Rolling over, Owen noticed he was alone in the bed.
“Dam, did I get pumped and dumped,” he sighed before getting up and dressed. Folding up his torn and stained uniform, he placed it into his pack. “I should look into getting some everyday clothes, too. Dammit, so much to do. Did the Shop really have nothing for this?” He brought up his Shop and noticed that the Fire Affinity option was crossed through. “Well, I technically have that with my Primordial covering everything. Good to know ARMS won’t let me waste points.” Looking through the list again, he decided, “Eh, why not. My Luck has been good lately.” He then selected the Random Misc Item. After a few seconds, a white cube appeared floating in front of him; Owen reached out to grab it. As soon as his fingers touched the object, it began to take shape, splitting into two sections. One flattened out while the other rolled into itself; the thing didn’t take long to finish. In his hand now was an olive green notebook and a pen.
Water-Proof Notepad with Pen: A unique enchantment protects this Item from water, while the Pen can be refilled with Mana.
“Okay. So, it’s not the exact same thing, but this is a magical copy. They couldn’t recreate the plastic stuff they add to the paper, so instead, they added magic. Check’s out.” He flipped to the first page and noted a few things down as he looked at it.
Learn to read, buy clothes, buy basic medical supplies, and get a light.
“Actually, English gives me my own secret language, huh. Let's just put this away for now, and get ready to go.” As he said that, he stored away the notepad and looked around the room to ensure he had everything. As he bent over to grab his sword and shield, the door opened, with Vesper walking in with two bowls of food.
“Oh, your all packed already. Were you just gonna leave without telling me? Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy last night.”
“What! No, no. Nope, was definitely great. Honestly, I thought you had already left, so I just didn’t want to overstay my welcome.”
“Oh, well, good. Um, I brought breakfast,” Vesper said as she put down the bowls, “Besides, It’s not like your not welcome; you destroyed the Dungeon. That’s a great thing for the village. It caused so much stress for my father and all the guards. Even if it’s not common for monsters to attack a village, it still happens. Also, I was hoping to talk to you before you left.” Shit. Shit, please don’t have caught feelings. Your great Vesper, but I don’t want to settle down-
“I talked to my family last night. I think your advice was the push I needed. My sister was overjoyed with me wanting to stick with her. Father said if it comes to that, he will petition for another Classer, and if that doesn’t work, he will reach out to your Guild.” As she explained what had happened, Owen looked at her and how she beamed. To be so excited to travel the world and see it, maybe he could rekindle his old dream. This was a whole new world; why shouldn’t he explore it. Maybe… perhaps if he saw enough of the world, saved enough people. He could try to make the most of this life, then, just maybe, his life won’t be a curse. Just then, a cascade of notifications went off.
The recently completed Dungeon has collapsed.
Dungeon Core absorption is complete. Rewards listed below: 500 Exp 1 Skill Point Skill gained: Shadow Step
The User has Leveled Up. The User has two Skill points and one Attribute point available.
“Oh shit,” Owen said aloud.
“What, what’s wrong, Owen?”
“Oh, umm, I just got a box saying the Dungeon has collapsed.”
“The God’s sent you a message. That’s good; I can tell my father it's definitely gone then.” As she collected the empty bowls, she said, “Well, I guess this is goodbye, Owen. Would you mind at least walking me back to my home?”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Of course, Vesper,” Owen said as he grabbed his things. Rushing to the door, he opened it for her.
“Oh, now you're being a Gentleman,” Vesper teased, “Thank you, Owen, for everything." She said as she gave him a light kiss before leaving the house. Laughing, Owen followed behind her. It didn’t take them long to make the short trip, as they approached the door opened, and out came both Valen and Valari.
“Owen,” Valen called out, “Are you really leaving so soon? What if the Dungeon is still alive somehow? Maybe you can stay a few days to make sure.”
“It’s gone, Valen. I got the God’s message saying it was destroyed.” Owen laughed kindly, “So, no need to worry. Besides, now that I’m done, I need to head back and report to my Captain. Just here to let you know and say goodbye for now.”
“That’s enough, Dad. Thank you for everything, Owen. We’ll surely stop by your Guild once she gets Merchant.” Vesper said, cutting Valen off before he could continue.
“I can’t wait; our Quartermaster would probably love that. Until then, see y’all later.” He said as he waved and made his way to the gate. He began his return journey, leaving through the gate, but almost as soon as he left the village, he brought up his stats.
STATUS Inventory Armory Other Name: Owen Grest Class: Marine Species: Human Level: 7 EXP: 17/477 Health : 381/410 Stamina : 381/410 Mana: 172/226 Stats Strength: 23 Endurance: 20 Dexterity: 18 Vigor: 20 Intelligence: 14 Focus: 15 Faith: 12 Luck 6
As was typical, he put his free point into Luck, and he went ahead and upgraded his weapon. Again, there was only a confirmation, then nothing. “Well, it took some time before for my weapon to upgrade; what about my Shop.” After selecting and upgrading his Shop, he opened it. Nothing had changed except a few new entrees down at the bottom.
ARMS Messaging Function 50 Silver ARMS Quest System 1 Gold Deployable F.O.B 10 Gold or 1 Skill point Random Attribute Upgrade 10 Gold or 1 Skill point Random Skill Upgrade 5 Gold
All of those were self-contained, and with that, Owen was glad to see the messaging feature. “That means I can finally thank Kebechet for all this, but what’s this F.O.B thing.”
Deployable F.O.B (Unique Skill): Using Primordial magic, create a simple, defensible structure. Contains amenities and provisions for four individuals.
“Dam, another Unique Skill for only one point. That sounds fucking awesome, so I’ll get that next. Then, save up for the messaging and quest functions. ARMS is already amazing; I wonder what weapon I will get next. Speaking of Skills, what’s my new one?”
Shadow step* ( I ): Soften the User’s footsteps to make them harder to hear and track.
“I wonder if I got that because of the Rogue I killed. It gave me so many rewards, is that why the local Lord only allows his Knights to clear Dungeons. To keep all the rewards to themselves. Selfish assholes, they let a whole village be slaughtered just for some petty rewards.” Owen continued to grumble to himself as he made the way back. He killed another pack of Gobbo’s and another deer, but this one used earth magic instead. As the sun reached its highest, the walls’ of Moonkeep finally became visible. As Owen got closer, he noticed something odd: there seemed to be two people standing near the gate. One of them wearing metal armor, while the other wore white robes and held a staff. As he got closer, he saw the robed men nudge the other and point over in his direction.
“Fuck,” Owen whispered under his breath, “Just play it cool, Owen; you haven’t done anything wrong.” As he continued towards the gate, one of the strange men approached him.
“Excuse me,” The man called out, “Are you Owen, the new Mercenary?” Seeing Owen nod his head in response, the man continued. “That’s great. I’m Knight Ashtian and this is Brother Wallow of the Church. We would like to talk to you about the opportunity to join our Lord’s Knight Chapter.”