Samara flipped the page on the book she was reading. It was a book provided by the directors of the dungeon, and it chronicled the adventures of a man named Perseus. He was currently engaged in a battle with a woman who had snakes for hair and could turn people to stone.

How will he defeat that bitch?

Samara sat on the edge of her seat as she flipped the page again. Just as Perseus made a plan to defeat the foul monster with his mirrored shield, Samara's attention was pulled away from the book by someone groaning next to her. She reluctantly put down the book and turned to the man lying on the bed.

"Are you finally awake?" She asked.

"Where?" Bazel tried to sit up, but lost his strength and fell back on the pillow again, "Where am I?"

"You're in the safe zone," she put her hand on his shoulder, "Nothing will hurt you here."

"Oh, good." He took some deep breaths, "I thought I would die for sure. Even after killing that giant rat!"

"You almost did die. Lucky for you, I just happened to be nearby."

"Then you have my thanks, miss."

"Please," she shook her head, "I'm no maiden, just call me Samara."

Bazel turned his head to look at her. Samara was a brawny woman with a scar across her face. Her short brown hair made her look more boyish than anything else. She didn't mind the way she looked, she considered her appearance to be "tough".

"Thank you, Samara."

"No problem!" she slapped his shoulder and pulled her hand away, "Just know that you owe me five hundred credits for the ambrosia I wasted on you."

"Ambrosia?"

"It's a healing elixir that can miraculously cure any ailment," she explained, "the description said it's the blood of gods, but I'm not sure I believe it."

"Oh."

"Anyway," Samara picked up the shopping bag next to her chair and tossed it onto the bed, "I also took the liberty of getting you some actual clothes. There's some underwear, socks, a t-shirt and some padded leather pants in there."

"Th-thanks."

Bazel looked into the bag and his eyes went wide. Samara thought he might cry upon seeing the clothing.

"I also got you some shoes," she reached down and picked them up off the floor, then tossed them onto the bed, "they're called sneakers, and they're super comfortable."

Bazel dropped the bag and stared at the sneakers as if they were bricks of gold. He slowly reached out with shaking hands and picked them up. He looked up at Samara with wet eyes and trembling lips.

"These are… for me?"

"Uh, yeah." She grinned nervously and nodded, "You don't have to pay me back for the clothes. They were cheap."

Bazel did cry then. Not just crying, but sobbing uncontrollably. He held the shoes to his chest and rocked back and forth. He bawled like a baby.

Samara wasn't sure how to respond. She'd never seen anyone react that way over some shoes. Sure, the sneakers were pretty fantastic all things considered – everything in the dungeon was – but she didn't understand why he was so emotional.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yes!" He hugged the shoes tighter, "I– I've never had shoes b-before! They're wonderful! Th-thank you!"

I forgot! His name said he was a beggar! Has he really never owned a pair of shoes?

Bazel kept rocking back and forth while crying and holding the shoes close to him. He stayed like that for a few minutes, then finally started to get his emotions under control. He carefully placed the shoes beside him and went back to the shopping bag to retrieve the clothing.

Samara was a little shocked when he threw the blanket aside and revealed his naked body. She didn't really care, but most men would have a little shame at least. He stood next to the bed and started dressing.

He put on the boxer-briefs and socks, both black in color. He put on the padded leather pants, also black. Then he put on the cyan t-shirt with a black omega symbol on it. He put the shirt on backwards at first, realized his mistake and turned it around.

Finally he sat on the edge of the bed and took the shoes. He looked at the shoes, then his feet, then up at Samara.

"How exactly do I…"

Samara rolled her eyes and scooted the chair a bit closer so she could help him. She showed him how to loosen the laces, then put the shoe on his foot and demonstrated tying it. Bazel was clever enough to grasp it all after seeing it done once and put the other shoe on by himself.

He stood up and looked himself over. He looked up and beamed at Samara like a child.

"This is great!" He said, "Thank you, so much!"

Samara was never the type of girl to care about fashion, but even she had been won over by the clothing available in the dungeon. She wore blue pants made of thick fabric called "denim", and a green t-shirt with the Aethertech logo on it – an alpha symbol with stylized wings. She also had a pair of green sneakers, they really were the most comfortable shoes.

She thought Bazel looked pretty good in his own getup. She chose the padded pants because they would hide his skinny legs. Unfortunately, the baggy t-shirt didn't have the same effect, and only made him look as emaciated as he was.

Bazel seemed to remember something and held out his hand.

"Um, interface?" He asked, "Can I have that vest, now?"

A vest popped into existence and Bazel grabbed it out of the air to put it on. It was made of soft leather and had a bunch of pockets on it. Once he put it on, it made him seem a bit bigger and hid his skinny frame.

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"Lookin' good for a beggar!" Samara said.

Bazel chuckled, "Thanks."

"Just one more thing…"

Samara stood up and pulled a small hair band out of her pocket. She used it to tie back Bazel's long hair and then stepped back to take a look at him.

"Well, you're still too damn skinny. But this is a good start."

"Speaking of," Bazel put a hand over his stomach, "Is there anything to eat?"

Samara grinned from ear to ear, "Oh, you're going to love this!"

Without offering any explanation, Samara beckoned Bazel to follow her out of the apartment and into the safe zone proper.

The safe zone consisted of streets and buildings, just like any normal city or town. However, it was much more lavish than any place Samara had ever been to.

All the streets were lined with landscaping and flowering bushes. The houses and buildings were painted white or tan, and all of them had actual glass windows. The ceiling above them looked just like the sky, complete with a sun, moving clouds and even birds flying over. It was fake, but it was just as good as the real thing.

Bazel looked around in wonder and almost tripped a couple times as he followed Samara. She understood how he felt, as it was the same way she reacted a week earlier.

They walked down the main street and stopped in the shopping district, right next to the plaza. Shops of all kinds lined the streets with glass fronts and colorful awnings. A couple dozen people walked around looking at the wares or enjoying a meal at one of the many restaurants and cafés.

The people there looked just like Samara and Bazel, all dressed in clothing provided by the dungeon.

Bazel stood in the middle of the street and slowly turned to see all the shops. His mouth hung open as new wonders caught his eyes.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Samara asked.

"Yes." Bazel slowly nodded, "I've never seen anything like it! This place truly is built by the gods!"

"Eh," Samara shrugged, "Close enough."

Samara led Bazel over to one of the restaurants. The shop had an open seating area out front – a bunch of round wooden tables, each with a couple chairs.

"Have a seat," Samara gestured to one of the tables, "I'll go get us some food."

Samara walked into the shop and up to the counter. The portly man standing on the other side wore a red and white striped shirt, and had a black handlebar mustache.

"Can't get enough of my cooking, huh?" The man asked with a smile.

"You know it, Antonio!" She pointed at the menu hanging on the wall, "Give me a large supreme and two citrus sodas."

"Coming right up!"

Antonio quickly prepared the meal and gave it to Samara. She called up her interface to pay for it and thanked him. She walked back out and put the square box on the table, along with the two drink cups.

"What is this?" Bazel looked at the box and tilted his head.

"It's called pizza," she opened the box and let the greasy aroma out, "And it's the greatest food ever invented as far as I'm concerned."

Bazel stared at the round bread topped with sauce, cheese, three kinds of meat and various vegetables. He began to drool.

Samara grabbed one of the slices to demonstrate how to hold it. She held it by the crust, folded the slice slightly and took a bite. She made a yummy sound and then nodded towards it.

"Try it."

Bazel copied her and picked up a slice. He held it the same way she had and stuffed half of it into his mouth. He closed his eyes in bliss as he chewed.

"Also," Samara picked up her cup and held it in front of her face, "It's great when paired with this tonic. They call it soda."

She used the straw to suck up some of the sweet, bubbly drink. Bazel watched her, swallowed the pizza and took a drink just like she had. His eyes went wide with shock as the drink went into his mouth. He swallowed it and looked at Samara.

"It has popping bubbles in it! How– ?"

"Magic, I assume." Samara shrugged, "It's good though, isn't it?"

"Very!"

Bazel took another sip of his soda and another bite of the pizza. The face he made was like the face of a man in the throes of passion. Samara chuckled at the thought.

"So, mind if we talk a bit while we eat?" Samara asked.

"Sure."

"When I was healing you, my interface said your name was 'Bazel the Beggar'."

"Mhmm."

"So what's a beggar doing in the dungeon?" She folded her arms, "It seems strange."

"Well," Bazel swallowed another bite of pizza and took a sip of his soda to wash it down, "It happened like this…"

Samara listened as Bazel explained how he was approached by Hargal, the court mage. Hargal was the same person that approached the Blood Wind Company, the mercenary outfit that Samara worked for.

The only difference was the reward.

Hargal lured Bazel to the dungeon with not much more than some food and a blanket. Each of the members of the Blood Wind Company were paid ten gold pieces to explore the mysterious tower.

The specific mission given to the company was to find the knights and report back once they found out what happened to them. Samara guessed that the king was worried about what had become of his faithful knights.

The truth was that they weren't so faithful anymore.

While knights weren't mercenaries, they still did what they did as a job. The only reason any of them had any allegiance to the crown was because of the wealth and prestige it afforded to them. If the king stopped paying them, he wouldn't have any knights.

What the king didn't know was that he couldn't ever hope to match the power and wealth given to people who worked inside the dungeon. Simply by becoming one of the dungeon's denizens, a person automatically had more power at their disposal than any person outside, and wealth beyond measure.

After only a week, Samara could afford to buy the kingdom right out from under that foolish king.

As Samara listened to Bazel tell his story, she realized that the king thought all his knights were dead. He must have sent all the beggars to the dungeon in the hopes they would die as well. And actually, if they were sent in without weapons like Bazel was, most of them probably were dead.

Bazel didn't realize how fortunate he was by surviving through his first job. Now that he had gained access to the first level of the dungeon, he could accumulate wealth and power that would make any ruler green with envy.

Samara wondered if she should tell him.

"...and then he let me keep the blanket! That guy was really nice." Bazel finished his story. He frowned and looked over at Samara, "By the way, what did you do with my blanket?"

"I incinerated it." Samara said, "That thing was filthy!"

"Oh." Bazel looked down at the table.

"Don't worry," Samara waved her hand, "You can already afford the nicest blankets in the world if that's what you want."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Samara laughed and shook her head, "Bazel, I don't think you're aware of what's going on here."

Samara vaguely gestured with her hand at the safe zone, "This place, the dungeon, it– it can make all your dreams come true. I didn't believe it at first when they told me I could have anything I desire, but it's true."

"If someone desires power, they can have it. If they desire wealth, they can have that too. The finest clothes and food, servants to cater to your every whim, the knowledge of a thousand worlds, magic…"

Samara leaned forward and locked eyes with Bazel.

"Bazel. If you want, you can even become a god."