Tom Arlon was young enough that part of Levi screamed that he shouldn’t be anywhere near a dungeon, let alone sitting comfortably mere inches away from a spike trap. A sword lay on the floor beside him and he wore armor that looked suspiciously homemade. He was woefully under-equipped and certainly shouldn’t have been in this dungeon alone under any circumstances.
Another part of him saw it as hope. Levi’s heart lifted at the thought of a preexisting community aware of dungeons. Dungeons would have been appearing for a few months before his own Awakening, but he didn't know how many people had stumbled upon them in that time.
To find a whole group already aware of them was more than he'd dared to hope for.
He wasn’t alone. Others were fighting, preparing, leveling. He’d known they must be but it was a relief to see it.
“Guild? So there’s more than just you?”
Tom nodded. “I thought you were spies from the Frires at first, but Gordon said you’re not with any of the guilds. You’re the first independent delvers I’ve heard of.”
“Frires? How many guilds are there?”
“Five in our network. There’s probably more if you get further away. Doom Raiders Triple X, that’s us. The Frires are our nearest neighbors and most likely to want to poach our dungeon. Tre Le Adve and Silver Starling are more north and west, and Undertaking is expanding east. We’re a movement! No one can stop our ascension!”
“Well, about that...you may have competition sooner than you think.”
“You planning to move in on our area? You should join our guild, no need for animosity. I’m sure Charles would be glad of some more higher-level members.”
“Not me. Though I do want to know if there’s anything you’ve located in this dungeon that’s particularly rare? A Seed Fragment, perhaps?”
Tom shook his head. “Haven’t heard about anything like that. I can ask around.”
“Please do. I’ll pay you well for it if you can find it.”
“You should post on the trade forums too. Look us up online. RL Game, Doom Raiders Triple X. And you can put in your guild application online.”
“I’ll be moving on soon,” Levi warned. “I have family out west, so I can’t stay.”
“You should apply anyway. But speaking of staying…” Tom glanced back toward the dungeon entrance. “I should be getting back. I told my mom I’d only be gone a few minutes.”
With one quick smile and wave, he jogged past Levi and out of sight.
“Looks like you’re not the only one taking this all in stride,” Gordon commented as they watched Tom depart. “Maybe I’m the crazy one.”
“Not at all. I’m impressed you’re taking it as well as you have been, to be honest. I expected I’d have to fight for every inch of trust. It’s nice knowing you’ve got my back.” Levi glanced around, well away from the major fighting. “Well, metaphorically.”
“I’m sorry, man, I just—”
“You don’t have to explain,” Levi told him. “I’m going to go keep an eye on the centipedes. I don’t trust the dungeon not to try eating them. You staying here?”
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Gordon looked at the trap corridor, with its rhythmic spikes stabbing same as before, and nodded guiltily. “What happened to the centipedes?”
“They're in the boss room. Didn’t make it. I'm going to wait here until I can revive one of them, then use him to transport the other's body. I won't leave anyone behind.”
“Alright. You do what you have to.”
“It’ll be a couple hours yet. You want me to leave Skarm to protect you? There’ll probably be a few stragglers spawning in by then.”
“Maybe I’ll wait in the car. Or go find a diner. I could really use a burger right about now.”
“That works. As long as you don’t go too far away, I’ll be able to find you.”
Gordon hesitated. “I could stay if you need me for anything.”
Levi shook his head. “You go, I’ll just be practicing with my new manabow. I’m used to Farslash, which has an arc to it, so the way this shoots will take some getting used to.”
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The whole time he practiced, he couldn’t stop thinking about the existence of dungeon-delving guilds. This was so much better than he’d hoped.
Dungeons had started appearing a few months earlier. All he knew from the first time around was that some had been taken over for research purposes by governments, and their existence didn’t go public for months.
The demon invasion would blow any attempts at secrecy, and the truth would come out pretty quickly after that. He’d not considered that there could be whole online communities dedicated to dungeon delving in the months leading up to the First Invasion.
It was a perfect chance to get information out. They were already leveling dungeons, so he wouldn’t be stuck running level 1s indefinitely. So many benefits to the potential arrangements, even outside of getting the other Seed Fragment.
He could swap some of his useless items for materials he’d need. He didn’t have any elixir base or the proper ingredients, but he knew how to create restoratives that would be much more powerful than those a level 1 dungeon could provide. Even if his elixir-crafting skills would be considered weak to a level 70, he knew enough to take a level 10 from the brink of death to full health in a moment.
The hours passed, and by the time the revive cooldown finally expired, his aim had notably improved.
With a silent apology to Gremlin Two, Levi elected to revive Centoo. The spell drew the scattered pieces back together, forming a fully restored and only somewhat battered stone centipede, though Levi noted that the mana drain was significantly higher than the base cost of Revive. More expensive to reassemble than simply reanimate.
Centoo immediately ran to Cen's body, looking down at his fragmented remains, then up at Levi, then back at Skarm, and finally to Cen again.
“Yeah, we didn't all make it,” Levi said. “Can you carry him?”
Centoo didn't protest as Levi and Skarm loaded Cen's body onto his back. Then the three left the dungeon, Centoo half-coiled to keep his brother's remains secure.
“Now, let’s go find Gordon.”
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Gordon McKaine ordered another basket of fries, methodically eating his way through them as he wondered what had gone wrong to make this his life. For the past... day? Days? He’d honestly lost track, it was all a blur—he hadn’t slept, hadn’t stopped moving. He’d been either driving or fighting in a dungeon nonstop since this whole mad nightmare began.
Why did it take sitting down in a random diner to hammer that home for him?
He supposed he’d been swept up in it all, caught by the wave of Levi’s convictions, but the moment he stepped back and looked at it from any distance whatsoever it all seemed insane. He’d heard less insane stories from actual cultists.
He wouldn’t believe it himself, if he tried to explain it aloud.
“So, basically, magic is real, monsters are real, demons are real and coming soon. And I'm the designated personal chauffeur for my co-worker who's either a time traveler or completely off his nut, and I’m now qualified to walk around with pet monsters and a magic sword of my own. What is my life coming to.”
The waitress didn't seem concerned by his muttering. “Dessert?”
“Yes. Please.”
She held out a laminated sheet displaying the day's specials. He chose by pointing at random, too distracted to make a reasoned decision. He just needed an excuse to stay here a little longer.
Here, everything made sense again. Here, he was just a man with a meal in front of him, not a system warrior with a car full of mythological creatures on a treasure hunt across the country.
Levi Morrison could wait a bit longer.
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