A wasted opportunity was worse than no opportunity at all. Tobias knew this lesson well. Which was why he was currently slinking through a cavern absolutely filled with stalagmites and stalactites.

He had waited for a few hours to make sure Mr. Jacobs and his trader were truly gone, before entering the cave network. He could have run all the way to Willowdale to get his crew, but he wanted to make sure the [DUNGEON] was entirely safe first.

He was banking on the fact that it was. Not only for future safety, but for his current well-being too. On the way here, Tobias had encountered a goblin. He had managed to get the drop on it with his dagger, but the monster's death throes had led it to fall down a ravine, with his only weapon still in its neck.

So, weaponless and alone, Tobias entered the next room. This one didn't seem to be under the [DUNGEON'S] control yet. The room was filed with dozens of tunnel entrances, including the one leading to the actual [DUNGEON].

There was none of the [DUNGEON'S] influence here. No perfect curves or impossibly straight and smooth walls. No murals that made his head swim with thoughts not his own. And no nests full of battle-thirsty [FIRE-BIRDS] ready to devour him.

The air was stale, even with the barest hint of a breeze coming from one of the tunnels. The various entrances all broke into the room at different heights and angles, making it hard to look down any of them. The darkness was just a shade below impenetrable, making one tunnel stand out even more.

It was the tunnel that had the breeze coming out of it. It was fairly straight, and he could see all the way to the end. There, Tobias saw a room filled with beams of light from the setting sun. He began his walk down the tunnel.

Halfway to the end, he paused. Just before the room opened up, there was an archway. It was perfectly symmetrical, and not a single blemish marred the stone. At the top of the arch, in the middle of the curve, there lay a set of symbols.

The second Tobias laid eyes on them, he felt something press against his mind. It was a feeling. The feeling of disdain. As the symbols danced and swam, evading all attempts at understanding, he felt something like a challenge enter his thoughts.

Prove it, the challenge said. Prove that you are worthy of the truth. Tobias took a deep breath, and called upon [FACT'S PERSISTENCE]. Immediately, the pressure on his mind turned to pain. Great claws of mystery raked at his conscience.

But he held strong. Even as his eyes blurred and his legs shook, Tobias looked up. He fell to his knees as the challenge pushed deeper on his mind. After a second that felt like a century, his eyes landed on the symbols. Through a slight red haze, he beheld one single word.

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Welcome

The pressure faded from his mind as he collapsed to the ground. The single word felt like the weight of the world on his soul. Through his heaving breaths and panicked thoughts, a sensation broke him out of his stupor. His face was wet.

Tobias lifted a hand, and brought it to his cheek. He found a small stream of something warm. He pulled his hand away, and in the fading sunlight he saw red. Oh. He was crying blood. Best not the read anything those symbols say in the future.

After wiping his face with the sleeve of his tunic, his thoughts turned to that one word. Welcome. It was a message. A greeting, even. Its purpose was to be read. So why had it been sealed behind such a terrifying amount of power?

Tobias had been spared the brunt of the work by his singular ability, [FACT'S PERSISTENCE]. It had sorted through the lies for him, revealing the path to the truth. All he had needed to do was endure. But any other adventurer would have been in for a mountain of pain even higher than his.

Could it be that the [DUNGEON] was so strong, so otherworldly, that it simply expected any who worked with it to understand? Had Mr. Jacobs felt the pressure of that immense truth that hid a simple greeting? Could the man even have survived without an ability like [FACT'S PERSISTENCE]?

It didn't matter. Tobias had been welcomed. The message had been burned so deep into his brain that he would likely never forget it. Would never forget how, hidden underneath that welcome, had been a thin layer of expectation.

The message was clear. The [DUNGEON] would not tolerate weakness. And under all his swirling thoughts, a small seed of determination bloomed within Tobias's mind. He would prove himself to the [DUNGEON]. He would be worthy of the wealth, power, and fame it could provide on a whim.

But how? He was an orphan living in some backwater hellhole on the border. His only claim of power was his information network, but why would the [DUNGEON] care for the gossip of pesky mortals? He didn't even have a weapon for Sol's sake!

A clatter broke him from his thoughts. Rising on shaky legs and wiping the last of the blood from his eyes, Tobias finally stepped into the [DUNGEON] proper. And sitting there in the very center of a mural, was a dagger.

It knew.

How? How could it have such power to not only know his intentions, but what he would need to accomplish them? Was this a gift? A deal? A threat? Or were his wishes so inconsequential to a being of such power that there was no reason not to grant them?

Had this dagger even put a dent in its power?

The flames of the mural seemed to spring to life, to hunger. A hunger which was quickly shared to Tobias. He stumbled forward into the room, falling to his knees once again upon reaching the center.

He reached out, almost hesitantly. The air around the weapon of red crystal seemed to swim with heat, but there was none to be felt. He picked it up. The dagger was smaller than the average one, so it fit his hands perfectly. Like it had been shaped just for him. Likely, it had.

He looked up, meeting the eyes of at least thirty [FIRE-BIRDS]. They looked at him with a sense of boredom, as if they gave away weapons perfectly tailored to a person every day. Tobias gazed down again, down into a tunnel that seemed to leak power itself. The way to the core, no doubt. He gazed, and he spoke.

"I will prove myself worthy of such a gift. I will."