Hera ordered some ice cream from one of the shops and waited for her considerably large order to be ready. Everyone got a special flavor while she went to a more traditional option, Neapolitan with rainbow sprinkles, her favorite from when she was a child. In the Moon Station room, all restaurants were in the same area called the food court for obvious reasons. The reason for all that wasn't to save time or centralize all restaurants in the same place. No, the real reason this was the view. On the side of the station, there was a massive 5 meters tall and 30-meter wide glass window looking over the moon. At least, that was how it was right now. The station would rotate and change the view at times. Now and when the earth was in full view were the moments when the food court would be full.
Since the station was constantly rotating, people couldn't use the cardinal directions to guide them. Instead, they had painted the four sections of the room with different colored lines along the walls. The food court was in the red sector and the changing doorway. Most of the hotels were in the green sector and one of the dungeons. The guild was in the blue section with some shops and another dungeon. The last sector was yellow, and there was the zero-G chamber, a miscellaneous gathering of houses and other buildings, and the last of the three dungeon entrances.
Alex and the others went looking for a table, and with some luck, they managed to find one near the windows. It took Hera a while for her to find them, but thankfully, the temperature in the room wasn't warm enough to make the ice cream melt quickly.
"This is a nice spot," Amanda was looking at the moon, "I never imagined I would be this close to the moon."
"Same, It's kind of surreal," Tim nodded.
"Yeah, I'm going through my friends in my head, trying to remember if any of them wanted to be an astronaut. I mean, if they didn't make it, this would be the next best thing, wouldn't it?" Cris with her tablet open on the side with the list of all the dungeons in the room.
"True, it's a good idea. What I wanted to do was bring Silah here. Since she can't actually go to earth, it would be fun to show her how it looks in person," Hera arrived and started giving everyone their ice cream.
"Do you think she would be willing to come here?" Alex took a spoonful of her pineapple with wine ice cream.
"I don't know. Maybe, I mean if we came here and went back, it should take what? Two weeks in total. Maybe I can convince her for a vacation or something."
"It's worth a shot. Maybe you can even bring her family along. You said that they were all sort of high level, right?" Amanda asked.
"Well… Her parents are level 30 to 40, I think. Her siblings are lower. I know that after her parents, she's the strongest of her family. Her siblings are lower level. Probably because none of them ever went to a dungeon," Hera explained.
"Are they all younger than her?" Cris took a bite of her vanilla wild berry sherbet.
"I… honestly don't know," Hera looked away and took a spoonful of chocolate.
"You don't know how old your girlfriend's siblings are?' Cris pressed but just got a nod as a reply.
After a moment of awkwardness, Amanda tried to change the mood, "So, what dungeon are we going to do?"
"Did you get the information about them?" Tim asked.
"I did. There are five dungeons here," Criss pulled her tablet, "Let's start with the one I think it's a no go. It's located on the blue side of the station, and the dungeon is called 'We have a problem,' In there, we are just stuck inside a piece of the station that is detached from the rest. We have to wait for the rescue shuttle. That can take from a few days to a week. Worst case scenario, we will stay there for ten days."
"That's too long," Hera sighed.
"I know. That's why I said it was a no-go. Anyway, that's option one, but it's also the one that pays the most, and we would be able to stay there without having to worry about food and water. The only thing that is an issue is the monsters inside it," Cris continued, and the idea seemed to perk up Tim and Amanda. It wouldn't surprise them if they decided to run that dungeon before leaving this place.
"What about the other ones?" Alex asked.
"So, there are four. Each of the two remaining entrances shifts dungeons every 12 hours. In the yellow sector, the first is a supply run or rescue. From noon to midnight, if we go there, we have to protect a buggy carrying some equipment and food for the station. There will be some monsters and some roving bands of… living astronaut suits, I guess?"
"Living suits?" Amanda tilted her head.
"Yeah, that's the description. It's like just those blank space suits with nothing inside. Also, in the dungeon, we will have moon gravity. Then, from midnight to noon, the dungeon changes slightly. Instead of protecting the buggy, we will be chasing after one that was stolen by those spacesuits. Then we have to destroy their base," Cris continued.
"Did that actually happen?" Hera asked.
"What do you mean?" Tim had just finished the first scoop of his cookie dough with vanilla and chocolate.
"Like, dungeons can be stories about the past. Things that happened in the room that created those dungeons. Is that the case here?" Hera explained.
"Oh, right. I remember hearing about that, but I'm not sure. But since we can't actually leave the station, I think that those are just how things always were," Amanda said.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"Either way, those are the two options on the yellow sector. The last one would be in the green section. That one feels more… natural, I want to say. Oh, and before I forget, both of them also have moon gravity. The one during the day is about looking for these antlion kind of things that live in holes around the moon. We need to find them and get rid of them to open a path for a base. That one is a bit weird since we have to clean everything on the way, and sometimes new antlions will get in the middle of the route. Now, the one in the evening is easier. We just need to find the antlion nest and wipe them out. They even have a queen, which I don't think it's how the ones back on earth are supposed to work, but that is our target. It's a simple extermination mission. Go in, kill the queen and a set number of the rest and go out. That one seems to be the easiest," Cris finished her explanation.
"Yeah, but honestly, I'm not that interested in being in a cave. Especially if we are dealing with moon gravity. Like, can you imagine what it would be like to move around in a tunnel when every step you take makes you bounce? Not to mention that bugs have a lot of claws and legs that they can use to move around or stick to the ground. We don't have those options," Alex replied after thinking for a moment.
"We don't have to worry too much about that. Apparently, the nest is out in the open. Well, not exactly, but it's a large structure filled with holes. Kind of like a bee's nest but without that layer of… I want to say wax? Covering it," Cris tapped a few times on her tablet and opened s few pictures, "Here, that's where they live."
The images showed a tall structure, and inside it, it was a mix of cobwebs and the honeycombs pattern that one would find in a wasp's nest. There was even a photo with someone by the structure for scale, and it was massive. Which also meant that they should fight giant monsters. After a few more minutes discussing the options, they put the dungeon they would be running to a vote.
"I think the supply run might be the best. The one we protect the thing," Amanda voted.
"Oh, I hate that. Escort missions are always the worst in games. My vote goes for the antlion one. Whatever mode, it's working now," Hera replied.
"I'm with Hera. The antlion one should be about finding the traps and clearing the route. Fighting monsters is easier, and considering everything we can do, that shouldn't be a problem. Besides, we will have more time to mess around in that one. Wiping out a full nest will be too much work, and the others need us to be on the move," Alex added.
"I kind of wanted to do the one with the nest. Fighting against a bunch of monsters in a cave while under moon gravity seems to be a great way to practice for weird situations," Tim said.
Everyone turned to Cris, waiting for her vote. They had discussed that the person who voted alone would pick between the two options in the case of a tie. This meant that it was up to the hunter to continue the vote or go with Hera and Alex.
Cris turned to Tim and Amanda, "Sorry guys, but I like the antlion one too. I wanted to see what kind of traps the monsters could make on the moon. Maybe there is something I can learn from them."
"Ah, man. Fine, we can start with that one, but we are doing the supply one later and the nest. Not necessarily in that order," Amanda replied.
"Do you need anything? Any gear or something for the dungeon? Also, do we need space suits? I forgot," Hera asked.
"Nope, we have air in the dungeons. About gear, I'm OK. How about you?" Cris replied.
"I wanted to stop by the weapon's store. Just to see if there was anything interesting," Alex nodded.
"Same. The daggers I use are not that great, and after the last dungeon, I realized that the daggers I have are not that great for these rooms," Tim tapped his waist where his daggers were located. A few rooms ago, they fought against a few monsters that had sturdy shells, and his weapons weren't able to pierce through their defenses. While Alex could deal damage normally. Tim had different circumstances than anyone in the group. He became an explorer out of necessity to give his family a better life, so all the money he was making was going back to his parents and his siblings. Despite his noble intentions, this ended up causing some problems with his equipment. He only focused on defensive gear since even if he was using very basic daggers, he never had any trouble killing anything. However, this trip showed that he was a bit of a frog in a well. Just because he could kill weak monsters in a single strike, that didn't mean he could neglect his weapons, and that was a lesson he had finally learned.
Going to the Blue sector, the group found a couple of stores and went on a shopping spree. Alex and Amanda got some new pieces of armor, a cloak for the assassin that, when activated, would allow her to move as if she was in the moon, and a pair of gloves for the mage that could condense some of her mana, allowing her to shape the snow more easily. Tim found a pair of daggers that had a chance of making the target have a hard time breathing by taking away its ability to breathe. It was basically a weapon that could give someone an asthma attack. It was a nasty effect, but it had a low probability of triggering and only worked on non-humanoid monsters. Monkeys, apes, and people, of course, wouldn't be affected by it. Lastly, Amanda found a place willing to make some modifications to her weapon. She changed a few of the blades around her Macuahuitl to deal elemental damage, and one specific could trigger an increased gravity effect. Despite it being a mismatch of jumbled effects, Cris had a spell that would make it all worth it. It was called Elemental Overload, and it would use the residual mana from all her attacks to trigger a small explosion.
Hera didn't get anything new. After all, she recently had purchased another chakram in one of the rooms they passed. However, she did get a bag of spiked caltrops. She had discovered that something like that worked with her [Weapon Break] skill, but only if she hit the monsters before the weapons hit the ground. It was a bit tricky to make it work, but they even had some uncommon ones here, which meant that the damage would be significant. As they walked towards the dungeon, she pulled her chakram to double-check its attributes. It was a light green circled blade with eight small black spikes around the edge, and instead of it being a full circle, there was a handle on the base that was made so it wouldn't be in the way in case the weapon was thrown.
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Screaming Ooze Chakram Rarity: Uncommon
A chakram made out of an agglomeration of cores from the screaming ooze. Because of the material, the weapon makes a unique sound when it is moved at high speeds. The blade is somewhat malleable when exposed to high temperatures.
Attribute Scaling:
Strength: x3.6
Charisma: x2.8
Luck: x2.2
Weapon skill:
Howl:
You can make your weapon scream, causing nearby creatures to run away in fear or to become frozen in place.
Range: 50 meters
Mana cost: 200 mana
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Chakrams were already hard to find, and this one was surprisingly strong for what she wanted to do. Hera also knew that the odds of making a monster frozen in place were much higher than it was to make them run away. It didn't take long for the group to arrive at the Antlion Minefield dungeon and walk inside.