The first thing Rick absorbed to top off his Energy was the trash bin and all of its contents. He quickly found that he could simultaneously absorb the junk and create the panels for the wolf tunnel.
While he was doing this, he realized how many worthless items he had scattered about his shop. He had outdated cell phones that only drug dealers or cheating spouses bought. In this new world with no cell service, they were just worthless piles of garbage.
There was also an abundance of fake jewelry that he and Jimmy sold at a discount. These were all burned up too for extra Energy. Well, not all. Rick did keep a couple of things to see if the Dungeon Shop or System Shop for Jimmy would value them at all. If it did, he’d be kicking himself later.
The constant flow of Energy was nice, but he also felt a sense of pride in turning his shop into a proper treasure room. It wasn’t filled with fancy treasure chests, but the finest items were shown off in his display cases. All of his favorite treasures seemed to start with the letter ‘G’. Gold, gems, and guns. Any Challenger would be happy to get their hands on some of these.
His shop purge also allowed him to burn some Energy on absorbing the valuables so that if someone beat Billy & Co., they wouldn’t all be lost forever.
Eventually, the expendable items ran out along with his Energy so he had to wait for Jimmy. He took this time to admire his handiwork. It was as if he had been in a trance. The shop, now ‘treasure room’, was much tidier, but the floor below was what made him most happy.
The wolf tunnel spanned the entire perimeter of the floor. He had placed openings just big enough for the wolves every ten feet. As he had worked, he had commanded the wolves to run through them, making sure his design worked. They appeared to be having the time of their lives chasing each other in and out of the tunnels. The only issue was the ground. Sometimes, they wouldn’t be able to stop or turn because of the smooth surface and would slide or tumble.
“Definitely can’t be having that in the middle of the fight. Grass will be the next priority. Speaking of which, Billy? Do you know if grass can even stay alive in here without sun, water, and whatnot?”
“Yes. In case you hadn’t noticed, a dungeon does not adhere to the laws of nature. In fact, I imagine it would regenerate if damaged. Just as I do if I perish in battle.”
“Billy, did you just take a shot at my intelligence?”
The gunslinger looked about innocently, “I wouldn’t dare,” he said in a sarcastic tone.
Rick had to chuckle a bit, “I like it. A proper Floor Boss should be kind of a dick. Anyway, thanks for the info.”
The list of needs kept growing for Rick which was fine with him. He found some old walkie talkies and was conserving some energy to throw one at Jimmy when he came back in. Hopefully, they would be able to work between the inside of the dungeon and the outside. The outside still seemed to be a void to him, so he had some doubts.
There hadn’t been any Challengers for a while, making Rick wonder if Jimmy had gone to run an errand.
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After hours of staring at the door, Rick watched his friend and Dungeon Attendant walk into the shop floor, yawning and rubbing his eyes. Using a touch of Energy, he sent the walkie talkie zipping through the air. Jimmy barely flinched before it slapped his belly and bounced off.
“What the hell man?” Jimmy said, rubbing his stomach.
“Oops. I didn’t know it’d go that fast. You alright?”
Jimmy waved his hand in annoyance and bent down to pick up what hit him, “Of all things to throw at me, why a walkie talkie?”
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“So we can communicate and I don’t have to sit here wondering when you’ll be back. Could be dead for all I know.”
“Ok, mom,” Jimmy mocked. “Did you seriously believe that I hadn’t thought of that already? That’s Dungeon 101. The dungeon is basically a pocket dimension. Nothing in here will work out there. Although, I believe there will be some items in the System Shop that can get around that,” he said with another yawn.
“How long have you been up anyway?” Rick asked. “My concept of time is a disaster now.
“Oh, only a little over 48 hours. Just look at the timer for the Dungeon Shop to open. I gotta get some sleep. I put a sign up saying we’re closed for now,” Jimmy explained. “I hired someone by the way. She reminds me of a female Adam a bit. Sneaky little bastard.”
“Why in god’s name would you hire a thief?” Rick asked, deflecting his embarrassment of forgetting about the timer.
“She’s not a thief. I don’t know what she did before, but she can move around the city pretty easily. She has some movement and stealth skills. Apparently, nobody bothers to chase her far.”
“Makes sense. What did you hire her to do then?”
“Gather information. Namely on our parents and news on people that are rising in power. I’ve also asked her to bring some stuff from my place, like a damn pillow,” Jimmy grumbled, trying to get comfortable on the floor.
“Makes sense. What’s her name? She give you any useful information yet?”
“Her name is Kara. And no, nothing on our parents yet. But, she did say that this group of golfers could be trouble. Some country club yuppies are wreaking havoc and trying to act as some leadership group. They took over the baseball stadium and, according to Kara, are ruthless.”
“Yeah, that guy on the leaderboard was scary as hell. If they are all like that, they could probably turn me into a pile of rubble in seconds.”
Jimmy’s only response was a soft snore. Rick chuckled, “Yeah, you earned some rest.”
Rick didn’t need the lights on at the shop level. In fact, he didn’t need lights at all when it came down to it. He could sense everything just fine without them, but there was a comfort to having them on. Though, while Jimmy rested, he cut them off to make it a little more comfortable.
There wasn’t much to do while Jimmy was asleep. His Energy was extremely low and he had run out of junk to use Resource Burn on.
“Shit, I need some entertainment,” He mumbled and started to browse through his much cleaner shop. There was an old portable DVD player that he planned on giving to Billy, but decided to use most of his remaining Energy on putting in an 80’s action flick, lowering the volume, and watching it in the dark shop. It reminded him of the sleepovers he and Jimmy had when they were kids.
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Rick watched the movie four times before Jimmy snored so loud he woke himself up.
“Mornin'!” Rick shouted as Jimmy slowly woke up. He knew his friend was probably starving and had enough time to passively gain enough Energy, so he made him some pizza and a glass of water. That was the great thing about pizza. When you’re an adult, pizza is a valid choice for any meal.
Jimmy didn’t say anything until he choked down a few mouthfuls, “Thanks, man. This is perfect.”
Rick explained his new Resource Burn skill to his friend while he wolfed down his pizza breakfast, “So if there are people waiting for other Challengers to finish, why not pay them to go pick up some trash or junk? Put it up on your quest board as a higher priority. Also, I need a patch of grass ASAP.”
Jimmy nodded along, “Sure, the park is close enough that I could grab some grass right now. I’ll put the word out for the trash. We’re officially the most environmentally friendly pawn shop in the world,” he said, puffing out his chest.
“Perfect. Do you think we should raise the number of people we let into three in a group now that we have a new wolf?
“Nah, nobody is Level 1 anymore. We need to make sure it gets stronger before we risk that,” Jimmy answered.
Rick agreed and figured that was enough for Jimmy to do for now, so Jimmy headed out. Moments after leaving, two men entered to challenge the dungeon.
They made an odd pair. One was tall and athletic. A perfect build for a basketball player. The other was a short obese man. Frankly, he looked like a slob with his long greasy hair and shirt covered in various stains. Rick’s senses could still detect smell. He knew that if he were still human, the stench would have made it hard to breathe standing next to the shorter man.
The tall one held what looked like a gas-powered leaf blower and Rick was curious what he could do with it. The smelly one held one of those doors from a public bathroom stall. He had welded some metal on the back to slide his arms through and make it a shield.
“Kill the gross one first,” Rick said. Billy and the wolves all seemed to agree.