The party moved into a safe zone that existed right after the boss room and before the stairs down to the next floor. Tim looked around and asked "how did we get here?"

Lauri looked at him like that was a silly question. "I turned us invisible and we walked down stairs, past monsters, until we got here."

"Sure but I mean, what stairs? Where were they? Which monsters? What does each floor look like and how was it laid out?"

"There were flying books, a worm, a rabbit and... ummm.. other monsters."

"What other monsters?"

"Well, there was this slime for one."

"There are gaps in my memory. This isn't my first delve and I'm telling you now that something's wrong."

"I'll admit that some parts are a bit hazy. What do you think it means?"

"I have no idea. I'm just calling attention to it."

"Fair enough. I'll recast invisibility and then we can continue down."

"You want to continue? Even knowing the dungeon is messing with us?"

"Tim, all dungeons mess with adventurers, one way or another. This is a lore type dungeon so I'm hardly alarmed by it."

"How do we know we haven't had this conversation before? Or haven't decided to turn back before only to be confused and continue down again?"

"Doesn't matter, there's no immediate threat and we're on a mission. So, onwards we go."

The party continued until they arrived at floor 50 and all received a System party quest. ["Collect 2 Epic loot items or die. Rewards a Bear Back Cloak. Accept quest?"] [Yes]. Tim is quick to put his opinions forwards and says "Or die? I vote no."

Lauri hits [Yes], "I vote yes."

"What? You just agreed to the quest on behalf of the whole party!"

"Oh, huh. Why did you make out like it was a vote then?"

"Because we should have voted on it."

"And I voted yes."

"No, you hit yes."

"So it wasn't a vote then?"

"The prompt wasn't a vote. Did you think the prompt choice was the vote?"

"Did you think the prompt was a choice? There wasn't a no option."

"Say, you're right. What's with that?"

"Don't worry, I've come across this sort of thing from the System before. Basically, the loot items are poisoning the dungeon and the quest is informing us that if we fail to remove the loot then the dungeon will collapse before we make it back out of here. So it's do or die time, no is not an option."

"Where are we?"

Lauri looked around. "I'm not sure. Everything if hazy and indistinct. Oh, but that's a treasure chest over there, behind the... thing."

"I think that things a monster. Is this haze because of this being a lore dungeon? Somehow effecting out ability to process information?"

"I'm starting to think it may be the result of the reality of the dungeon losing cohesion."

Lauri got out and put on the glasses that helps him see Red-Light and is able to make out that the monster is a young red dragon, Level 100. "Don't worry, I've figured it out. The monster is a young red dragon."

Sophie poked her tongue out teasingly, "easy."

"Level 100."

She frowned, "we have no chance."

Tim chuckled, "I concur but it's do or die right now. We're all immune to fire but we need a good plan."

Lauri looks around, squints, concentrates and tries to make out the lay of the floor. "There's no other monsters here. I'm going to go up down a few more floors. In the meantime, I think we're in a safe zone."

"Are we?"

"Not sure but the dragon is sleeping so don't wake it up."

"It is?"

"Yeah."

"How are we going to fight something we can't properly perceive?"

"By following my directions."

"This'll make a good story, at least, if we survive."

"Not if you want people to believe you."

"Well I'll be darned."

Lauri used Drain Life on the dragon to reduce it to level 95 while gaining 5 levels himself. The greater the difference in level the more it seems to reduce the foe, so he wanted to hit it first. While Drain Life had never woken anything up before, he waited a moment to be sure, then he cast Aura of Invisibility on himself again and went downstairs. The monsters on floor 51 were level 90 so without even spending the time to figure out what they were he continued downwards. When he reached floor 59 Lauri looked down from a platform and made out that the monsters were only level 100, with a few at level 110 but he didn't think that was a large enough advantage against the dragon, which was currently level 95. Moving to where the stairs down had always been Lauri didn't find them. He found this strange as the stairs had always been predictable, like the stairs found in a standard library. Albeit on many floors a wall had barricaded the way. With no wall here Lauri couldn't figure out why the stairs were missing and had to squint and try and make out the hazy reality around him. Locating a ramp down Lauri spent some time trying to work out what monsters were below and was able to make out bull like horns. "Wait," he thought, "are those minitours? If so, score."

While he couldn't make out the walls or passageways it seemed a good guess that he was looking down on a maze and that the intention was to solve it from above and then dive into it on foot. A test of puzzle solving, memory and sense of direction. Or it would be if possible, which with the hazy and broken reality it was not. He tried a Drain Level but was prompted ["Cannot attempt hostile actions from within a safe zone."]. "I'll take that as evidence that I didn't leave the others in a safe zone. Hopefully they're okay when I get back." Walking just past the edge of the ramp Lauri started using Drain Level, leaving the highest level ones for last. Doing so Lauri was able to reach level 106 but no higher, as he quickly ran out of level 110 targets in range of his ability. It felt to him like a group of monsters were rallying together at the bottom of the ramp but he was finished, so it didn't matter. Entering the safe zone he was prompted ["Provoked enemies will ignore safe zone until dealt with"]. "Huh." Lauri waited until they had all gathered and were advancing and then cast Sleep, sending them all to sleep. Then he had the time to case Aura of Invisibility again and headed upwards.

Seeing everyone alright and the dragon still asleep Lauri waited until he was next to them before speaking softly "hello everyone, I'm back."

Sophie smiled, "how'd it go?"

"Good. I think we're ready. Though a thought came to me that we don't need to fight the dragon."

"We don't?" Tim asked.

"No. There's a mob of roughly 30 minitours, level 100 or so, I left on floor 59. If we killed all of them we'd probably get the loot we need."

Tim chuckled softly. "I'd rather fight the dragon."

"Huh, good point. Well, my Sleep spell is off of cooldown as an emergency time-out, should we need it. So shall we wake this guy up?"

"Wake it up? Why don't we attack it while it is asleep?"

"That's rude, Tim."

"It's a monster."

"Don't be rude. We'll wake it up and get the battle started like gentlemen."

"That's dumb."

"Dumb as in not talking or making any sound? I think not. Sneak attacking it while it is asleep would be dumb."

"I see what you did there. Well fine. I suppose this is the follow your direction side of things so just don't screw up."

"Sophie, group shield please."

With the shield up Lauri walked over to the dragon and cleared his throat. "Excuse me, dragon. I'm Lauri Williams and I'm afraid that I have business with you."

The dragon half raises one eye-lid as it looks at the group. "Who dares disturb my slumber?"

"Lauri. Lauri Williams."

It opens its eyes and slowly raises its head. "Oh, yes, you did say that. Then, why?"

"Well, you see..."

"Actually I don't. Why is everything so hazy?"

"We think it's because the dungeon is dying and its reality is falling apart."

"Holy cow! Thanks for waking me up. I'm out of here."

Tim couldn't help but ask "you can leave?"

"Yeah. I'm not a copy-paste dungeon monster if that's what you're thinking. I'm more real than any of you." He stares at Lauri for a moment. "Okay, I'm equally real as Lauri and more real than the rest of you."

Tim tilted his head to the left, "what does that mean?"

"It means Lauri and I can planer travel while you're all tied to the realm you exist in. What with not having souls and all."

Tim balked at that. "I have a soul."

The dragon stared at Tim for a moment... "Nah." He then looked back at Lauri, "I shall give you a reward for awakening me, instead of completing the puzzle properly, that I may make my escape in time." Beautiful golden energy was drawn in from across the dungeon and coalesced into a shining skill-book, which floated into Lauri's hands. He identified it and checked its description immediately.

[Godly Status Obfuscation Skillbook: Legendary rarity. Requires level 50 and Unrestricted profession at least level 30. Gain the Status Obfuscation skill at the Godly Tier or upgrade current skill of same name to Godly Tier. See also 'Conceal Status' for a skill appropriate to your ??? level.]

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The dragon started to stretch one wing at a time as it roused from sleep. "Hold on one moment," Tim said, "when you said 'instead of completing the puzzle properly' what's the proper way?"

"This is a lore type dungeon. It rewards smarts, problem solving and analysis. My level is deceptive, you see, so those who attack me while I'm asleep are good as dead. The trick is to analyse me and realise that even a party of level 250 humans have no chance. So either sneak past me or even better, open the alarmed chest without waking me."

Lauri nodded, "told you that attacking him while he was asleep would be rude."

The dragon stares at Tim for a moment before mummering "you're level 20, you don't need a monster analyst to know you don't have a chance."

Tim was frightened a bit, in case the dragon decided he was a hostile or something. "it was merely a discussion of which would be more dumb, attacking while you were sleeping or waking you up."

The dragon pondered this for a moment. "I figure that waking me up would be more dumb."

Lauri shook his head. "Waking you up required talking, which is the opposite of dumb."

"Humph," the dragon puffed a bit of flame from the sides of its jaw as it considered this, "that's funny. Thanks for not being dumb. I shall make my leave." Flapping its wings it took to the air and flew upwards.

Tim looked up, "did it just fly upwards?"

"Yeah," Lauri nodded.

"There's no roof?"

"I honestly don't know. It's all hazy."

As they looked upwards they started to make out that there was an empty, square, space between the stairs. "Oh, there's a roof, it's a gap."

"Yeah, in the stairs, I can see that now."

"Say, it's getting less hazy. We still need a second item so let's check the chest." Lauri opened the chest and bright golden light shone out of it as, at the same time, a blaring alarm went off. "Ahh! So loud!"

Ken ran over and tinkered with it until the alarm stopped, "there you go. No problem."

Sophie laughed. "The dragon did call it an 'alarmed chest' you know... and I don't think he meant it was frightened."

Lauri nodded, "oh yeah." He looked into the chest to find a pile of gold system coins and several items which he started identifying as he pulled then out. "Tabi, or ninja shoes, these are for you Ken. Gold Stars of Shining Intellect, that's for you Sophie. Barbarian Boots of Booting are clearly for Tim. A Longbow +3 is for Warriors... I said Tim could have something special on top of the other loot so I suppose he can have this. Finally, 120 arrows of Dragon Slaying for Billy. Do they always drop in stacks of 120?"

[Quest complete. Reward: Bear Back Cloak]

After a quick inspection of the reward Lauri held a hand up, "opp, wait. Looks like the reward is for the Bear Totem profession. Tim, want to swap the bow for the cloak?"

Tim chuckled, "without a doubt." He handed the bow to Billy.

"Why are you handing the bow to me?"

"Because you're the archer."

Lauri put his hand up, "I could use a ranged option, if you prefer your crossbow?"

"Prey Crossbow stacks better with my stealth build."

"And when you're not hidden?"

"Ummm. Not as good."

"Have both then. Flexibility is good."

Tim looked around, seeing a pedestal with a draconic scroll laid out on top, a fake pile of gold that the dragon had lied on, a stone wall at the edge of the circular room. "The haze isn't as bad now."

"Excellent. Well, almost."

"Almost?"

"I mean... the lack of a fight feels anti-climactic. Shall we continue down and kill some stuff?"

Tim wasn't chuckling this time. "Our mission is complete and I'm about done. We head back."

"You're right, of course. Let's head back everyone."

As they climbed the stairs it wasn't as easy as when they were walking down. Following a square pattern there were constant right turns as they ascended, broken up only by the occasional wall between each set of stairs, requiring a detour. When they reached floor 40 they could make out, this time, that the boss was a giant praying mantis. "Huh," Lauri mused at it as they saw it from the safe room usually preceding it. As they reached floor 39, however, Lauri looked around with wonder. There must have been 200 ankheg swarming around on this floor, the only thing preventing them from rushing a party is the constant empty bookshelves breaking up aisles. "ANKHEG!" Lauri shouted as he drew his Chitin Cracker Warhammer and killed the closest in one hit, nothing dropping.

"Wait," Tim cautioned but Lauri was in too much of a hurry.

"Agility Potions!" Lauri shouted as he noticed none had dropped. He quickly saw why, as he was still level 106.

"But they're each level 60."

Dropping active instances of Drain Level until he was also level 60 he glanced at Tim to say "thanks, my mistake."

Tim looked at Billy, Ken and Sophie to ask "so what, are we all just dead now?"

Sophie poked her tongue out teasingly before answering "don't worry, Lauri just loves killing ankheg is all."

"Don't worry?"

"If you knew him like us then yeah, you wouldn't be worried."

"I leveled up twice when we killed the slime boss so there's not much of an experience penalty. So what, he's level 20 as well?"

"I think Lauri's was level 11 when we entered."

Ken nodded, "that's accurate."

Tim shook his head, "we're all dead."

As everyone watched Lauri it soon became clear to Tim what the others had meant. Having learnt the behaviours of ankheg, the coup de grâce and making use of Hold Monster strategically Lauri was working his way through them with the illusion of ease. For a moment Tim thought it was all over when Lauri got himself grappled but this was also his first time seeing Lauri's Freedom of Movement as he slipped out from its claws like a buttered up sausage from a bun. Tim even got a little turned on thinking about it before he shook his head and reminded himself that Lauri wasn't gay. Lauri looked at Tim and said "check the potions dropping." Edging forward Tim did so and confirmed that each ankheg was dropping a Potion of Agility in addition to their usual coins. One even dropped a suit of Ankheg Armour, which just on its own sells for 3 million SP. "Father of Goddess, it's for real?"

Only once they were all dead did Lauri consider needing to split loot. "By the way, the Potions of Agility only drop because of me and only so often because of my Necklace of Greed..."

"No." Time said flat out.

Lauri had a slight look of disappointment and tried to remember if he's made any prior stipulations about his potions but he just couldn't remember, so he stopped hesitating. "199 Potions of Agility and 5200 SP splits into roughly 40 potions each and 520 SP for each of you. I'm already wearing Ankheg Armour if anyone else can make use of it?" Tim shook his head, as he's not the sort of Barbarian who wears armour. Ken put his hand up first and Billy looked at Ken then also raised his hand. "Well, I figure Billy needs armour more and Ken already has armour..."

"I do?"

"Your Cloak of Cloaking."

"Cloaks don't take the armour slot."

"Huh. Well, I still think Billy needs it more, unless you're moving to the front line?"

"I'm not."

Billy fist pumps, "yes," then accepts the armour and puts it on. "Look, we're both wearing green now."

Lauri looks Billy up and down in his armour before mentioning, "we're both wearing the same type armour. Does it come in colours other than green?"

"Brown and cockroach black."

"I've only ever seen green suits of Ankheg Armour."

With a final cast of Aura of Invisibility the party made their way to the first floor of Library Dungeon, with Lauri checking out the book about hero's journeys. Tim shook each of their hands, "it's been the most fun in my life and I've gotten so much amazing loot, especially these Potions of Agility, worth 320 thousand SP alone. Thanks... but I'm never partnering with your group ever again."

Lauri nodded. "Speaking of, the Ankheg Armour drop has been bugging me as it's an outlier. Everything else split rather nicely. So here's 500 thousand SP."

"Holy Moley."

"You said they're worth 3 million but last I sold only netted me 2 and a half, so I feel this is the right amount."

"You didn't tell me you were rich."

"Isn't there a saying about adventurers?"

"You mean about all adventurers eventually being rich, dead or cowards?"

"That can't be true. I know a lot of Priests who edge out an honest living and aren't cowards."

"I mean, eventually everyone ends up dead."

"Fair but I just meant about adventurers strike it rich."

"Unless they die first or become cowards. It's the same saying."

"All the riches in the world won't help you when you're dying of thirst in the middle of a desert," Lauri somewhat weakly puts forth.

"How is that relevant?"

"Because there's a famine on our doorsteps?"

"I mean relevant to the current conversation but never mind. Thanks for all the SP. I'll convert it into gold and buy some food before... what?"

"What?"

"SP to gold exchange rate has changed a lot since I last looked at it. You don't think the gold coin is dying, do you?"

"Now that's a long conversation but the short answer is no, except that it won't be able to buy food soon."

"Yikes. I didn't realise it was already that bad."

With that Tim made his leave. Billy asked "can I have 500 thousand SP as well?"

"Billy... you're the one who got the armour. Want to give the rest of us 500 thousand SP each instead?"

"This is why I usually keep my mouth shut."