Daniel didn't choose anything too fancy for his gear. He talked with Steve at length about his first experiences in the dungeon, and found that he had little to no trouble clearing up to the third floor. Because of all of the crafting he had done Daniel was a higher level than Steve even with the experience he had gained from clearing the floors. He expected to have no problems with his first dive, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

He decided on purchasing half plate with a layer of chainmail underneath. Surprisingly it only cost him just over five thousand coins. He also ended up purchasing an open faced helmet for another six hundred. With his gear purchased he was ready to enter the dungeon.

However before he did a thought crossed his mind. “I’ll be right back Steve. I need to run home real fast and get my dog.”

“Why would you need to get your dog before entering the dungeon?” Steve questioned.

“I have a theory that I want to test. My dog is my animal companion recognized by The System. I am hoping I will be able to take him into the dungeon with me.”

“How did that happen? I haven't read anything on how animal companions work.”

“After becoming one of the heroes I went home and the system informed me that my bond with my dog Kota had reached a high enough level that he could be recognized as a companion by the system.”

“So, why do you want to take him into the dungeon?”

“Well, he is also a part of the system like we are, so shouldn't he also be able to grow stronger.”

“Well I guess…”

“I live close by, I'll be back in around twenty minutes.”

Twenty minutes later on the dot Daniel walked back into his shop with Kota trotting by his side. He re-entered the training room portal and saw Steve right where he had left him. He was staring off into space obviously reading some system screen.

“Steve, I'm back. Now I think I’m ready to attempt the dungeon.”

Steve refocused his eyes and looked at Daniel. “Before you do I would like you to try something for me. I was unable to get your training room to adapt for me, so it will have to be something you have to do.”

“Sure what is it?”

“I would like you to try and add a workshop to the training room. Just like your shop outside.”

“I will admit that would be nice. To be able to work on forging with the time dilation of the training room would certainly be ideal. One of my biggest problems at the moment in forging is time and materials. For the next part of my quest I need common materials, and the only metal I currently know of that's common quality is titanium and it is not good for making weapons.”

Unseen to Daniel, but not Steve, a flat section of wall where previously nothing had been began to change, a new tunnel began to form. It extended outward as Daniel spoke and new letters carved themselves into the wall above the tunnel that simply read “Workshop.”

Steve pointed behind Daniel and turned he saw the new tunnel. “Now, isn't that weird. Well, we might as well go check it out.” Daniel with Steve and Kota in toe walked down the new tunnel and into a workshop that was almost identical to Daniel's workshop outside. When they entered a new system, a message entered their vision.

Welcome to the workshop. Any item or material given by the workshop can not leave the workshop unless purchased from the workshop with coins.

All materials provided are sold at cost. Items made in the workshop can be purchased from the workshop at material cost.

Any items made in the workshop made with materials provided by the workshop will be sold at the full value of the product and material price will be subtracted from the final selling price for any materials provided by the workshop.

This was all very novel to Daniel. Anything he made could be bought at material cost, and he would gain all the coins from selling items to the workshop minus material cost. Honestly it was a good deal: with the time dilation of this place, he had a way that would net him quite a few coins.

That also did not take into account that the workshop just solved his rarity problem. With that thought information and memories not his own began to bubble up telling him of materials he had never heard of before that he could use to continue his crafting quest.

Daniel dismissed the unasked for information mentally pushing it away. That was a new development though. Never before had his inner thoughts brought up the information that he needed. For probably the thousandth time Daniel considered stopping crafting items until he knew more about what was going on with his head and feat. However he needed to grow stronger if he wanted to protect the people of Earth, and crafting was one of those ways.

“This will definitely be something I come back to. With the time dilation I can be working on my crafting here in between dungeon dives.” Daniel said.

“Yeah, There is also the Team and Arena dungeons. We could start the team dungeon now, but we would need more heroes if we want to try the arena dungeon.”

“Oh, why is that? I didn't read anything about the different dungeons on the wiki.”

“The team dungeon allows groups between 2 and 5 people. For the Arena Dungeon you need a minimum of 5, but you are allowed up to teams of 10. It will be hard to get that many of us together though. At Least for the time being.”

“Okay, well now that I have Kota I’m ready to start the solo Dungeon.”

“Okay good luck, though you don't need it. Like I told you, the first few floors are a cake walk. If I was to guess it's probably to allow us the new heroes to gain a couple relatively easy levels.”

“Well, if it's as easy as you say then I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Steve just waved at them as Daniel walked away with Kota in toe.

Daniel approached the solo dungeon portal archway with Kota trotting by his side. As they approached the portal Kota seemed a bit nervous of it, so Daniel knelt down and easily picked up the large dog. Daniel was surprised for a moment at how easy it had been to pick up the dog that was similar in size to him, but then he also considered that since gaining access to the system he had more than doubled what his starting strength was. In that moment the number he saw on his character sheet became a little more real to him, and not just some number he read.

Holding Kota in his arms Daniel took a deep steadying breath then walked into the portal.

He and Kota appeared in a large rough stone room. Daniel was glad that he had been right about his hunch that Kota was able to join him in the solo dungeon as his animal companion. Daniel set the big dog on the ground and Kota immediately began to walk around and sniff the walls and floor.

Looking around he saw that they had appeared in what looked almost like a cave except it was missing the stalactites and stalagmites and everything else that made a cave well cave like. That included the walls. They were too smooth and the floor too even and level; it was a bare room with nothing in it except an open corridor on the other side.

He crept forward and peered into the corridor. It went forward for about 20 feet then opened up into another room. Creeping forward he looked into the next room. Inside were four goblins all sitting around a fire. Daniel stopped peering into the room and retraced his steps. After he was away from the sight of the goblins he had started to breathe rapidly. He leaned up against the wall and slowly slid his body down onto the floor. He held his head in his hands and began to hyperventilate. Steve had told him about the goblins, but hearing and seeing them were two different things. Almost two months had passed since that day and he thought he had been over what had happened, but that was clearly not the case.

He didn't know if he could do this. Back then it had almost felt like a dream, but now seeing the same creature who had almost killed him brought the whole situation back into focus in his mind. The blood on the teeth and hands of the goblins as they had looked up at him in the alley. The sharp copper smell of his own blood as that one goblin had stabbed him in the back of the leg. The pain he had felt in his body as he had laid on the ground bleeding out. This was all too real for him now and he realized that he could die for real this time. He started to feel phantom pains all over his body where he had been stabbed. He began to itch the spots, but the feeling wouldn't go away. He couldn't do this again. It was then that Daniel felt a wet nose touch his arm bringing him back to the present. Looking up from his hands he saw Kota looking at him with his big yellow eyes full of concern “What is it, Kota?”

He whined at Daniel and sat back down on his haunches. And began to normalize his breathing. These were not the same four goblins that had attacked him, and he was no longer the same person he had once been.

Much had changed since the goblins had attacked him. He had thought a lot about what had happened that day. He had resolved to get stronger to protect those who could not fight against these threats. What better way to see his progress than fight the same monsters that had almost killed him.

Daniel stood and then reached down and patted Kota on the head mentally thanking his loyal companion. Before he engaged the goblins however Daniel crept back to the opening and used ‘Identify’ the same way he had when inspecting the items he forged. Before once again backing away.

Race: Monster

Goblin Tier 1

Core Refinements: 1

Details: Goblins are the most common monster race, and also individually the weakest. They are prolific breeders, and goblin hives left unchecked for too long can produce enough goblins to overrun whole regions

This was a challenge he would overcome. He turned and whispered for Kota to stay. While the system had acknowledged that Kota was his companion, his character sheet labeled him as a Tier 0 Mundane Beast. The goblins were tier 1 with a single core refinement. Whatever that meant Daniel didn't know.

Daniel peered at the goblins from around the corner. They hadn't spotted him, but they certainly would as soon as he rounded the corner. Daniel wanted to play this encounter safe and to do that he would need to give himself every possible advantage that he could. To that end Daniel opened up his ‘Siege Breaker’ skill tree and put a single skill point into the skill.

Heavy charge ( 1/5 ): charge an enemy stopping for nothing that gets in your way. Cost to increase 2 Skill Point(s).

Level 1 (Active): Select a location. Charge forward up to eighty feet until you reach the targeted enemy. A small amount of Stamina is expended for each foot traveled. 5 minute cooldown.

Level 2 (Active): Able to charge up to 120 feet. 4 minute cooldown

This skill would allow Daniel to close the distance between himself and the goblins without giving them a chance to respond to his presence. He would finish this fight quickly and decisively.

As stealthy as possible Daniel rounded the corner then activated his new skill. The location he chose to charge was right in front of one of the furthest goblins. He would body slam the first goblin with the momentum of his charge then he would be able to take care of the other goblin.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Daniel did not know what to expect from his new skill, but he definitely didn't expect what did happen next. As soon as Daniel selected his charge location he appeared almost instantly in front of the goblin right where he had selected for his charge to take him. Instead of body slamming the goblin with the momentum of the like he had planned, the skill had instead somehow taken him to his target location and then halted all of his momentum.

Daniel stood dumbly in the middle of four shocked goblins who were just as surprised as he was. A second later Daniel realized his second mistake. Just second after arriving Daniel began to feel some intense burning coming from his feet. Looking down he saw that the location he had chosen from his charge to stop was also right in the middle of the goblins fire.

Daniel yelped in pain and jumped out of the fire and towards one of the goblins. His movement seemed to break whatever stunned trance there had been after his sudden appearance, and soon enough the goblins picked up weapons and began to screech at him in outrage. Daniel, absentmindedly, noticed that his charge had also knocked over a pot of food that the goblins had been cooking over the fire.

The Goblins all jumped at him nearly at once. The goblin that he was closest to stabbed a shiv at his leg aiming for the joint in his armor. Daniel had another mental flashback to the previous fight he had had with the goblins and how they had also crippled his leg. Daniel brought himself back to the present. This time would be different.

Daniel twisted his leg. The goblins shiv glanced off of his armored leg. He had no time to prepare his maul to swing, so he activated ‘Heavy Blow’ and punched the goblin in the face. Unexpectedly his punch let out a meaty thunk and caved in the side of the goblins head where he had struck. It hadn't been a particularly well executed punch, but when combined with ‘Heavy Blow’ it killed the goblin.

Moments later as Daniel was still looking at the goblin he had just killed he felt several impacts on his legs and lower back. He had gotten distracted again and the other goblins had come up and attacked him from behind.

He felt several of the blows manage to bypass his armor, but he felt no pain from the attacks, only pressure on his skin. As he turned he brought up his maul using the momentum of his turn and whipped it in a horizontal arch. At the same time he also activated ‘Quickened Blow.’ His attack which had been fast before turned into a blur of speed. The attack caught two of the three remaining goblins. The first one got clubbed in the center of its chest, caving it on and throwing it backwards. His swing missed the one in the middle and his maul hit the last goblin on the shoulder. Daniel heard the breaking of bones as his maul hit the child sized monster as it too got flung away.

What Dainel did not expect was that the increased momentum of his blow did not just magically stop like his charge had, and his maul continued to spin him around. The only thing that allowed him to keep his grip on his maul was his ‘Powerful Grip’ skill. Daniel knew that many of his skills took stamina to activate. In most cases the drain wasn't really noticeable unless he focused on it. This time however as the maul swung him around another couple of times he could feel his stamina drain towards his hands as he held onto his hammer.

“Note to self don't do horizontal swings when activating ‘Quickened Blow’ or make sure you're hitting something that will stop the momentum of the swing.” Daniel said as he finally came to a stop. He was disoriented and didn't know where the goblin was.

Daniel heard a battle cry directly behind him that was abruptly cut short and turned into a gurgle. Turning Daniel looked and saw Kota standing over the final goblin that had been prepared to attack him. Kota had blood on his muzzle and as he looked closer he saw that Kota had ripped the throat of the goblin out.

Daniel looked at Kota, surprised a blue light began to leave the goblins body and entered Kota’s. Daniel didn't know what that light had been, but a moment later however a new message entered his vision and his unspoken question was answered.

Companion Evolution Progress: 9% -> 61%

Daniel was exhilarated; he had hoped something like this would happen. He had watched as Kota had been slowly accumulating evolutionary progress as he hunted squirrels and rabbits and the like. Steve had mentioned that Beasts gained evolution progress by absorbing the mana of slain opponents and by eating them. Daniel wasn't super comfortable with the idea of Kota eating the dirty looking goblins, but if Kota wanted to get his first evolution he would need to. Just as Daniel was figuring out how he could get Kota to eat the corpse of one of the goblins, Kota's ears perked up and he bounded away.

Daniel watched as he pounced on one of the goblin corpses which let out a cry of pain as one of Kota's front paws landed on the shoulder that Daniel had pulverized. With a repeat of the previous goblin Kota bent his head down and ripped the throat of the goblin out. Just like before seconds after the goblins death a blue energy began to leave the goblins body and flowed into Kota.

Companion Evolution Progress: 61% -> 100%

Congratulations, your companion: Kota has reached an evolutionary threshold. Please choose what mutation your companion will gain. Choices are based on the accumulated absorbed mana.

Time remaining before spontaneous mutation: 9 minutes and 59 seconds

A list of dozens of options populated Daniel's vision. He was worried about the time limit, but he wouldn't worry about that now. Daniel knew that beast normally went through random mutations in the wild. The was a companion pact that allowed the owner of the pact to pick the evolution for the beast. He assumed that meant if he didn't make a choice in the next ten minutes then the choice would be taken out of his hands and a random option would be chosen just like how it would be for a beast in the wild.

Daniel quickly read over what options were available for Kota. He needed to pick something that would not only help his companion, but would also help him while fighting. He wanted to bring Kota with him into the dungeons, but that wouldn't be possible if Kota was too weak. He needed to pick something that would help his fighting style, which needed a lot of work after that ‘fight’ he had just had with the goblins.

Daniel dismissed any options that had to do with increasing Kota’s size, ferocity or anything else that would turn his lovable pets more beastual or monstrous in appearance. After around five minutes of searching Daniel finally found an option that appealed to him.

Tier 1 Beast Mutation:

Shadow Prowler: No prey will hear your deadly approach.

Effect (Passive): Reduce all noise made by 10%. While in shadow this effect is increased to 50%

Stats: +3 Agility, +2 Dexterity

While the mutation wouldn't give Kota anything for direct combat Daniel did like the idea of Kota being a kind of stealth based assassin that would take down enemies without them knowing he was there. It seemed like a strong combo. Daniel would keep the attention of any creatures they were fighting and Kota would pick off unaware opponents.

Daniel made his choice and Kota who had been watching him began to emit a blue glow all throughout his body, but the light was emitted most strongly from his head. The light eventually grew too strong that Daniel could no longer look at it directly.

A minute later the light began to fade and Daniel examined Kota and his new appearance. Kota looked almost the same as before, the only difference being the coloration of fur. Before his fur had been almost entirely an ashy gray. However, now the fur on his legs transitioned from the light gray from before to a darker gray to a pitch-black color the same color as shadow as it went down his legs. The color transition was interesting to Daniel.

Daniel walked up to his buddy and began to give him some good scratches for a job well done. However seconds after he had started petting Kota, light enveloped them both and then they suddenly appeared back inside the main hall of the training room.

Congratulations! You have cleared the first floor of the ‘Solo Dungeon.’ You have gained 1,000 Exp for your class and 500 coins.

Steve looked up from his book he was reading and smiled at Daniel “well that was fast. Will you be going for another round?”

“Probably but first I need to sit down. That was a lot more intense and emotionally draining than I thought it would be. I may also want to practice the use of some of my skills before going back in. I won of course, but it was not pretty.”

“I see. Well let me know if you need anything.”

Daniel nodded at Steve acknowledging his words before sitting down. He just sat for a second absorbing everything that had happened in there now that he was once again safe. IT had been more so than he had been expecting. If not for Kota breaking him out of his spiraling thoughts he didn't know what would have happened. After that first dungeon run his priorities had changed. Before he had been gaining levels and experience to increase his blacksmithing skill. His improvement from before The System to now was amazing, and he had wanted to continue to get better but now things were different. He didn't know what The System wanted and why it had come to earth, but he knew that he never wanted to feel helpless again, and he never wanted to see another innocent person killed in the street by what could only be described as monsters. He would not let something like that happen again if it was within his power to stop it. He knew that he had agreed to help Steve with that very task, but like before everything had very suddenly gotten a lot more real.

He had tried not to think about it, but every day since the day he had gained The System he would walk or drive past that bloodstain in the street while going to his shop, and every day he would try and ignore it, but not anymore. He would not let these creatures or these monsters invade his planet and kill his people without doing something about it. He would gain the power he needed to help people, and he would use his crafting skill to arm the world to fight against whatever The System had planned for them if needed.

His decision was made and his mind hardened to his new task He went ahead and opened Kota’s character sheet to see what had changed.

Name: Kota

Age: 7

Race: Beast

Species: Wolfdog

Gender: Male

Tier 1: Canine

Total Evolutions: 1

Physical Attributes:

Agility: 20 -> 23

Constitution: 12

Dexterity: 18 -> 20

Endurance: 11

Strength: 15

Mental Attributes:

Charisma: 10

Intelligence: 7

Perception: 13

Willpower: 8

Wisdom: 6

Progress Towards Next Evolution Threshold: 0%

Tier 1 Mutations: Shadow Prowler,

Animal Companion of: Daniel Martin

Once Daniel had read over Kota’s information he began to think. He needed to come up with a plan. There were currently two different longer term plans he could think of. First was finding a way to finish his psionic awakening and second earn enough money to open his mana channels. The second goal wasn't nearly as important, but having access to mana would be an advantage that he would be a fool to ignore. He also needed a way to gain experience and coins.

This was a problem that was easily solved by the existence of the training room. He could challenge the dungeons for experience and coins, and he could also craft items for additional coins. However there was still the problem with his blacksmithing lore and feat. Before he could begin crafting again he would need to get to level 5 bonus for ‘Powerful Organs.’ He only needed a little less than fifteen hundred experience to level up again which would give him enough skill points to level up the skill.

Daniel also had a few other concerns. He planned to continue to bring Kota into the dungeon with him, but all things considered Kota had very little in the way of survivability so he was worried that Kota might get hurt in the dungeon. He did have access to a skill called ‘Death’s Embrace’ in his Retaliation skill tree which would let him absorb damage dealt to an ally within range. Daniel still had 3 Skill Points left, so he purchased the skill. Once he leveled up he would still have enough points to upgrade ‘Powerful Organs’ to level 5. As a precaution to keep Kota safe Daniel thought the purchase was worth it.

Death's Embrace ( 1/5 ): It is your fate to one day embrace the tender touch of death, but while you are alive it is your destiny to deliver it. Cost to increase 1 Skill point(s).

Level 1 (Active): You can choose to receive the damage dealt to an ally within 30 feet of you within 5 seconds if it occurring. Damage absorbed in this way is reduced by 20%. 5 minute cooldown.

Level 2 (Active): You can choose to receive the damage dealt to an ally within 40 feet of you within 5 seconds if it occurring. Damage absorbed in this way is reduced by an additional 20% (total 40%). 4 minute cooldown.

This skill would help mitigate any mistakes they made in the dungeon. Daniel had earned quite a few levels with all of his blacksmithing, and was far stronger than Kota even just going on stats. He felt a bit of relief knowing that he had a bit of a safety net that would help him keep Kota safe until he gained a few more mutations.

After that was all done Daniel finished collecting himself and stood. “Is there a place where I can practice the use of my skills?” Daniel asked Steve and by extension the training room since it seemed to respond to his queries like when it made the workshop.

Steve however was the one who responded. “Yeah, that big archway over there. That's the combat room. In there you can fight these shadowy entities. They can't actually deal damage to you, but they have this weird property that if you get hit by them you feel the pain but it's all mental and it does no physical damage. You can also select how strong you want each of the creatures and how many you want to face. It's all very interesting.”

“Thanks, I’m going to go practice my skills so I don't embarrass myself again like I did in the dungeon.”

“What exactly happened?”

“Not talking about it.” Daniel said as he walked away.

“Oh, come on, I thought we were friends.”

“Not going to talk about it,'' Daniel called back over his shoulder. Daniel just heard a huff from Steve in reply

Daniel spent the next couple of hours in the training room fighting against the shadow constructs or whatever they were with Kota. Daniel cycled through each of his skills. Testing to make sure he knew how each of them worked.

The only one he wasn't able to test was ‘Death Blows.’ For whatever reason when he defeated one of the constructs he felt no rush of healing energy like the skill said. Daniel had to assume that was because he wasn't actually killing the constructs or because they were artificial, but his skill only walked about healing back damage done and said nothing about the creature having to be alive. It would have to be something he would need to figure out another time.

Eventually however Daniel called it quits with the training. He wanted to dive back into the dungeon with Kota. He felt an urge to get stronger that was hard to ignore. Daniel looked down at Kota who had been taking a nap while Daniel had spared with two of the shadow constructs. “Kota, how do you feel about going for another round in the dungeon?”

Kota got on his feet and barked. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Daniel and Kota walked back to the main room of the training room. Steve still sat on one of the couches reading something. “Steve, Kota and I are going for another run in the dungeon.”

“Okay be careful. I may go into the dungeon myself here in a bit, so if I’m not here when you get back that's where I am.”

Daniel waved behind him and acknowledgment as he entered the dungeon with Kota quietly trotting at his side. This time Kota had no trouble entering the dungeon by himself.