Falling into the dungeon, I landed in a pile of earth. Not letting the pain in my ass slow me down, I jumped up and I drew my sword. But before I could get a good look around—

There are 2 gargoyles you may control.

Out of nowhere a notification popped up. This being the first time I’d gotten this kind of message I looked around, both trying to get rid of the thing in the air and anxious to find these gargoyles.

Taking deep breaths, I searched for the rock status with a more focused mind, but I couldn’t find anything. I was in an empty corridor styled after what you’d find in castles. It led straight down and was sparsely illuminated by dim orange torches.

Maybe I could try to get the gargoyles to come to me. Giving it a go, I closed my eyes and focused on ordering the gargoyles to listen to me.

You are now in control of Gothie and Gothia.

As a reward for controlling your first gargoyles, you have levelled up.

Status

Gargoyle Craftsmen Apprentice (Level 1 class)

- Level 0/15 --> 1/15

Vitality: 10/10

Strength: 7/7 --> 8/8

Endurance: 12/12 --> 13/13

Dexterity: 10/10

Mana: 7/7

- Abilities:

Dextrous hands (F Rank)

Control delegation (C Rank)

- Additional information:

Gargoyles: Gothie (C Rank), Gothia (C Rank)

Titles: None

I forgot that as a craftsmen class holder, I gained levels with achievements and not combat experience. It would take a lot longer to level up trying to get achievements not related to crafting, however, if it meant I could be different from my father I would follow the duke’s instructions.

—If my father’s hands clung to his chisel, then mine would cling to my sword. If my father married out of obligation, then I would do so out of love. If my father died an unimportant death, then I would die with honour and repute—

“Come out of hiding Gothie and Gothia!” I yelled.

The walls near me shook, the stones from which they were built fell and the two gargoyles appeared. What were they doing hiding behind the walls? A trap I suppose… but to have gargoyles as the first trap in a dungeon was more than overkill.

Perhaps it was because of this and the number of different entrances this dungeon had that the dungeon was unpopular. Most routes didn’t have things like gargoyles, but the fact that you could stumble onto one made it too dangerous.

The gargoyles, made of a dark grey stone opened their eyes, revealing crimson eyes.

I wanted to give them another order to be sure they were mine, but their aura was too great. This was the first time I saw one moving. As a kid, my father would never activate the gargoyles as it would prevent the nobles from contracting them.

To think my family had this kind of power but stayed locked in workshops when they could have been carving out a territory for themselves.

The gargoyles eyes began to shin brighter until their wings opened with an ear grating crackle. Slowly flapping their stone wings, they spread sand through the hallway, until their wings became as silent as a whisper.

Stepping off their podiums, they knelt in front of me.

Their bodies were that of humans; inspired by the physics of Greco-Roman statues. But their heads had the nose of a bulldog, deep-set wrinkles of centenaries, and hideous horns protruding from their foreheads.

Taking a step forwards, I put my hands on both their heads. They were not cold, but hot. Fiery hot. A heat that could only be produced by beings born of mana.

Calming down, I managed to ask my questions. “Why are you here and what was your purpose?”

Revealing two pairs of sharp fangs each, they spoke in unison, in a terribly high-pitched voice. “Incomplete. Creator. Dungeon.”

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I didn’t understand what they meant, but indeed, they were incomplete. I could see that their musculature wasn’t perfectly proportioned, nor were their teeth fully carved out, and their faces weren’t nearly as detailed as my father’s gargoyles. My hands twitched. I could see what needed to be fixed and my hands slid over their imperfections.

No!

I couldn’t change them. I couldn’t become like my father. I couldn’t become a craftsman.

Just like lords could guide the progress of their territory, I could guide the evolution of my class. I needed to use my sword and not a chisel.

“Gothie, Gothia, I want you to guard me, don’t fight in my stead,” I ordered them. They took my right and left flanks.

As we proceeded into the dungeon, we began to find holes in the walls where small skeletons of birds, squirrels, and rats were displayed.

I touched the first structure of bones we encountered to see if it would attack us. It didn’t budge. It didn’t seem to be undead as I couldn’t feel any lingering heat. But as we proceeded further and passed incrementally bigger skeletons, it was as if we were being lulled into a false sense of security. If all these skeletons were to awaken and charge at me all at once, I’d be dead meat.

I had to check one more time.

Making my way to the skeleton of a cat, I raised my sword up high. I waited to see if it’d react, but it didn’t move. Swinging down my sword with all my force, I smashed the collection of bones into dozens of smaller pieces. Quickly turning around to face the skeleton on the opposite side of the hallway I waited for it to move. Thankfully, it didn’t… Maybe it’d be better if it did, then I wouldn’t have to be so on guard.

“Do you know if the skeletons will attack?” I asked the gargoyles at my wits’ end. There were no dungeons that didn’t try to kill adventurers.

But now that I thought about it. If the skeletons weren’t meant to kill the intruder, maybe there was a poison.

“Just. Awake.” The gargoyle finally responded. Again, I didn’t get what it was saying. We continued down the hallway until we stumbled onto a red carpet. Tapping my sword on it nothing happened.

There didn’t seem to be a weighted plate or another kind of trap beneath it. Still, I tried to roll it up with the edge of my blade, but it didn’t budge. “Gothe, step on the carpet,” I ordered him.

Moving from my right it took, one, then two, and three steps on the carpet. Nothing happened. Putting my foot on the same spot he walked on, everything seemed fine. But when I took a second step, the carpet began to bulge. Dozens of spiders, centipedes, and scorpions crawled out from beneath the carpet and ran at me.

Shit. This really had to be my luck.

“Let’s go!” I yelled and began to run with all I had. Huffing and puffing, the soreness I had from earlier over crept back up, but I couldn’t stop. Looking back carpeted floor was a sea of black. You could even hear the clattering of their mandibles and pincers.

And soon enough, as if I didn’t have enough problems two cat skeletons jumped out of the wall and stood guard growling, their back curved up and bony tail standing straight.

Five steps later, they jumped for my throat. Swinging my sword, I hit them with the blade of my sword, sending bits of their bones flying all over the hallway. A few more skeletons tried to block my way, but they were all just as easily scattered. I eventually reached the stairs leading down to the next floor and without hesitating, I jumped down the first few steps. Trying to land on a step, I couldn’t stick the landing and rolled down the remaining steps.

My back crashed against a door and knocked the air out of my lungs.

Coughing, I looked back up, thankfully at least the horde of bugs were gone. It seemed that I escaped the first floor.

Getting up, I made sure I hadn’t broken or fractured anything by tapping myself over and moving all my limbs. Since nothing hurt too bad, I opened the door to proceed to the second floor.

The second floor looked to be small office. It wasn’t too different from the guard captain’s room, with portraits, a table, some chairs, and shelves decorated with books and trinkets.

But there was one small difference—everything was thrown to the ground and ripped shreds.

That’s when a crunching sound came from the corner of the room. Preparing my sword, I walked back closer to the gargoyles.

More paper crinkled and a book in the right most corner shifted. Taking careful steps over the mess littering the floorboards, I approached it. Then, in front of the room’s desk, a small goblin jumped out from behind it dagger in hand. It aimed for my neck.

With a swing I parried it and stepped back.

The goblin screeched and ran full speed ahead towards me. Stabbing at him when he got within reach, he jumped to the right. Slightly shifting my blade, I caught his shoulder. Stumbling to its feet, the goblin clung to his wound and let out a small screech as it stepped back closer to where its little friend was making a ruckus earlier.

I didn’t approach it, and finally the other came out.

Goblins were short, only reaching up to most people’s belly buttons, but they moved with a lot of speed and were rather dexterous. Although I wanted to fight them myself, goblins were tricky as if there were two, five more were likely still hiding.

“Gothe, keep the first goblin distracted, Gotha, stay with me.”

The gargoyles growled in understanding and Gothe jumped over to trap the injured goblin with his wings. Trying to escape, the goblin struck at the wing with its small iron dagger, but Gothe didn’t react, and the goblin’s blade chipped. Seeing that, I charged at the uninjured goblin. I wanted to kill them all myself in case I might miss out on an achievement.

I raised my sword high up. The goblin got low and jumped at my stomach, its blade straight. Expecting this, I pivoted and round house kicked him in the head sending it flying into a pile of books.

Screeching, two more goblins jumped out of the piles of junk and threw their small daggers at me from my front and back. Instinctively, I jumped to the right, but I hit a wall. The blades were going to hit me, stone wings appeared and deflected the blows. There wasn’t a wall in my way, but Gotha ready to protect me.

“Thanks.” It unwrapped its wings. The two goblins were stunned. Now weaponless, they didn’t know what to do and ran around the room. I gave chase to a goblin and stabbed it dead.

“Gotha, block the right side of the room!” I ordered. Jumping in front of one of the frantic goblins, it extended its wings. Trying to stop but slipping on a torn piece of parchment a goblin fell into Gotha. Picking up one of their daggers, I threw it at the goblin, killing it.

“Trap the other,” I ordered. And we started to encircle the other one. Seeing it was encircled it screamed, brandishing its claws and made a mad dash towards me. I easily cut it in half. Finally, the goblin Gothe had kept occupied was wheezing and bent over. Its sword was shattered, and its claws were bleeding. It was almost pitiable.

It barely resisted when I slashed it down.

The room now stank of blood. Picking up a piece of paper to clean off my sword, wood creaked. Turning, one of the bookshelves had moved out of the way, exposing a new door.

Turning the doorknob, I pushed it open. It led to another staircase. Although freaky this dungeon didn’t seem too hard, or at the very least not too time consuming. Maybe the people in the guild who’d gone here overstated its difficulty to keep others away. But then, I couldn’t forget I had two gargoyles with me. I couldn’t help but smirk. This was great; like a dream.

Apparently when you beat the final boss, you’d receive a life pearl. It was used in many medical potions and was amongst the most expensive items a dead-end adventurer could get on his own in this part of Normandie. After all, a loaner wouldn’t send his clients to their deaths.

Maybe I was freaking out too much earlier; regardless, I needed to level up my class, so this dive was a good thing.