters started to form above the blood spilling from the puncture wounds.
[Common wounds suffered in the dungeon will be cured by clearing the floor.]
Fighting through the pain I tried to focus my mind on what the words implied. According to this I would be fine as long as I throw myself down the stairs? I felt relieved and immediately stepped towards the stairs. I wanted to escape. The pain of my body being impaled was real. I didn’t want to feel like this for one more minute…!
…But even through the pain something started to bother me.
I stopped right in front of the stairs. My body was telling me to go down. Don’t hesitate to go down quickly, but at the same time, something inside me was saying something else.
It was strange. The box was three steps away from the stairs. Why the hell would there be a trapped box just a few feet away from the thing that could relieve it?
Wouldn’t the trap be useless if they placed it three steps before the stairs? It was like it was trying send me a message ‘Pain? Quickly run away! You can end it if you leave now!’
There must be something. This entire thing is supposed to be a trial. And this was literally the beginning of the road. In the next level there were monsters, and unlike now there was no guarantee that they would be near a cure all checkpoint. And I don’t want to be incapacitated like this in the middle of the dungeon If only…
Suddenly my mind flashed back to the moment that I received Mental Mapping. Could I perhaps gain a new skill?
People wouldn’t die just from being impaled, well they would but it depended where they got stabbed. Judging from the pain nothing overly important was stabbed. Thank god it missed my heart. But if this was literally the beginning of what was to come I need to gain something to stop myself from being incapacitated like this later. So despite every nerve and braincell telling me to leave I sat down right in front of the door and didn’t move.
I gritted my teeth to fight through the pain. Once again, I was glad that my family tended to be a stubborn bunch. However, the pain was killing me. And so was the blood loss. After what had to only be a second but felt like an eternity letters appeared in front of my eyes.
[Skill has been acquired.]