Nate was laying in his bed later that night, thinking. So much had happened during the last day that he barely knew how to process it all. Everything that had gone down had done so in a rush of excitement and energy.
It was only now, as he was preparing to enter the dungeon for more training, that he could look back on it all.
His life was crazy. It had been ever since he randomly showed up on this alternate version of Earth. Yet, he was enjoying it. His parents were here, he had friends here, his body was healthy, and everything was new and exciting. None of those were items he could have said belonged in his past life.
It was true that this world was more dangerous than his past one, but he wouldn’t go back for anything.
Nate felt a true, happy grin stretch across his face as he opened the menu on the wrist computer and selected his avatar.
No, he wouldn’t say his life here was perfect, but he was happy, and more than that, he had the chance to do some good. With that thought in mind, he entered the dungeon and retrieved the bag of energy cores from his storage.
It was time to absorb as many as he could.
Pulling the first orb out of the bag, he stared at it with a stupid expression on his face. He had no one to blame but himself. For some reason, he had been thinking they would suddenly be like all the other rainbow orbs he had gotten. That wasn’t the case. They hadn’t changed in the slightest.
Which meant there wouldn’t be any easy way to absorb them. He would need to do it the same way he had earlier, by swallowing them.
So, that’s exactly what he did. He selected three of the energy cores that he wouldn’t dare to absorb normally.
He stored the bag and popped the first of the cores into his mouth as he began heading toward the portal room. Now that the core had taken over everything and a second level had been opened, he wanted to see it. If he wanted to, he could take control of everything. However, after designing the first floor, he was more interested in simply experiencing the second one.
He had already learned how hard it was to create the traps for every single room, along with the overall dungeon. It was something that he had to admit wasn’t exactly his strong suit.
At this point, he was far more interested in seeing what the Dungeon Core might come up with than doing it himself.
Following his normal procedure, he pulled up the screens that would show him the interior of the dungeon. Unsurprisingly, at least to his way of thinking, the dungeon was currently empty. With a new floor that the monsters needed to go through before even reaching this part, it made sense.
Of course, there was no guarantee it would remain that way for long. With the other appearing on the other side of the portal, it would be a clear message that things were different now. There was also the factor that there was no limit to the number of beasts that could enter the dungeon on the other side.
Here, the portal had always kept everything under control, even when there had been cultivators attacking and more had come through. However, on the new floor, it would be their home territory with no portal to contend with. All they would need to do is enter the dungeon in the same manner the cultivators had.
The more he thought about it, the more excited he became about seeing the new floor. He had to keep himself from changing the screens to give himself an early peak. The desire to open the proverbial Christmas present even a few minutes earlier was very real.
He had finished absorbing the energy from the first energy core by the time he reached the portal. The process for the regular cores required more concentration than the ones he got from the dungeon. It also gave him less energy overall. That said, every little bit helped, and he quickly placed the second one in his mouth.
Despite how many times Nate had gone through this room, he had never truly stopped to inspect the portal before.
It wasn’t spherical or surrounded by runes like the gates in a certain TV show he used to enjoy. It was hazier and more indistinct, with the edges coming in and out of focus as they shifted locations. The inside of the portal resembled a badly concave mirror, reflecting a warped version of yourself.
Carefully, he reached out to it. The surface was so warped that he was unsure of when his hand would even touch the surface of the portal.
In an instant, the surroundings around him changed, his ears popped as the air equalized, and he was in the midst of a battle.
Nate suddenly realized the folly of patiently waiting to open one’s presents.
He scrambled to pull his kukri blades from storage, cursing himself for not doing it earlier. In a roundabout way though, he guessed he might have managed to answer his questions from earlier. While the knives had never actually left his storage, they had still been in it, and he had now also brought the duffel bag in.
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As far as he was concerned, it seemed like it was highly possible that he would be able to freely bring his equipment into the real world. There was a small part of him that still doubted whether that would be possible, but it had shrunk considerably.
For the moment, he had no room to think about anything unneeded after he got the knives in his hands.
All he had time to take in was one large space the size of a warehouse. Somehow, the Core had used a singular sub-room setup to get around the trap restrictions around the portals while leaving everything else open.
The sub room had arches where walls would normally have been and no doors. It was a completely open space.
One that had led to him walking into a pitched battle and being immediately surrounded on all sides. Whatever the Dungeon Core had managed to do before the beasts had entered the new floor was clearly not enough.
He was surprised that the first floor hadn’t been swarmed with how many monsters there were everywhere.
Nate managed to risk a quick glance back at the portal and saw something he had never seen on the other side before. The surface of the portal had darkened slightly and there appeared to be some sort of barrier that prevented anyone from approaching it. That explained why they only ever came through every few minutes.
The sole exception had been when the cultivators entered the dungeon, which meant the barrier might not be entirely natural. Either that or the dungeon could influence it on some level. Both were potentially interesting bits of information and were good to know.
Slipping both kukris from their sheathes, he reversed his grip on the one in his left hand and waded into the fight. There were so many in the area that he was being constantly knocked about, even as his blades bit into one soft surface after another.
Unfortunately, the area was only becoming even more cramped as time went on. The close quarters were leading to him getting hit just as often, or even more so than everything else, and blood was pouring from his body. A thousand tiny cuts had shredded his clothes, all while arrows whistled through the air.
Arrows seemed to have been the trap of choice the Dungeon Core went with originally when it created this space. Now, with so many monsters inside though, it could no longer make wide-sweeping changes to the area.
It was another thing he hadn’t bothered to consider before going through the portal. He had been too excited to see the new area to think through all the possible ramifications. Like the limitations of the Dungeon Core and the effects, they would have on the construction of the new floor.
Thankfully, there had been enough resources in stock that the Core had been able to accomplish as much as it had. Still, it was clearly fighting a losing battle.
When he got back, he would need to step in and help it out some. His own construction abilities didn’t seem to care whether there was anything inside the dungeon. At least, not when he did everything from the wrist computer. If he did it while in his avatar form, then the dungeon would still shut down.
Which was exactly what they were trying to avoid.
Nate wasn’t sure if it had been ten minutes or an hour after he entered the second floor when he felt the cold embrace of death. A needle-sharp tail with quills attached to it had torn through his chest.
He coughed weakly, feeling the warm blood dribble down his cheek as he was flung to the side and then stepped on. As soon as the beasts saw that he was down, most forgot he existed. He was ignobly crushed beneath their feet moments later.
At least the pain had been relatively brief this time around, he thought as he drifted into unconsciousness.
Upon waking the next morning, the first thing he did was check his information. It was something he had forgotten to look at before entering the dungeon earlier.
Nathaniel Holmes
Age: 17 years
Realm: Mortal (Recently Awakened, Backup Core Available, 20% Charged)
Core: Copper Grade (Low Quality)
Strength: 19
Speed: 17
Constitution: 19
Energy: 35
Meditative Art: ??
Energy Skills: None
Attack:
Support:
Companion Beast: None
Dungeon Creation - Current limit 2
Dungeon Interface
Dungeon - 1
Avatar
Equip
Don Avatar
Items
Storage
He was less than impressed with the improvement getting a core had given his body. Still, it was worlds better than how it had been when he first arrived. Sleeping had given his body time to fully adjust to its new power and durability.
There had been a little bit of time in the beginning of his dungeon run the night before, where he had been stumbling constantly. His own feet were getting in the way as often as not. However, one of the many benefits that came with being a cultivator was enhanced senses. That naturally extended to the control of one’s own body.
Flicking through the menu some more, he reached the storage and selected it. After that fight, he was hoping to have received some items. The dungeon had repaired his pants and shirt in the past after his deaths, yet something was telling him it was going to be different this time.
The sheer number of attacks and damage to the items themselves had been on a whole different level than ever before. They had been completely shredded and destroyed.
Robotically, Nate went through the motions of stiffly showering while he was doing this. Each move he made pulled at bruises caused by injuries that had been transferred over from the avatar to a degree. The healing bracelet would take care of them in time, but for now, he would have to deal with feeling like an arthritic ninety-year-old man.
The storage option in the menu opened as the hot water poured over his body, soothing his crying muscles. Hiding inside from that one fight were more items than he had gotten up to that point in time.
Moving to the second level, to their home world, had demonstrated a definite increase in the amount of goodies he could get from them. Of course, that would only last until the dungeon was only up and running and the mobs were under control. It sort of made him want to work on the problem a little less if he was being honest.
The promise of getting extra items or rainbow energy cores for a longer period of time was very appealing to him.
Unfortunately, that simply wasn’t a viable option. The dungeon was now on the home turf of the beasts. That meant that whatever magic might have been involved in limiting the strength of whatever went through the portal no longer mattered. Or at least it didn’t matter on the second floor, and possibly at all.
He wasn’t sure if there was some sort of magic involved that had limited their strength or if it had simply been something else. For all he knew, the beasts could have been using the portal as a sort of proving ground for their young trainees, or a prison site for weaker inmates. Either way, it no longer mattered.
By creating the second floor, it had become clear to all the monsters there that things had changed. Stronger beasts would be heading their way, and he and the dungeon would need to be prepared. Or the entire location would be lost.