Rick found himself alone once Jimmy raced out to do the errands like it was Christmas morning.
Unnamed Challenge Dungeon (Level 1): Choose Name
Energy Available: 77/100
Skills: 3
Floors: 1
Challenge Points: 0
Loot Level: 14
Floor Bosses: 0
Minions: 0
Treasure Rooms: 1
Dungeon Attendants: 1
Challenger Leaderboard: N/A
—ALERT—
1 Free Floor Available
1 Free Floor Boss Available
1 Free Minion Available
Looking at the prompt to choose the name of his dungeon, Rick’s first thought was to just name it after the shop, “Purple Sky Pawn”. They had named it after the Arizona sunset that always had a purple glow to it. Rick and Jimmy knew it was cheesy, but it was familiar to people in Phoenix.
“Yeah, that’s not gonna do. I feel like a dungeon needs to have a badass name. I’ll wait for Jimmy. He’s good with that stuff,” Rick thought.
He moved on to the Floors section. It was pretty self-explanatory. The only floor was the shop, so he selected the Challenger Points section.
Challenge Points: Defeat Challengers to accumulate CP. CP can be used in the Dungeon Shop.
“Ah, so a dungeon paycheck huh? Do my job, meet my quota, get paid, go on a shopping spree. Got it.”
He skipped Floor Bosses and Minions for now, waiting to get to the Alerts.
Treasure Rooms: Rooms with at least one treasure that have not been absorbed by the Core. Once a Treasure Room is looted, the treasure is gone forever from the dungeon.
Looking around his pawn shop. There were diamonds, weapons, instruments, electronics, and obscure collectibles. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
Rick promised himself to work on absorbing everything in his shop. The thought of having something stolen from him forever rubbed him the wrong way.
Dungeon Attendants (1): Jimmy Amato - Level 1 Human Dungeon Attendant
Skills:
Core Protector - Creates an indestructible barrier around the Core that lasts for 12 hours. (Cooldown: Five years)
Dungeon Immunity: Immune to traps, minions, and bosses. Cannot challenge assigned dungeon.
Basic Dungeon Lore: General knowledge of Dungeons and Cores.
That gave Rick some peace of mind. Hopefully, Jimmy would never need to use the protection skill, but it was nice to have.
There was no available information regarding the Challenger Leaderboard yet, so he finally moved on to his alerts.
1 Free Floor Available
Rick selected it and a holographic grid of his shop appeared before him. He found that he could drag the outline of an empty floor to be built either above or below the existing shop. If he put the floor below the shop, it would raise the existing shop area up to become the 2nd floor. He could also make it a basement, going below ground.
The basement option seemed like the best idea. Adding a visible 2nd floor would certainly attract unwanted attention. He briefly wondered what would happen with the pipes and all the other shit that was underground, but mentally shrugged. He knew he didn’t need it anymore. He knew that a subconscious part of him controlled the lights. Everything within his domain was just a part of him now. It was like breathing. He could think about it, but there was no point.
The decision gnawed at Rick somewhat. He felt a strong desire to both grow taller and attract that attention he knew he should avoid. He ignored the instinct. This first floor would be a practice of sorts for him.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Now confident, Rick selected the basement option. Immediately, a wave of euphoria hit him. With the feeling of expanding, his senses grew to accommodate the new floor. It made him feel stronger. More powerful.
“Oh, hell yeah. I need more of that.”
After basking in the euphoria for a few moments, it faded away. He was thoroughly addicted and knew that he would do whatever it took for another taste.
A quick inspection showed him that the floor was completely barren. The surface was a smooth rock. It held hints of his Core with a bit of a green hue. The ceiling also didn’t use the fluorescent lights as his shop. Instead, it had a natural glow to it like sunlight through diffused glass. As he inspected the room, a new option was made available to him:
Customize Level 1 Floor with personal registry or through the Dungeon Shop.
Dungeon Shop: Available in ten days
“Ten days? That’s some bullshit.”
Rick shuddered at the thought of Bill Paxton’s autographed poster lining the walls over and over.
“Alright, floor boss. Let’s see what we got here.”
Much like the Dungeon Attendant list, there were millions of options for the Floor Boss. The only difference was that all of the options were Level 2 beings.
Level 2 Orc Berserker
Level 2 Drake Blood Mage
…
Rick scrolled and scrolled. Finally, he discovered he could filter the list with just a thought and brought up a long list of humans.
Level 2 Human Swordsman
Level 2 Human Pistol Specialist
“Pistol Specialist, huh?”
Upon further inspection, he saw that the Pistol Specialist was very basic. His skills were Dual Pistols, Quick Reload, Fast Draw.
“Pretty self explanatory,” Rick snorted.
Still, he felt that some familiarity would be best for his first boss. He felt that hiring a swordsman would be dumb if all or most of his Challengers entered with guns of their own.
“Alright, you’re hired.”
Instantly, a very plain looking man materialized in the empty room. He was wearing a white shirt, blue jeans, and holsters attached to a belt. The handguns appeared to be your run of the mill Glock, but it was hard to tell. He just stood there, looking around the empty room with neutral eyes. Finally, he spoke.
“Hello, dungeon. Thank you for selecting me as your first Floor Boss,” his voice was incredibly monotone, devoid of any personality.
Rick was confused about how this guy spoke English and even had a similar accent as him, “Where exactly did you come from?” he asked.
“The Dungeon Shop,” the Pistol Specialist stated.
Rick imagined rolling his nonexistent eyes, “Ok, elaborate, please. Tell me everything you know about yourself and this Dungeon Shop.”
“Some version of myself was absorbed by another dungeon. I do not know which one as I have no memories of my original form. When you selected me, the Dungeon Shop donated my blueprints to your registry as well as the ability to speak and understand your native language. Here, I can grow and develop. It is a second chance at life. You can either assign a personality to me from your registry, or I can be left to develop one on my own. That is all the information that is available to me.”
“Huh. Ok, well welcome aboard. Do you need anything?” Rick would be curious to see what kind of personality the guy developed. If he remained a boring piece of furniture, he would shop around for something more interesting.
“I require nothing, dungeon.”
“What about food?” Rick asked, genuinely curious. He hadn’t thought about that part.
“I do not require food, but I believe I can consume it,” the Pistol Specialist stated.
This guy needs a name, Rick thought, “Ok, here’s a pizza. Also, I’m going to call you ‘Billy’, in honor of Mr. Paxton, Ok?”
A pizza materialized on the floor in front of Billy at the cost of 5 Energy. Rick thought that he saw a hint of a smile on his face, but it could just be his imagination.
“Thank you, dungeon. I, Billy, shall consume this ‘pizza’.”
Rick watched as Billy bent down to pick up the slice of pepperoni pizza, steaming as if it was freshly delivered. Billy took a bite and his eyes widened. Slowly chewing, his eyes drooped as he savored the flavor.
Rick couldn’t help but chuckle, “You like it?”
“Yes, dungeon. This is… excellent.”
Rick was happy that Billy already showed signs of developing past his robotic personality, “Great. If you work hard, there’s more where that came from. Anyway, you’re going to have to share. I’m going to select a Minion in a second here.”
Everything on the Minion tab was Level 1. He decided against having another human join Billy, mostly out of curiosity. This time, he chose to add a beast to his ranks.
Level 1 Wolf
Skills: Crushing Bite - Bite through bone as easily as flesh
The wolf materialized the same as Billy and sniffed the air. It quickly wandered over to the pizza and started snarfing it down. Billy’s eyes went wide as he looked at the beast.
“Hey, everybody needs a dog, alright?” Rick said.
Billy nodded along, not taking his eyes off the wolf. The wolf didn’t react to the words, only taking interest in its meal.
“I’ll start working on getting you two some accommodations. My registry is pretty pathetic right now, so just get to know each other. Billy, think of a name for the wolf, ok?”
Billy’s brow gave the faintest hint of a frown as if he were confused by the request. “I will try, dungeon.”
Rick left them alone and decided to work on absorbing the valuables around the shop.