He moved his inhaler to an easier to reach pocket in his bag, just in case. He truly believed he won’t need it but when he tried to leave without it a pit formed in his stomach, preventing him from leaving the house. Yet now that he was descending into darkness, with only an old flashlight to guide his way, he was thankful he brought the inhaler with him. Just in case his nerves got the best of him.
Carefully he stepped down from one root to another.
He tried putting his weight on the steps made of earth but after a few of those crumbled underneath his weight he avoided them. Since there were enough roots to use as steps on his way down, there was no reason to risk falling or losing his flashlight as he flailed his hands wildly for something to grab hold of. Something that happened twice already as the earth crumbled underneath his feet.
His flashlight was stuttering and he hoped it will hold on. It was an old flashlight he dug out of the shed, not wanting to take the emergency one that was kept in the kitchen. A foolish decision now that he thought about it but at the time it seemed smart of him to leave it be. Just in case someone noticed it was gone or asked questions if Jason broke it during his adventure.
So he lowered the brightness and kept climbing down, one careful step at a time. Wherever it was he was descending into, it was much deeper than he expected and he felt both fear and excitement grow the deeper he went.
Eventually, the little bit of sunlight that entered at the top was blocked by roots and Jason had to slow down and carefully use the weak flashlight beam to check his every move.
When his feet touched flat, solid ground he couldn't help but be disappointed.
“There’s nothing here…” he said as he moved the beam of light from side to side, looking for anything other than mushrooms, tree roots or bare walls. Yet there wasn’t anything else he could see and he didn’t have much time as the flashlight was losing power quickly.
He refused to give up though. There had to be something here he thought. Something he was missing. Something that would explain his new class, “Or at least give me more levels in it.”
But there was nothing. No monsters, no adventure and worst of all no more light as the flashlight died in his hands.
Left in the darkness he did the one familiar thing he knew he could, which was reaching for his inhaler and holding it in his hand in preparation. There was no need for him to inhale but holding the device in his hand helped him not to panic. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, a simple method for decreasing his rapidly rising heart rate.
When he opened them, mind made up to start climbing upwards in the dark, his jaw dropped open and his eyes went wide. The grass he was standing on was glowing. And as he looked, mushrooms on the walls and moss on the tree roots were slowly lighting up and growing in intensity. A minute later and the staircase was bright enough for him to see everything, and what he saw was a path on the ground that he could crawl through.
He drooped on his knees to look through it and after a short crawl he straightened up on a small platform. Looking around for a few seconds he thought he was transported into a different world.
“Is that water?”
Jason stepped to the edge of the platform and lowered himself to look at the glowing surface below. He was sure that it was water, there were even small ripples passing through it, but when he reached his hand to touch the surface he didn’t know if he was supposed to be disappointed or not.
“Mushrooms. Millions of them.” He moved his hand around, causing a wave to roll through the cavern. He lowered his baseball bat to see how deep the sea of glowing mushrooms was and the bat disappeared inside without ever reaching the bottom. When he lifted it back up it was covered with all manner of creepy crawlers.
“Ewww, disgusting...” he mumbled as he tapped the bat on the edge of the platform he was standing on to make the bugs drop off. His attention fell on the other side of the mushroom sea, where another platform similar to the one he was standing on right now was waiting.
A wall on the other side was covered in rock outcroppings, holes and shelf mushrooms, all glowing in a bright blue color as if marking the way forward. “So I’ll have to climb over the wall but how am I supposed to reach it?” There was only one way onward he could see that didn’t involve struggling through the sea of mushrooms, so he pressed his back to the wall behind him to get as much of a running start as he could and bolting forward he jumped.
Flying over the mushroom sea he landed, with a dull thud, on a huge mushroom. One of many such mushrooms whose caps protruded out of the sea, looking similar to islands who together formed a path for him to cross. Each was big enough for him to stand on so he raised himself and swung his arms back and forth, preparing momentum for another leap.
When he landed this time the mushroom deflated slightly, creating a sound like a giant whoopee cushion and making Jason unable to contain his laughter. And as the sound of the little boys giggling echoed, the room came alive. Fireflies, butterflies and moths, all glowing in different colors took to the air, dancing around him elaborately in their rush to escape. Lizards dropped their camouflage and scurried to find a different hiding spot on the glowing walls while something moved, invisible under the curtain of mushrooms, making the mushroom sea ripple and waves to form.
For a few seconds Jason forgets he is supposed to be scared. He forgets about being tired or slightly hungry because he skipped breakfast. For just the briefest of moments the fart sound the mushroom made returns him to the happy child he was before his mother was gone. Before his father distanced himself from him due to worry. To a time when he could laugh freely and without reaching for his inhaler just in case he laughs too hard.
Unfortunately, the carefree feeling doesn’t last long, as a snake falls down from the ceiling and disappears under the waves of glowing mushrooms, causing Jason to panic and almost fall off after it. Catching himself in the last moment he continues onward. Jumping from one mushroom to the other, he reaches the platform panting and heaving.
“Phew!” he takes a few gulps of water and a half of his Twix bar to munch on. He is sitting with his back leaned against the wall, looking at the platform he came from. It’s isn’t too far away but as he was forced to follow a predetermined twisting path, the distance he traveled felt much longer than it looked.
“Yosh,” he gets up to stretch his muscles.
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They are sore from the past few days of sports but it's a good kind of soreness. The kind in which the body is telling you that it is strong and getting stronger. A soreness Jason never knew felt so good.
He jumped in place a few times, just for fun and to test how high he can do it. “This place is so cool,” he said and could swear that the cavern dimmed for a brief moment before brightening back up again. It could be just his imagination but to him it looked like the place heard his words and winked at him in response. “Yep,” -Definitely the coolest place ever,- he thought as he swung back his backpack, tightened the shoulder straps, spit on his palms like he saw once in a movie and began to climb.
Even though the wall in front of him had almost perfect slits to grab or use as a foothold, the five-meter climb left the muscles in his arms burning from the strain. More than once he had to stop to rest while his body dangled from the vertical surface. He remembered hearing somewhere, maybe it was one of the customers in the shop or something he heard in a show, that when climbing, it was important to rely mainly on your leg strength. But no matter how Jason tried he always ended pulling himself up with his arms.
Filing it up as another thing he would need to look up online, he finally managed to reach the top and after hooking his leg over the edge he managed to pull himself up and over. Only to proceed to lie down to rest, small glowing lizard running away from him or freezing in place to look at his resting body. He had another short crawl before he could continue to the next room, and he had to wonder to himself if it was time he headed back.
It would suck to leave before he had a chance to fight some monsters, but his body was really tired from the past few days and even though he didn’t do much but jump and climb he was exhausted. The football gear, while a good idea at the time, now seemed useless. Just extra weight that held him back.
“Just a peak then.” He began to crawl towards the next room, driven forward by sheer curiosity. What he saw was a room similar to the last one. Another field of mushrooms which disappointed him slightly until he saw there was no path he could use to avoid what hid under the surface. His eyes scanned for a way to cross and fell on what looked like ropes dangling from the ceiling. He crawled sideways and reached a hand to touch it making the rope light up. “Another mushroom,” he grabbed and pulled at it, making sure it was firmly attached. He’ll need to use it to swing across, from one such mushroom to another.
“An obstacle course.”
He has seen enough ‘American Ninja’ to recognize what this place was, “I mean it's cool,” his hand reaches to the bat he stuffed into his backpack for the climb, “But I wanted to fight monsters and level up…”
He pulled on the rope mushroom again, contemplating on whether or not he should continue forward. “Maybe the next room will have something I can fight?” Thinking about it the worst thing that could happen is that he’d fall and get covered by bugs, or get stuck until he rested enough. He had his snacks and some water, he could survive.
He tried to push himself forward but his muscles groaned. No, he’ll need to go back. It was enough for today. It was fun and next time he’ll be more prepared and rested to tackle it.
Now that he knew that it was just an obstacle course he would ask Ben to come along. He’ll love it here and he has a phone we can take pictures with. This place looks amazing after all.
Thrice he almost fell heading back. Once because his leg slipped on the climb back down and twice he was a little short on his jump. Each time added more bruises and scrapes to his arms and legs.
As he climbed the stairwell and saw sunlight he felt bittersweet. On the one hand he had fun, did something he never had a chance to do before, but on the other hand he was disappointed at himself. He felt he could do better. “No. I will do better!” he said proudly and started walking home without even glancing black, mind already busy planning how he can improve and what needs to be looked up online.
Tomorrow he had the doctor's appointment so he might as well use the day to rest. He can ask dad to drop him off at Ben’s place after it so they can prepare.
“Hey there, Jason.”
He jumps in surprise and his hands move in search of his inhaler. He forces himself to calm down when he sees the source of the voice, “Hello Mr.Locklear,” he answers apprehensively. He had many chances to practice his poker face thanks to his father, but right now, wearing duct-taped football gear, holding a bat and a steel pan cover while covered in dirt, he saw no way out of this.
“Cool costume,” said the man in front of him. A man carrying a rifle and covered head to toe in camouflage patterned clothes. To his belt were attached a few birds, most likely waterfowl of some kind but Jason couldn’t tell which from a glance. “I remember I also used to play as a knight when I was young. It was the reason I picked up a crossbow in the first place,” he scratches his bushy beard while his eyes unfocus slightly at the memory. “Shouldn’t you be at school though?”
Jason opened and closed his mouth, searching for an excuse that didn’t come. For some reason he had an urge to hide his discovery, and the chance that someone will find out about it filled him with sudden dread. The fact that this was someone who knew his father just increased the chances that Jason would be forbidden from coming near the dead tree and the secrets it held underneath.
“It’s a secret Mr.Locklear,” Jason puts a finger to his lips. He likes the man in front of him, mainly since the man never treated him like a kid, so Jason decides that half truths would serve him best. “I got accepted into the team and decided to train on my own,” he said and played the pity card, “Thanks to my asthma holding me back until now I’ll need to work hard if I want to catch up to the rest,” he started moving before he even finished his sentence. “Congratulations on your hunt Mr.Locklear,” he started to run, “It was nice seeing you. Have a good day,” he yelled as he sprinted back home.
“You too Jason. Stop by some time, Hannah will love to see you,” Mr.Locklear raised his voice, “We can celebrate you making the team!” he shouted at Jason’s disappearing figure. “Good kid,” he said to himself and fixed the shoulder strap of his rifle, “Wonder what he’s trying to hide…”
----------------------------------------
“Well, that sucked…” I thought when I saw the boy leave the dungeon.
I genuinely expected him to do much better. “Were the obstacles to hard or was he too weak?”
While contemplating on the matter I set my dungeon's inhabitants free to roam wherever they want. Animals and monsters flood out from the two side spaces into the middle one. The one the boy struggled through.
I set up the first floor as three long parallel corridors with many tunnels connecting them. The side corridors are the main ecosystem of the first floor. But as I didn’t have enough mana for all three, the side caverns are still not as big as I’d like them to be but eventually they will be responsible for populating the middle corridor with animals and monsters for my visitors to enjoy.
I ordered most of the inhabitants to hide in the side corridors but now that the boy left they are free to play around as they wish.
Looking at my dungeon as a whole and going over my experience with the boy I decide on a few changes. His words still echo in my mind but unfortunately letting him fight my monsters is problematic for now.
What I’ll do instead is separate the floor into two levels, kind of. First thing I’ll do is get rid of the walls that separate each obstacle into its own room. Then, a safe path which allows traversing most of the first floor safely. Jumping, climbing, balancing or swinging your way through. This path will be reserved for children and if anyone older try’s to use it the path will break apart under them. Anyone but the children will have to trudge forward, waist deep through the mushroom sea and the dangers it holds.
As I transform the dungeon an idea pops into my mind. The snake that fell off the ceiling and scared the boy into almost falling down, something similar can be added so that using the safe path becomes more exciting.
“That way the boy will get what he wants.” Snakes might be a bit of an overkill but I have something similar that is perfect for the job and I think I saw something cheap in the dungeon shop that I can use as well. Something both useful and cool.
I activate the [Splicer] skill to see if my idea can work but I’m brought back out of it by something large entering my territory.
A man, big and heavy is following the path of multicolored mushrooms through the forest, getting closer and closer to my entrance.
I jump into one of my mice to get a better look at him. He is holding a gun and has a knife strapped to his belt. The clothes he is wearing make me think he is a soldier of some sort but when I see the dead birds he’s carrying I realize he must be a hunter.
“Perfect!” I rejoice and leave the mouse to return my attention to the dungeon. I’m not able to shape it while inhabiting my creations and there are still a few things I need to take care off in case the man finds my entrance.
“First amongst them is making the entrance large enough for him to go down through,” I smile as I rush to make the last minute changes.