We stepped off the train and onto the dungeon floor. The train wasn’t operating on traps anymore but rather magic, flying us to our destination before it shot off, vanishing into a black hole that appeared and promptly disappeared.

The dungeon was a small, run-down room of cobblestone full of mossy cracks. It was completely barren with not a creature in sight. My party members remained close to one another, not daring to take a step too far.

Despite being shaken from his poster and Yue’s accusation, Wei confidently held his sword in front of him, scanning the dungeon for any entities that might appear.

I walked up to Wei, putting my hand on his shoulder. “Don’t get worked up over things you can’t control. We’ll deal with your dungeon room when you get there, but we need to survive first.”

Wei gave me a firm nod. “I trust you, Peijin, so I hope you trust me, too.”

“I just told you not to worry about this nonsense.”

A familiar blue flash appeared, and Wei swung his sword with terrifying force toward it. I could barely process the speed of his swing. This man really was impressive.

From the portal, only a familiar creature popped out from the portal.

“Agh!” Chang cried, curling his body like an armadillo to avoid Wei’s assault.

Wei stopped mid-swing and looked at me, a question in his eyes. I shook my head, and he lowered his sword.

A small jar of candy was held in Chang’s arms, and he quickly moved to protect it. Chang let out a fiery huff before unfurling, his body seeming longer and larger than when we had last met.

I groaned at his appearance. This nuisance was back. “What do you want, Chang? Why would you even appear during the middle of a dungeon arc when everyone is on edge?”

“I didn’t come to get scolded! But Peijin—” Chang cut himself off as he awkwardly surveyed the room. “...and Peijin’s friends… I need a big show this arc. Something that’ll stun the gods and observers. It would be much appreciated by your favorite moderator.” He put his clawed hands up in front of him like a prayer and bowed his head.

“When do I not give my best? I can beat all the monsters in this room in a few seconds after they spawn, so keep the camera and all the divinities here,” I said with a wide smile, my eyes closed into happy crescents.

“By the way, what are you holding?” I gestured toward the candy jar in his hands.

Chang had a proud smile on his face. He lifted the candy jar up before him like it were his most prized position “The other party tipped me. Have you ever heard of something like that?”

“Mhm, that’s really sweet, Chang,” I replied, nodding my head multiple times. “Can I have one?”

“What?” Chang asked.

“I’m your moneymaker, aren’t I? Do you want a show or not?”

I opened my eyes to meet his distraught gaze, one of my eyebrows raised. Chang let out a sigh before popping open the jar and pushing it toward me. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away.

My hand shuffled through all the wrapped candies before taking out an orange lollipop. I quickly unwrapped it and popped it into my mouth.

“Thanks Chang! You’re the best,” I said, handing him the empty candy wrapper to discard.

He shot me a bitter glare before he vanished.

Countless blue flashes appeared all over the dungeon, and dozens of the same goblins spawned, wandering aimlessly. I stole an awkward glance toward Yue, but small blue particles were already sparking all around her.

[Disciple Yue activated ‘Speaker of Goblins!’]

The goblins quickly froze before bowing onto the ground before Yue, their pointy green noses awkwardly forcing their heads to turn to the side when they tried to press their forehead to the ground.

Yang’s stance became loose, and his shoulders fell at the goblin’s passivity. “Can we clear the dungeon level just by taming them?”

“That would make this too easy for teams with beast tamers. We should all kill an equal number and get the stars before moving on,” I declared, bashing a goblin into a mushy pile of guts beneath my shield. Despite the gross impact and subsequent squelch, my shield was left spotless.

Yue crossed her arms and glared at me. “Shouldn’t I kill the goblins and get the most stars? I’m the one who tamed them.”

“Are you trying to make this a competition?”

“I’d win if it was.”

My eyes narrowed. Sure. See if you can.

Yue was visibly seething beside me, her fists clenched, but she thankfully kept her mouth shut and speedily killed all the goblins in her vicinity. Under her command, they didn’t even spare a hurt glance at her when she pierced her sword through their small, fleshy brains.

When it came to killing demons, ghosts, or divinities, the process could be complicated. At a lower level, these entities could be killed the same way a disciple would—a head injury, a vicious stab wound, or a strong enough kick.

But stronger demons, ghosts, and divinities could manifest a spiritual energy core; they could condense all their spiritual energy into a single form, usually an orb, that they would secure in their body. If this orb was destroyed, they would die. Some gods could give their spiritual core to others, but there was only one instance this occurred with the God of Death in Surviving My First Run. It took incredible skill and was the biggest gamble a god could take.

Disciple Yue has deeply betrayed Demon ‘King of Resourceful Goblins!’

[Hindsight activated!]

Now, when I looked at Yue through my skill, the only god behind her was the Bull Demon King; however, there was now a blue box floating above her head.

[Warning: This act will have unforeseen consequences.]

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Wait, Yue,” I called out, stopping her with my sword.

[Scathing Reviewer activated!]

“Let me do it. I’ll let you get the next room, alright?” I continued. My expression was serious as I looked down at Yue’s hard face—although I usually tried to make her life more difficult, I couldn’t let her face a potential punishment under my orders.

[Disciple Yue has activated ‘Lie Detector!]

[Disciple Peijin is telling the truth.]

Yue let out an annoyed sigh before grumbling: “Fine, whatever. These are worth nothing, anyway.” It finally seemed like there was a bit more trust between us.

Although my ‘Scathing Reviewer’ skill activated, I couldn’t tell if it did anything. Nothing was out of the ordinary, and I felt completely fine while slaying the rest of the goblins.

Once all the goblins were dead, each providing about ten stars, their bodies dissipated into dust and a deep brown chest appeared in the center of the dungeon. Wei popped it open with a single flick of his blade and peered into the glowing interior.

Amelia ran over and got on her tiptoes to peer inside, but I placed a hand to keep her at a safe distance.

Since this was an incredibly easy dungeon level, the rewards weren’t that good. There were a few random scraps of metal, but most importantly, there were a handful of healing elixirs, a vial of kraken mucus, and multiple enhanced bandages.

“Really? That’s it?” Yue asked.

“We need these supplies, since we don’t have a healer,” Yang said, sifting through them with his sword. He stood as far as possible from Yue.

I bent down and began shoveling all of it into my Boundless Bag. All the metal and elixirs quickly piled up, making it much heavier. However, thanks to my high stats, it practically weighed nothing.

Still, I exaggerated my movements like I could hardly lift the bag. Immediately, Wei grabbed onto the strap of the bag and swung it over his shoulder like it weighed nothing, even though I was still holding onto it.

“Peijin, let me carry it,” Wei said.

I shook my head. “I got it. Our most valuable fighter shouldn’t have his hands full.”

Wei looked embarrassed, and he became even more resolute in his decision. “That’s not true. But, if you believe in what you said, then let me hold the bag, so you can focus on getting us out.”

I pretended to give in, letting go of the bag. Until it was time for Wei’s room, my goal was to make him trust me, and I wanted him to think that trust was mutual. Admittedly, I felt bad about manipulating him like this. But when he regains his memories and subsequently his loss of faith in humanity, I needed to represent a promise of a future.

It was funny that I, the infamous JiaLi1825, was trying to become a symbol of humanitarian ideals to a man as righteous as Wei. I guess my name “Peijin” finally held more merit.

Once the chest was cleared, it quickly vanished as a new portal opened to spawn in the next creatures. This time, six large ogres appeared; their crackled and dry skin was littered with deep, oozing scars. The largest, bearing two horns jutting out from its grotesque forehead, immediately roared and caused spat all over Wei’s face.

The ogre lunged and gripped Wei’s throat and hoisted him into the air, but Wei slashed through its arm in one clean movement. Blood splattered out from the ogre’s small shoulder stump as it cried out, causing the rest to lunge toward Wei.

Despite the ogres being much more formidable opponents than the goblins, everyone had leveled up enough to handle them with relative ease. In Surviving My First Run, most parties never passed the second level. Many survived the first arc out of luck and thanks to running—this arc forced ordinary citizens to pick up a weapon and fight, and that was not something everyone could do.

Each dungeon level however would get five times harder than the previous, which meant the round after this would be exponentially more difficult and match the party’s skill level.

[Disciple Yue activated ‘Demonic Fire!’]

Yue’s fists erupted in black flames, but before she could pummel the ogres with her bare fist, I darted in front of her and quickly stabbed through them, killing them.

“You’re going to steal my kills?” Yue said furiously.

She turned around and targeted the next ogre. Whenever they got too close, she would leap back, and Yang would charge forward. He sliced the ogres into small pieces before Yue delievered the final kill. They worked in perfect harmony despite their disdain for one another.

“At least I don’t need someone to help me,” I retorted.

The glow of gathered stars filled the air like shimmer, and Yue immediately reinvested them into her levels.

If only I had Yue’s plethora of skills, I would have done the same. I stood beside Amelia, helping her make rather feeble attempts at killing the ogres Wei already injured. The bloodied floor filled with chopped limbs vanished before a chest.

[Observers Chat]

Socrates: This is so much more disgusting to watch than read about

This time, the chest contained better items. There was a hoodie, a suit, and a beautiful silver cuff. I gasped and grabbed the blue hoodie with a cartoonish graphic on the back and quickly threw it on; the fabric immediately readjusted to fit perfectly around my figure.

[Agility level 25 → level 29]

[Physique level 25 → level 29]

It was becoming more expensive now to upgrade levels, and the clothing was an easy way to increase personal stats while also adding a layer of very fashionable armor. Not liking the odd number for my levels, I invested a few thousand stars.

[Physique level 29 → level 30]

[Agility level 29 → level 30]

“It suits you,” Yang said with a polite smile.

“I agree,” Yue agreed, giving a big thumbs up. “It makes you look immature and foolish.”

I scrunched my nose at Yue, making direct eye contact with her while picking up the silver cuff. Shallow but highly ornate engravings of dragons, a phoenix, tigers, and serpents covered it, and it reflected a slight sheen of glowing white light. I popped it open before locking it around Amelia’s wrist.

My tone was much more hushed when I spoke to her and got down on my knee to speak to her eye-to-eye. “The engravings here imply that it’s either a defensive cuff or will help you with taming, just like Yue-ayi[1] did with the goblins.”

Amelia inspected the cuff, gripping it with her other hand and fidgeting the fitting. “Then shouldn’t you give it to Yue-ayi?”

“No.”

Yue huffed behind me. “Am I even a party member?”

“Are you so weak that you need a protection amulet? Should I not give it to Amelia?”

Yue shut up.

I continued to look through the chest, pulling up the last clothing item—a black tuxedo suit and red tie.

The suit was definitely one of the better outfit finds in all the dungeon chests, since it offered the biggest boost in personal stats. I was biased in wanting to give it to Yang, for two reasons, but Yue needed it significantly more than he did.

I groaned but relented, leaving it in the chest. “Yue and Yang, you two can fight over this.”

Yang looked awkward, balancing on his sword and rocking his weight back and forth. “You can take it, Yue.”

For once, Yue seemed a bit hesitant. “It’s fine. Your poster was a bit more… strange than mine. You’ll need it more.”

I was surprised by Yue’s sudden generosity. I figured she must have had a change of heart when fighting so harmoniously alongside Yang just moments ago.

Yang flushed at the mention of his poster, immediately straightening up and grabbing the suit while letting out little, hesitant laughs. His poster was admittedly the weirdest from the perspective of someone who knew what everyone else’s experience during this arc was going to be. If each poster was personalized, then his was… not family friendly.

[Observers Chat]

Hedgehog1938: Bye if I got that poster, you’d never hear from me again. I’m embarrassed just watching him.

Once the suit was removed from the chest, the next round immediately began. This time, twelve giant portals appeared all over the dungeon, and the dungeon walls shot back dozens of feet. The room was far larger now, enough for more serious fights to occur.

[Time left: 5 minutes 42 seconds]

Massive dire wolves spawned to form an entire pack over the dungeon. They were around fifteen feet long each, their hackles raised as they bore their teeth. The largest was around twenty feet long, and it led the pack to circle around my party members.

The room filled with an ominous air; these wolves were clearly a formidable opponent, and the sheer number made them incredibly dangerous.

The largest wasted no time. It lunged for me, but I jumped to the side, bringing my shield up to force it back. Yang launched forward at incredible speed toward the flank of the pack, yet the wolves predicted his move and snapped for his leg.

Before its teeth could latch on, Wei’s sword made a loud clash with the wolf’s jaw, and he quickly twisted his sword out of its mouth and thrust his sword into the wolf’s flank. It let out a desperate howl and wrangled its body off Wei’s sword, jumping back and snarling.

A smaller wolf snapped at Amelia’s ankles. She cried out in fear, falling to the ground and scrambling back. Jolting at the sound of her scream, Yue grabbed her and pulled her back on her feet, forcing Amelia into the middle of a protective circle formed by all the party members—except for me.

“Wait!” I cried out, blocking an incoming attack, “Let Amelia try to tame one of them!”

She was tightly gripping the silver cuff now, staring up at me with trembling blue eyes. Before I could say anymore, the alpha wolf saw an opening and its jaws flew wide open, wrapping around my entire abdomen.

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[1] “Ayi” → “Auntie”