On the vast grassy plains of the Sylvester Empire, a young man was slowly making his way towards Etora Town. It was a strategically positioned town which was governed by a rich and powerful baron. The region was not very rich in resources, but the town represented the border of the human kingdom of the Sylvester Empire.
A few kilometers away, the landscape would drastically change; instead of the plains, one would find the largest swamp of the continent; the Marlose Swamp. In another direction, were the barren lands which were the territory of the Orcs.
The Marlose swamp was full of treasures for adventurers. Although it was not too far from the Orc's territory, many adventurers came here daily to hunt the monsters and collect the unique plants.
In the distance, the sun was slowly disappearing. The young man was taking uncertain large strides. He was visibly exhausted, but determination could be seen in his eyes. That person was naturally Five.
Two days have passed since the incident at the Algate Dungeon. Since then, Five slowly made his way towards the closest town.
In truth, when he left the harpies and walked away, he picked the wrong direction from where he was planning to go. When he later realized that and walked back, the harpies were long gone. He was relieved to see that the harpies left but at the same time, his heart ached.
In the end, he wasted an opportunity to obtain so many monsters but at least, he was at peace and could now act on his own. It had to be said that Five developed an anti-social behavior over the past years. Considering the harsh training he went through and the incarceration, it was normal for him to prefer to stay away from others. Harriet succeeded in bridging the gap but when it came to the other harpies, Five preferred to keep some distance.
Since he did not see the harpies, he continued on his way towards Etora Town, the closest town to his spawn point according to the map he looked at. Unfortunately, his spawn location could not be too close to the town and as a result, it took him two days to arrive at the town.
It was over these two days he realized how lucky he was to be a dungeon master. He started by quickly using the DP he obtained from Kroff and accumulated over time to level up. With that sum, he reached level 9 in one go and was left with about 2500 DP.
Each time he leveled up, he obtained 1 stat point to allocate to any of the five stats and additionally, when he reached level 5, all his stats increased by one. Now, his stats were:
Name: Five
Race: Human/Dungeon Core
Level: 9 (0/4500)
Class: Dungeon Master
Title: None
HP: 90/90
MP: 80/80
Strength: 9(-1)
Dexterity: 9(-1)
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Vitality: 9
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 8
Stat Points available: 0
Skills: [Frenzy]
Fatigue: 67%
He used his stat points to balance his character. He found it alarming how his vitality was so low and immediately invested most of the stat points in it. As for the other stats, Five did not really know in which one to invest.
It was not that he was clueless about the game, but he could not decide which one would allow him to make the most out of the dungeon advantage he had. He originally wanted to be a rogue since it was similar to what he had trained in, but he ended up giving up this idea.
He still knew how to be stealthy and discreet but when it came to battle, he was not very experienced. After all, in the modern era, few would use cold weapons like daggers or cross bolts. He only knew the basics of the basics when it came to these weapons. What he really trained in was gun fighting and sniping. However, these weapons were not available!
They could actually be bought through the dungeon shop. However, their prices were exorbitant, costing as much as 100 million for a simple pistol! It was highlighted in the description that the price was highly inflated due to the difference in the technology of this era! Later, when guns would reach the game, the price would slowly decrease to an acceptable level.
And so, Five now had a very balanced character. It was the best option for the early game and at the same time, as a dungeon master, he was not supposed to be involved in fighting a lot. It was just that his own decision to delay the founding of his dungeon.
But even without setting up his dungeon, Five could still have access to the dungeon shop and used his remaining DP to purchase a small dagger. It was in no way comparable to the Harpy's Blood but it still had decent stats.
As he made his way through the plains, Five encountered many wild animals and monsters. As soon as they noticed him, they all immediately charged at him and attacked. They were powerful to some extent, ranging from level 8 to level 15.
Five could easily deal with low leveled ones but when it came to monsters at level 15, he had no choice but to run. In the beginning, he even had to use his hard-earned DP to purchase smoke bombs at the dungeon shop to escape. It was heart-breaking to see his DP rise before going back to zero as soon as he encountered a powerful beast.
Fortunately, the monsters there gave him a higher amount of DP than those at Kroff's dungeon. The weaker monsters would give 100 DP when dying while level 11 monsters could give 200 DP.
Additionally, he occasionally received a sudden influx of DP. Five was surprised when he saw that but quickly deduced its source. It should be his monsters; the harpies were probably killing some enemies along their way resulting in him receiving DP. As long as he or his monsters killed other living beings, Five's DP would receive a portion of the monster's worth.
It was thanks to the harpies that Five succeeded in making his way through the plains, especially at night!
He realized that even if many things were comparable to real life, the game also had limitations. In particular, the fatigue system! Once his fatigue reached a certain level, he would receive penalties to his stats and eventually collapse, resulting in his body being defenseless. He would be at the mercy of any nearby wild animal which could be disastrous to his dungeon core!
Thanks to the dungeon shop, he gained access to some Fatigue Recovery Potion. But even if his stats improved, his mental fatigue did not. He was already tired and stressed from the events at the Algate Dungeon but he could not simply sleep in the middle of the wild!
It was the DP influx from the harpies that saved him. Five did not know what the harpies were doing but the sudden increase of 10000 DP made him smile. He was tempted to level up to level 10 but he chose to take a good night of rest first and used all the DP for a protection array!
The array was relatively weak considering its cost, but it was more than enough to resist the monsters of this area. The array was strong enough to resist the attacks of anything below level 20 but it would only last for 6 hours. Fortunately, that was more than enough to get a good rest and that was all Five was looking for.
When he woke up, he was surprised to see a pair of level 12 wild coyote scratching the protection array. Only 15 minutes were left before the end of its duration but Five was very relaxed. He simply spent a few DP to purchase some food and calmly ate in front of the coyotes.
When he looked at his DP, he was disappointed since he only had 2000. "Sigh... Maybe I should have asked the harpies to kill some monsters along the way!"
In the end, he could not rely too much on the harpies to provide him with DP. He knew that when the harpies would eventually reach their home. He would then not receive any DP anymore or it would be a negligible amount.
...
The two days felt very long but now, he could finally see Etora Town right in front of his eyes. He did not know much about the situation of the game since he spent most of his time in the dungeon and was therefore very curious!
The town was very large and looked like a medieval town with huge thick castle walls. It was not too different from Algate city that Five saw from the harpies’ floor. The main difference was the moat that surrounded the walls and the bridge that connected the town to the land. The town definitely stood out of the landscape.
On the side, a lot of tents were set up. People could be seen moving things and starting fires for the night.
"Strange... Why don't they simply go to the town?" thought Five.
He slowly made his way towards the entrance of the town. However, as he approached, Five finally understood why people were setting tents outside. The bridge was slowly being raised, preventing people from both entering or leaving the town.
As he walked forward, a guard who was standing nearby stopped him.
"Halt young man! The town is closed for the night! Please come back tomorrow at 6:00 if you want to enter Etora Town," bluntly said the guard.