Setting up camp was simple, though the weight of our journey hung over us like a thick fog. We all knew that rest was necessary, but true comfort was a luxury we couldn't afford. Each of us had our own one-person tent, which we arranged in a defensive circle around a makeshift fire pit. The abundance of trees in the chamber made gathering firewood effortless.
The fire crackled as we sat around it, our simple dinner of stew simmering in a pot made from the meat drops we'd collected from higher floors. It was a quiet, subdued meal, each of us lost in our thoughts, processing the battle from earlier.
The warmth of the fire did little to ease the tension that had settled over the group. Sarah was the first to break the silence. "I know Mel said that monsters shouldn't respawn, but I think we'd all feel much safer if we still had a watch rotation." She stirred the stew absentmindedly as she spoke, her sharp gaze sweeping over the group.
"I agree," Andrew said, adjusting his grip on his staff. "We cleared out a good chunk of the monsters on the upper floors, but I have no doubt we missed a few. And without the Dungeon to keep them contained to their respective floors, there's a chance some could make their way down here. The final boss, being Level 50, already proved there's been monster migration. How else could it have gotten the experience."
"So it's settled," Sarah said. "Who wants which shift?"
It took a few minutes of back and forth, but eventually, everyone was assigned a shift—except for me and Jacob. That was a stroke of luck, but it also meant I needed to figure out a way to sneak out of camp without raising suspicion.
"Well, now that's settled, can we talk about the beast lurking in the shadows?" Nicholas said, his voice cutting through the relative quiet.
"And what would that be?" Dominique asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The fact that Mel's sword isn't normal, and she's been lying about it."
I groaned, rubbing my temples. "Seriously?" I shot him a look. "We've been over this. It's just a sword. It doesn't have any special abilities beyond being a well-made weapon. Unless you count a keen edge, which, by the way, a lot of high-quality weapons have."
Nicholas crossed his arms, unimpressed. "I don't buy it. I've seen that thing in action. There's more to it than you're letting on."
I sighed, already knowing he wasn't going to let this go. "Alright, let's do this: when we get back, we have one of the Guild appraisers check it. If they find anything beyond what I've told you, I'll admit you were right. Otherwise, you drop this." of course, I knew exactly what the appraiser would see: a regular sword with the standard enhancements for a keen edge and cleaning.
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Nicholas held my gaze for a moment before grunting. "Fine. But if that sword turns out to be anything more than just 'well-made,' I'll expect answers."
Sarah, sensing the conversation would only spiral further, stepped in. "Good. Now, let's get some sleep. We still have to figure out how to access the Dungeon Core tomorrow. Mel, Jacob—you two are in charge of breakfast. Andrew, relieve me in about two hours for your shift."
With that settled, we dispersed, retreating to our tents one by one. The fire dimmed as the conversation faded, leaving only the distant rustling of the trees and the occasional snap of twigs underfoot. I made my way to my tent and lay there, waiting. It took nearly a half-hour before the sounds of even breathing filled the camp. Carefully, I slipped out, moving like a shadow between the tents, my steps light on the mossy ground. Every rustling leaf felt deafening in the quiet, but no one stirred. Sarah was sitting on watch, facing the opposite direction, scanning for threats.
«You know,» I sent to Gem as I reflexively tried to bring up the dungeon map for what felt like the hundredth time, only to be met with the same "File Not Found" error. «I didn't realize how much I'd miss the dungeon map. I always assumed it was a function of the system itself, not something linked to the Dungeon Intelligence.»
«Well, you know what they say about assuming,» Gem quips, «In all seriousness, though, how would the system know what the dungeon layout is like?» Gem responded. «The system provides the interface, but the Dungeon Intelligence supplies the data.»
«Then explain Shipwreck,» I countered. «You were able to manipulate the map only to show the solo route.»
«That was different,» Gem said. «I didn't change the map itself—just the metadata that tells the system which file to display. Because it was still testing that route, it actually had two map files, one for the normal route and one for the solo route. Shipwreck hadn't gotten around to merging them, so removing the pointers to the solo route mapping file was easy. I never had access to the actual mapping files.»
«So why can't we just use the old files from when the Dungeon was active? They'd be outdated, sure, but better than nothing.»
«And where exactly do you think those files are stored?»
I frowned as realization dawned. «They're on the Dungeon's local storage array. Which you can't access because of whatever happened. Hence the error.»
«Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner,» Gem enthused. «You know, I figured the whole "File Not Found" error would have clued you into what was happening.»
«Right,» I muttered. A slight blush formed and dusted my checks.
As I moved deeper into the forested chamber, my foot caught on something hard. I stumbled forward, barely catching myself before I face-planted into the mossy ground. Looking back, I saw it—a checkpoint platform, almost swallowed by the earth itself, vines creeping over it like nature's attempt to erase its existence. The runes etched into its surface were dull, long dormant, but the faintest shimmer of energy remained.
I stepped onto the platform, and a silver menu appeared in front of me. As expected, most of the options were grayed out, but two remained visible: Entrance and Core Room. The entrance option was standard, an emergency failsafe that allowed anyone trapped inside to escape—provided they could get to a checkpoint and the entrance hadn't sealed itself. The Core Room, however, was only there because of my System Administrator class.
I took a steadying breath, my fingers hovering over the option for only a second. "No turning back now," I murmured under my breath before tapping Core Room with unwavering resolve.