Lauri, Rebecca, Ken and Sophie arrived out front of the library dungeon. Sophie ran to a window and ran back before looking through the door, "the building through the door doesn't exist outside."
"Yeah."
"That's weird right?"
"Think about this then, the city sewer is deep enough it should break into the first floor of the main dungeon but it doesn't."
"That's so weird."
"And Tutorial Dungeon doesn't cover the fields of tall grass."
"Oh so it's not weird. Dimensions, right?"
Lauri shrugs. "Everything is weird if you think about it. Like, why do normal bulls have a ton of meat but a monster bull only has a chunk big enough for one family dinner?"
"Duh, because monsters aren't animals."
"Or the word 'cellar' is kind of weird too."
"Fine, everything is weird if you think about it. Now, shall we go in."
"No, there's something weird. Look, there are flying books."
Through the door the ceiling of the library was so badly cracked and falling apart that fine dust was flaking down over winged books which flew in flocks. A giant worm slithered between the shelves. The walls were cracking as well and the previously concealed monster book on the pedestal had fallen apart such that someone could walk right into the restricted area.
"Yeah yeah, all dungeons are weird if you think about it. Let's go see this treasure trove."
Bec put an arm up in front of Sophie. "No, he's right, there's usually no monsters on this floor and the place looks like it's about to collapse."
Lauri nods. "We need to be a bit stronger. That means prep-work."
Ken laughed, "stronger? We're already plenty strong."
Lauri shook his head, "Bec can't help us."
"Why can't I?"
"Because of the level difference."
"You want EXP now?"
"I've read Dungeon Keeper. Or more specifically 'Guide To Dungeon Keeping: Books And Lore Edition.' Badly formed parties not only poorly feed dungeons but can cause indigestion problems."
"What does that mean?"
"It means if we go in there as a balanced party then dungeon happy. If we don't then reality could collapse and we'd be flung into... Κενός."
"What's Κενός?"
"I suppose the best translation is Blank." Lauri took a step into the dungeon and looked around.
[This dungeon has invited you to bond with it as its Dungeon Keeper. Warning: This dungeon is on the verge of dying. Do you wish to accept?]
["What is the danger to me if I accept?"]
[I am not sapient and this question is beyond my understanding. Would you like help?]
["No help needed. I accept the position as Dungeon Keeper."]
The dungeon sent him a message. ["Death is coming. Please help."]
["That's my plan. I'm going to help."]
"Blank? What does that mean?"
"The book was written in Greek. While Κενός best translates as Blank, in the translation I opted for the word Void. It's not much better but I figured it's easier for people to understand in this context."
"The System translation?"
"Yes."
Everyone was staring at him when Bec finally asked "who exactly are you?"
"I'm Lauri, Sealer, chosen of Goddess Dike to form a heroes party and save the world, newly appointed Dungeon Keeper of Library Dungeon and a translator for the System. I'm also your friend, Sophie's lover, Ken's associate if not already friends, slayer of the Dungeon of Woe, slayer of the Guild of Mathematics, the son of Joshua and Jessica. I could go on but in the end of the day those are relationships, titles, achievements or just plain events. Should be enough to leave it at... I'm Lauri. Lauri Williams"
Bec's jaw dropped. "It's a lot when you list it out like that. But sure, you're just Lauri."
Lauri looked over to Sophie. "We need to max your shield and get you more HP."
Sophie smiled at the attention. "How do we do that?"
"Huh. I don't suppose you'd share your stats with me?"
"You showed me yours so I'll show you mine," she gave a wink.
Lauri started checking Market items as he asked "could you activate the group shield and show me your skills as well, please?"
{
Class: Mage
Professions:
- Level 10 Shield Maiden
- Level 1 Sexy Magic
Effective Level: 11, EXP 50,816/60,900
HP: 220, SP: 8,800 (x4), MP: 110
Strength: 28/154 (14) Spent-20
Toughness: 22/286 (26) Spent-20
Agility: (30) 130/220 (20) Spent-20
Memory: 20/132 (12) Spent-10
Intelligence: 220 (20) Spent-204
Charisma: 396 (36) Spent-376
Mage Skills: 10/110
Provocation: 1/10
Flame Projectiles: 3/10
- Flaming Hands
- Flame Bolt
- Tiny Explosion
Shield Spells: 3/10
- Shield
- Shield Party
- Mind Shield
Charms and Suggestions: 3/10
- Dominate Monster
- Seduction
- Burning Hot
}
[Purchased 4x Potions of Potential Toughness for 200SP]
[Purchased 10x Potions of Potential Reasoning for 500SP]
[Purchased 1x Bracers of Bracing for 19,999SP]
[Purchased 1x Circlet of Circular Reasoning for 5,000SP]
[Purchased 1x Resistant Shields Skillbook for 120SP]
"Okay, drink these potions, learn the skill and put these two on. The bracers add 300 Toughness and the head-thing adds 150 Reasoning. Also recast the shield, please." Lauri also hid some details to make the status easier to read. Also he had to wait the final minute of the 5 minute shield cooldown.
{
Class: Mage
Professions:
- Level 10 Shield Maiden
- Level 1 Sexy Magic
Effective Level: 11, EXP 50,816/60,900
HP: 3,220, SP: 13,200, MP: 165,
Strength: 28/154, Toughness: 322/330, Agility: 130/220, Memory: 20/132, Intelligence: 330, Charisma: 396,
Mage Skills: 10/110
}
Lauri nodded as he looked at Sophie's stats. "That skill provides a passive buff to shields on you, even once I cast. Speaking of, your shield value is looking good."
Sophie was pleased with her new HP. "I know it's way less health you and Ken but it feels good to have HP."
"Glad you like it. I saw some items that would change your base shield to use x100 or even x1000 but they're not options right now."
"That's a lot of shields."
"It's more like we're still weak but we're just getting started. If the king had kids then you could bet they'd be equipped to death."
Ken asked "can I get some stuff too if I share my status with you?"
"Huh. Let's see, shall we?"
{
Class: Rogue
Professions:
- Level 10 Thief
- Level 1 Ninja
Effective Level: 11, EXP 44,188/60,900
HP: 12,400, PP: 110
Strength: 10/154 (14), Toughness: 124/330 (30), Agility: 220/220 (20), Memory: 10/132 (12), Reasoning: 153/462 (42), Charisma: 220/220 (20)
Rogue Skills: 12/110
}
[Purchased 1x Bracers of Bracing for 20,000SP]
"First of all, bracers for you. Second of all, why is your max power only 110?"
"They're half my Agility score."
Bec adds, "seems normal for level 11. My power is at 360 at half my Strength. I saw your PP but that's from an item changing your base, right?"
"Huh?" He looked at a ring his mother gave him years ago. "Maybe I've had an item equipped this whole time without noticing." An Identify Item on the ring revealed it to be non-magical. "Or something else, maybe?"
Ken mentioned "my HP is 33,000 now for those who can't see."
Lauri nodded. "Great. You've got a really high potential reasoning. Know what the deal with that is?"
"Not a clue. It pissed me off at first."
"Why'd it piss you off?"
"I'd just got my blessing and I remember thinking that if I'd known beforehand then I'd have picked Mage."
"Oh yeah, a Mage with that sort of Reasoning would have an advantage. You can still do that though."
"I can?"
"Sure, thanks to Use Magic Device. You can equip Perverted Nipple Tape and then..."
"I'll stop you there. No nipple tape."
"Well, we're heading to the stockpile now, so let's go and see our options."
They entered Library Dungeon and hadn't gone far when a Level 1 Book Worm headed for them. Lauri used Sleep on it but it kept coming. "It doesn't sleep normally." He interposed his Minotaur Shield between it and himself but as Lauri felt himself being pushed back he cast Hold Monster. Having succeeded in looking cool he announced "I've stopped it, attack it everyone." Ken threw Stars at it, Sophie hit it with a Flame Bolt and Lauri jabbed it with his Flaming Rapier but the worm was still at 98% health when the 6 second stun wore off. "Watch out, it's about to do something." Freed to move the worm decided to go after Ken, for unknown reasons. A bite at Ken took a 3,300 SP chunk out of his shield, reducing him from 13,200 to 9,900. Lauri shook his head, "more damage than normal from a level 1 critter but I somewhat expected this."
Ken was unnerved as the worm was still grasping him with its peristomium. "Get it off me!"
"You know, I might be able to do that." Lauri stowed his rapier and tossed a chain at the worm, binding it. Then he tightened it until, he hoped, the worm would be restrained. But it wasn't... "Sorry, I think because of its shape the chains don't do a very good job." He released the chains as exchanging damage seemed a bad idea.
"Do something else then!" Ken shouted as another chunk of 3,300 SP came off his shield.
Lauri was legitimately stumped for once. He got out his mace to try and whack it off but that didn't get the job done. Ken couldn't throw his Infinite Throwing Stars properly in his position, while being munched on, so didn't know how to attack. Sophie tried kicking it with her Blazing Heels, channelling a Tiny Explosion, but the worm remained stuck on Ken who lost 3,100, down to 3,500 SP. They kept attacking and the worm dropped down to 92% health as Ken took lost 3,500 SP, which exactly took down what was left of his shield. "Sophie, please swap to single shield for Ken." She nodded to Lauri and a shield of 26,400 raised around Ken.
"How is a level 1 this strong!" Ken was freaking out.
Swapping back to the rapier, which seemed to do more damage, Lauri explained as he attacked. "This dungeon grew too strong to the point that low level adventurers were too threatened by it and stopped challenging it. Meanwhile I think it was too easy for the members of Survivors Guild. With nobody challenged by it challenging it, I think it started starving. Also if nobody removes the treasure a dungeon generates then it basically starts getting poisoned by it, or something like that. Like, if plants like your shit but you were constipated for..."
"Less lessons, more killing!" Ken lost 2,900 SP but thanks to Sophie now had 23,500 to spare.
Finally Lauri thought of something. "Sophie, you could provoke this thing, right?"
"I don't know why that skill came with Shield Maiden but I'm not using it."
"I got you Resistant Shields. As a passive that should cause your shields to take less damage."
"I don't have a shield on myself and can't for 5 minutes."
"Good point, maybe next time."
"I'm a Mage, not a tank."
"Okay but worst-case scenario if Ken's shield runs out and I use my shield then you can provoke it and run out the dungeon. Then Ken and I need only run out before it gets us again. Yeah?"
"I'm never going to use Provocation."
"Okay, okay. We're brain-storming right now."
Ken tried to head for the exit, where a flock of books currently sat, but couldn't budge. He mostly just flailed around on the spot, his feet slipping in place. "How is it so strong?"
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Ken, you have a strength score of 10."
"Get it off me!" His shield lowered to 20,200 as another 3,300 SP was bitten off.
Lauri kept jabbing at the worm and Sophie tried a Tiny Explosion without her heels, to see if it had more force to knock the worm off Ken that way. Ken lost 2,250 SP from the explosion. [Lost 2,250 HP], Lauri received damage, "that caught us in the blast as well," he shook his head.
Ken wasn't happy either "what's wrong with you two?"
Sophie felt really bad, "I'm sorry."
Lauri shook his head some more. "Calm down Ken, you have lots of shield left right now and we've got it down to 88% health."
"What!? I'm going to die before it does!"
"Fair point. I'm going to see what Freedom of Movement does." Lauri cast the spell on Ken who then managed to slip from the worms peristomium.
"Why didn't you do that right away?" Ken asked as he ran for it.
"Huh, it worked. New spell. Don't keep running that way or the flying books will bludgeon you to death."
"Gaahhhh!" Ken turned around and took another hit of 3,300 from the worm as he ran back to the party, now reduced to 14,650 SP.
The worm chased him but then suddenly swivelled and latched onto Lauri [Lost 3,500 HP]. Lauri used Protection Bubble, giving himself and Sophie a shield of 3,300 and Ken's staying as it was. "My shield suddenly feels weak."
Lauri couldn't afford to unequip his Minotaur Shield right then as his Toughness, and thus HP, would drop by too much. Still, he noticed something about the way the worm was latching onto him. "Say, I don't think it's aim is actually to bite me."
Ken was still upset as he tossed his Stars, "are you kidding? It's biting you right now."
"Well yeah but I think its just trying to suck my blood and it's struggling because I'm too small for the worms normal behaviour."
"That's even worse!"
"I think they're supposed to be much smaller." [Lost 3,300 SP] "I Just lost my shield in one hit."
"Does your theory help us?"
"How about we slice its head off with a big axe?"
"Do you have a big axe?"
"I sold it." The worm was down to 84% HP.
"Then that doesn't help us."
"Well not this time." Lauri was able to use Hold Monster on the worm again but even with it stunned couldn't easily get free, so cast Freedom of Movement on himself.
Freed, Lauri produced the Boar Spear and put his Minotaur Shield away, his max HP dropping to 4,477/5,000. Then Lauri speared the worm in the mouth and shoved the other end of the pole into a crack in the ground. He re-equipped the Minotaur Shield and was back up to 49,250/55,000 HP. The worm started moving again but this time Lauri kept it held in place and it couldn't attack. "Say, I can't thrust my rapier while holding the spear shaft in place. You two need to kill it."
Sophie just stood there, "I'm out of mana."
"How do mages attack when out of mana?"
"I... don't know."
Lauri sighed. "Ken, get your revenge on this thing. It's all you."
Ken tossed stars from his Infinite Throwing Stars at the worm. It was a good thing that his handful of stars were as infinite as advertised because some 20 minutes passed before the worm died. "Finally. Death by a thousand cuts."
Lauri sighed in relief this time. "I think that worm was a tank."
Ken was unsure, "what do we do? We struggled against a single level 1 monster."
"Well, we figure out what Sophie can use when out of mana and we figure out what you can use if forced into melee."
The winged books having moved during that battle, they headed outside the dungeon and started searching the System Market. After 10 minutes Ken complains "it all looks like rubbish to me. I'm finding lots of roguish daggers but I don't want to be that close."
Lauri comments "you haven't found anything you want?"
"There's nothing."
"Well, I'll pick for you then."
"Fine. It's all rubbish I don't want so you might as well."
Lauri checks a description for one item.
[Ninja Throwing Knife. Called a kunai, it is larger and heavier than a shuriken and with the grip could also be used in hand-to-hand combat. Requirement: Ninja]
[Purchased 1x Flee Skillbook for 10SP]
[Purchased 1x Smokescreen Skillbook for 80SP]
[Purchased 10x Ninja Throwing Knife for 50,000SP]
"Here, use these if forced into melee."
"Oh... I was only looking at equipment. These skills are really good, thanks. Are these more ranged weapons?"
"I don't know what shuriken are but unlike them, they can be used in hand-to-hand combat in an emergency."
"My throwing stars are shuriken. Maybe you can patch the translations a bit so it's more self-evident?"
Sophie wasn't the best at waiting and as Lauri seriously considered what Ken said, she jumped in. "What about me?"
"You haven't found anything?"
"No. It's almost like Mages shouldn't be in melee."
"Not most Mage professions, I'm sure, but you're not supposed to be looking for melee options."
"I'm not?"
"No, you're supposed to be looking for something you can use when out of mana."
"Ah, that's easy, scrolls." Lauri just sighed, to which Sophie innocently asked "what?"
"It's fine. I probably already purchased the item you should be looking for."
"You did?"
He got out the Flaming Mantle and started using Renew Item on it. "This item requires a Mage to use it and it throws fireballs. Basically it's useless but for some reason they sell often and for an average of 2 million."
"Just how much money do you have?"
"You're forgetting that I cheat and renew items. I only paid 500 SP for this because it was down to its last 20 fireballs."
"That's still only 25 SP a fireball. Why is it so much cheaper than the scrolls?"
"How much is a scroll of fireball?"
"About 98 SP on average."
"It has a max durability of 8,000 and it seem to throw one fireball per durability. At an average price of 2 mil that would come out to 250 SP per fireball."
"So then with 20 left it should have cost 5,000 SP?"
"Maybe someone made a math mistake, picked the price without much thought or meant it as a boon for us new batch from the ceremony."
"Oh. Then we shouldn't expect these sorts of deals to stick around?"
"Huh. I hadn't thought of that. You could be right."
Rebecca had to interrupt, "I've got to go now. The king got back to me and now that I'm level 20 wants me at the castle to cast Truth Zone and give him an excuse to execute people."
"An excuse?"
"Yeah. He'll summon someone then just keeps asking questions until he finds a reason to sentence them to death."
"Can you lie about if they're lying?"
"No."
"Then couldn't you use your Truth Zone to prove you didn't kill your party."
"That would require people to trust that I can't cheat my own spell. Which they don't."
"Well, have fun with the king then."
"See you round." Rebecca made her leave.
[Friend Request from alias NecroGirl180. Accept?]
"I got a random friend request from NecroGirl180." ["Accept"]
Sophie asked "anyone you know?"
Lauri shook his head, "I don't think so."
["Hello Lauri. I noticed you're a Ritualist and so had to ask, why did you buy my Extra Skelly Friend?"]
Lauri didn't reply right away. Instead he quickly looked up what the item actually did.
[Extra Skelly Friend: Increases max minions by 1 for each necromancy spell. Prerequisite: Level 10]
Then Lauri jumped on Market to see if there were any necromancy skills available to him right now. Apparently there were hundreds so he limited them to ones with minions, which reduced them to two.
{
SP: 1,521,423
[Cost in System Points]: [Skill Name]. Brief description
1,200: Create Animated Skeleton. Create up to 1 skeleton warrior which lasts until destroyed. Prerequisites: Level 10, Ritualist.
150,000: Eye-Bind Soul. Bind the soul of a defeated enemy into one of your eyes. Maximum minion count equal to your number of eyes. Prerequisite: Sealer.
}
[Purchased 1x Create Animated Skeleton Skillbook for 1,200SP]
Finally he was ready to reply without lying, something Lauri avoided, no matter how much people though he was an outright liar. ["No real reason."]
["You're a jerk then."]
["I have the skill Create Animated Skeleton, it's 1 permanent minion and I plan to find out if Extra Skelly allows me to make a second. Also I noticed Eye-Bind Soul but maybe I'm crazy to even consider trying that with Extra Skelly Friend?"]
["That's cool then. Do you have bones ready?"]
["No."]
["I'll prepare a couple skeletons for 100 gold each, if you can afford that?"]
["Of course, thanks."]
NecroGirl180 sent him an address.
["When should I come over?"]
["Give me a couple hours. I don't just have skeletons lying around in my closet."]
["Okay."]
["I said, I don't have skeletons in my closet."]
["Lolz"]
Sophie saw Lauri had finished chatting, "who was it?"
"Someone I purchased an item off of."
"The Flaming Mantle?"
"An item called Extra Skelly Friend. I'll check who I purchased Flaming Mantle from. Oh, it's the same person. I suppose she's a Necromancer and a Mage then."
"What a coincidence."
"Not really. If she's trying to help out newbies then I wouldn't be surprised if she keeps items around to list them cheap after each years ceremony."
"She didn't ask about both?"
"Huh. Yeah. It's more strange that I purchased a Mage only item than one usable by any class with necromancy. Maybe she secretly looks into and keeps an eye on those who purchase her necromancy items?"
"Why would she do that?"
"How many necromancers are there?"
"I don't know."
"Maybe she wants to make friends with other necromancers? Actually, the note on the item was rather baity. Like she wanted people to contact her to ask about some exploit it mentioned."
Ken chimed in. "You don't think it's a trap?"
"Unlikely. She gave me an address to meet her within the protection blessing. We won't be able to charm, trap, kill each other or anything like that."
Sophie was raring to go, "shall we head back in and throw some fireballs?"
"Friendly fire and lack of DPS."
"Just get fire immunity items."
"Oh yeah!"
Spending several more minutes searching, it turned out fire resistant items were common but only the Sexy Magic profession had affordable fire immunity items. It was a good thing that Lauri and Ken could bypass most restrictions but once female-only were filtered out there weren't many left.
{
SP: 1,520,223
[Cost in System Points]: [Item Name]. (Misc. Value)
1: Homo-Flaming Wristband. Immune to heat, fire, steam and heat based damages while equipped. Prerequisite: Sexy Magic.
100,000: Too Sexy For My Shirt Shirt. Immune to heat, fire, steam and heat based damages while equipped. +300 Charisma. Prerequisite: Sexy Magic.
20million: Wreathed In Flames Wreath. Creates an aura that burns creatures within 2 meters, the fire damage being proportionate to Charisma. Immune to heat, fire, steam and heat based damages while equipped. +2000 Charisma. Prerequisite: Sexy Magic.
}
Ken finished looking first. "Only two items but why is the wristband so cheap?"
"Three items," Lauri claimed. "The Wreath of Wreathed In Flames does look tempting."
"I don't see it."
"It's the one for 20 mill."
"I thought we were looking at affordable items?"
"Yeah... Oh, never mind that one. Let's get wristbands."
[Purchased 2x Homo-Flaming Wristband for 2SP]
Lauri passed one to Ken but found a problem when he tried to equip his.
[Too many magical items. Please first unequip something else.]
"There's a limit to magic items?"
"Duh. Did you think you could keep equipping them until you became a god?"
"I suppose I did. But I don't even have that much equipped. System, can you show me what I have equipped?"
[Necklace of Greed
Breathe Easy Gorget
Belt of H.G.S.H.
Backpack of Many Items
Item Box
Blonde Hair of Power
Sacrificial Chains of Binding
Boar Spear
Minotaur Shield
Extra Skelly Friend
Flaming Rapier]
"Oh, the darn auto-equip equipped Extra Skelly Friend. Unequip. Also it seems bags count?" He emptied his bag and stored it all in his Item Box, except the dungeon core which it couldn't accept, then unequipped the bag and stored that as well. Then unequipped and stored the Boar Spear. "What's the limit?"
"It's 10 until you can get skills to increase it. Enchantments or augments on you or body parts don't count towards the limit."
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." He succeeded in equipping the Homo-Flaming Wristband. "Okay, I'm immune to fire now."
Sophie was rearing to go, "into the dungeon."
"Hang on, we suffered that much for lack of DPS. We need at least 1 more party member, I think."
"Okay, fine, let's go recruit a temporary member."