Working through her headache, Bug looks to the System displayed before her, and for the first time in her life, all of the buttons and options before her finally make sense.

She immediately clicks on the ‘Settings’ tab and starts going through the menu. Selecting different options and toggling different settings on and off. Dragging things to where she wants them and resizing things that are too big or too small.

Hitting ‘Save,’ her display immediately shifts and collapses on itself down to the bottom of her vision, no longer blocking most of her vision.

“There we go, now I have a HUD… Much better.”

Along the bottom of her field of view is the line of tabs. Directing her attention to a specific tab and willing it open causes it to display itself. Experimenting, Bug opens and closes several tabs and pop-up windows. Seeing how fast she can direct and navigate them.

Much easier than having to click on everything. They even have a way for using gestures to control everything. Why is pushing buttons the default setting? Just doesn’t make any sense…”

Aside from the Menu Tabs displayed on the bottom, Bug went ahead and enabled her mini map and compass in the top right corner of her vision. More features that should have been on by default in her opinion. While in the bottom right is her display for heath, stamina, and mana. Their values are determined by a number of variables that all go over Bug’s head due to being too complicated, but as far as she needs to know. If her health hits zero, she’s dead. If her stamina hits zero, running and fighting will become much, much, more tiring; even to the point of hurting herself if she pushes herself too hard. And finally, if mana hits zero. Bug will be unable to use magic…

Bug doesn’t know any magic…

Guess I don’t have to worry about that for now.

With her HUD set up and her system working a bit more intuitively. She opens up her inventory and follows the other instructions noted in the letter.

A cotton shirt, shorts, some underclothes that are supposed to be for protecting her decency or whatever, and lastly, some simple leather arm guards and leg guards. She didn’t get any boots because her feet aren’t exactly footwear friendly. The new information in her head tells her that she should be able to find some magic boots at some point that will solve that problem.

Going over each one of the items, Bug equips them all. The items materializing out of thin air and already dressed on her body. Experimenting, she equips and unequips her shirt a few times, watching as it goes in and out of her inventory.

Still not sure about clothes… At least the guards give me some protection. I guess the clothes will help keep my body warm where my fur doesn’t reach. And it seems like the chest wrap that goes under the shirt is useful for keeping these mounds on my chest from moving around too much… Guess I can keep wearing them.

With that out of the way, Bug brings up her shiny blue rock and tries to put it in her inventory. With a little push of will, the shiny blue rock disappears, and one of the boxes gets filled. She clicks on it and its information gets displayed.

“A small mana crystal [Covered in blood]. These crystals are generated by Dungeons as lootable resources and are highly valued by mortals. Dungeons are one of the few places in the world with a constant and near infinitely renewable supply of these resources. It is primarily for this reason that Dungeons are not just tolerated but are also fiercely protected by mortals. Often times, a Dungeon could become the foundation of entire cities or even Kingdoms as mortals continuously plunge their depths in search of these treasures…”

Pulling the mana crystal back out of her inventory, Bug admires it and smiles. “Treasures… so that means that I can find more of these, right?”

She puts away her treasure and looks down the halls of the Dungeon. Checking her clock that she placed above her mini map; she smiles as she gets to walking.

“I’ve two hours until the Dungeon opens for the day. Before the humans start coming in here, I’m going to find as many of these treasures as I can! Not like I have anything else to do… Hmm, I guess that the Dungeon does wants me to kill the humans though… So, I could try doing that. But before that! Most importantly, I want the TREASURES!”

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‘A smooth rock. Fits well in the palm of the hand and is good for throwing.’

‘Dungeon moss. A source of food for the weakest of the Dungeon’s creatures. Tastes alright.’

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‘A sharp rock. Hit someone hard enough with it and they will probably bleed. A poor alternative to a blade.’

‘A piece of flint. Good for starting fires if you know how. Or can be used to make a shabby knife or arrowhead. If you know how…’

‘A bundle of rope. A lost item most likely dropped by an adventurer. Rope has a lot of uses if you can learn to tie knots.’

‘A boot. Sort of useless without its pair… If your desperate, you can boil it and eat it? Or maybe wear it as a hat. You could throw at people! That’s a good use.’

“What the hell is up with these item descriptions?! Especially that last one…”

Bug looks at the boot and decides to toss it. She doesn’t need it taking up space in her inventory. Instead, as she walks, she continues to snatch up any smooth and sharp looking rocks that she can find.

Conveniently, the inventory has a system of stacking similar items rather than taking up more slots. After learning this, Bug has made it a goal to have as many rocks as she can stored at all times.

Beside the knife that she got in the gift, she doesn’t exactly have any other way of attacking threats. So having the option of throwing an endless number of stones at things is a very appealing idea.

Disregarding a few more trash items laying around the Dungeon, Bug continues to wander the halls, no real destination in mind.

As Bug walks, she grimaces a bit from the pain in her head. Reaching up a hand and feeling at it, Bug finds the wound has stopped bleeding, leaving a patch of dried blood in her hair.

She checks her HP and find that it still sitting at 26/30 just like it was when she had first checked it.

Mmm, annoying. I wonder how long it will take to heal?

Adding another smooth rock to her inventory, she notices the cookie that was part of the gift. Curiosity compels her to click on it and read the description.

“Chocolate chip cookie. A tasty treat baked just for you by REDACTED. She saw that nasty head wound you got and wanted to give you something to help it feel better. Please Enjoy!”

A tasty treat? Hm, well I guess I could give it a try…

Taking it out of her inventory, she gives it a look over. It is surprisingly warm and soft, and the little black bits are melting some, getting on the palm of her hand and her fingers. Thankfully, her hands aren’t covered in fur, so she doesn’t have to worry about getting any of it stuck in there.

But besides the warmth and just the general feel and look of the cookie, there is the smell. It is a smell that Bug has never smelled before in her short life, and it is nearly intoxicating. Before she knows it, her mouth is already watering just from being in the presence of this mysterious thing.

She takes a bite, and for a short moment, she experiences true unadulterated happiness and pleasure.

The contact of warm melting chocolate on her tongue alone is almost enough to bring her to her knees. Tears threating to fall from her eyes, she crams the rest of the cookie into her mouth, chewing it as warm melty dough fills her cheeks and sugar lights her brain up with bursts of dopamine like firecrackers popping in her skull.

She swallows it, the cookie disappearing forever into her stomach as she frantically works to lick up any loose crumbs and smudges of chocolate that she can find on her hands.

And then it was gone.

Breathing hard and shaking, staring at her hands like a mad woman, she finally realizes what she had just done. She had eaten the cookie far too quickly. One bite and it was gone. The taste still lingers on her tongue, but she knows that that to shall soon disappear.

She collapses to her knees; arms raised to the heaven and screams a cry of remorse. “NO!!!!! Why? Why only one!? It was so delicious!!!!!!”

She drops her arms, defeat filling her body as she regrets the loss of the tastiest thing she has ever eaten.

A thought comes to her.

More! There has to be more somewhere!

Bug opens her inventory, franticly searching through pages and hoping that she had just missed something. Nothing.

She goes into her mail and finds the first message still sitting there, displayed as read. She tries franticly to hit ‘Accept Gift’ again, but the link is unresponsive. It has already been claimed.

Defeat, bitter and most certainly not cookie flavored… Where is she going to find another cookie again. Can they be found in the Dungeon? Maybe a human will have some? Can she make her own? With what? Moss and rocks!?

“Ahhhh! Please! Just one more cookie! I don’t know who you are Redacted, but please, just one more!”

Bug holds her hands together before her in a motion that feels right and natural, directing a prayer to the unmoving and uncaring ceiling of the Dungeon.

For a while, nothing happens. Until eventually, the Mail tab starts gently flashing.

Message!

With no hesitation, she throws open her Mail tab and flies into her inbox. One new message.

Bug reads it over with much hope and excitement in her heart.

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“Hello cute little Bug,

It makes me so happy to know that you enjoyed my cookie. It was from a new recipe that I am trying out, so it is great to see you enjoying it so much! Definitely put a smile on my face. Plus, I am glad that it helped make your head feel better. That was a rather nasty looking welt you had there.

As for your request for more cookies, and as much as I would love to send you more, I am afraid that I cannot at this time. We have policies against provided to much help to our System Users. Regretfully, the one cookie was already pushing it on the amount of help that I could provide. If I could, I would have sent you a whole plate of them, just for you.

But, there is some good news. You could receive more cookies and other treats in the future if you are lucky. If you manage to earn yourself more gifts, I will be certain to include as many treats as I am able. You have my promise on that.

Aside from that, if you really want more sweets, you could always try to find a way to leave the Dungeon. There is a world of tasty things out there.

I wish that I could provide more aid and advice beyond just this, but I am afraid that that would require me to break a few rules and that would get my boss very upset with me. And well, he is already upset with me…

Regardless, I give you my best wishes and hope that you will find more sweets to enjoy. Best of luck little Bug!

Sincerely and with so much love, REDACTED.

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