Immediately after passing through the gates, I got an uncomfortable feeling as I looked around. There was a crowd of people here, just as there was outside, but these people were dressed in a shady manner. I got the feeling that I was being scoped out as a mark. I sped up to try and avoid unwanted attention, but noticed a few of them staring at my pack, boots, and even my ring. Yeah, this was bad news.
I turned onto a different street after passing them and took a few more turns, trying to lose any tails I might have. After about five minutes of this, I stepped into an ally and waited to see if I was followed. I didn't see anyone I recognized pass by, but I couldn't be sure they weren't just waiting for me to move. I sat down near the entrance of the alley behind a crate to have a think. I realized that I wasn't sure where I was in the city. It didn't really matter since I had no real destination, so I decided I'd ask for directions and head towards the mountain in the middle of the city.
Across the street from my alley, I could see a clothing shop. I peeked out of the alley and looked both ways before briskly walking into the shop.
As I looked around I was assaulted with a bright array of colors and textures. I wasn't sure what material some of the clothing was even made of. It almost looked like a type of animal skin, but unlike anything I'd ever seen. There were different footwear, pants, shirts, headwear, and even some interestingly crafted light armor.
"Can I help you?"
I slightly jumped at the voice behind me. I turned around and was amazed to see what could only be described as an elf.
"Umm, I'm looking for a cloak," I said while trying not to stare at his ears, which had a slight point to them.
"I have some over here," he said and walked towards a table with a mass of cloaks on it. "What kind of cloak are you looking for?"
"I want something that can conceal my identity rather well. Something plain brown I'm thinking. I'd also like a pack cover and boot covers," I said.
The elf looked at me up and down before picking up a cloak from the table. "This cloak should do fine, nothing special about it. I've been told by other customers that the hood does a good job of staying up, even when moving quickly," he said with a hint of knowing. He took a look at my pack and boots before whistling.
"I've been doing this for hundreds of years and I've never seen a pair of items as exquisite as yours. Where'd you get them if you don't mind me asking?"
"I think they're family heirlooms," I lied. I had no idea where they came from. "I just need something to help keep wandering eyes away and to protect them from the elements."
The elf stared for another minute at my pack and boots before turning from me and walking to another table. He rummaged through pack covers before he found one he liked.
"I assume you'd like brown as well. This should do well to protect your pack," he said.
I looked at the pack cover and proceeded to try and fit it to my pack. Within a few minutes I had my pack completely covered so as to hide its intricate design. He then went to a nearby table and grabbed a couple of boot covers.
"So how much for the gear?" I asked.
"Two silver and forty copper,"
I took out my small coin person and looked inside.
"I can do one silver and eighty five copper," I countered.
"Two silver, final offer," he countered my counter.
"Deal."
I paid him the two silver, put my old cloak into my pack, and put on my new cloak, being sure to have my hood up. I took a pair of boot covers and put them on as well. I bid farewell to the elf, mentioning I'd be sure to come back if I had other clothing needs, and exited the shop. I wasn't sure if I was just ripped off, but decided it'd be a good idea to stop by a few other clothing and apparel shops to price check.
It was just starting to reach midday at this point, so I decided I'd head towards the mountain. After asking directions about the best way to get there, I was on my way.
The city itself had a unique feel to it. Some of the main streets were paved with cobblestone or other hard rock surface, while most of the side streets were comprised of compact dirt. The type and quality of building depended on the district. After walking through a few different districts, I started to get a feel for the different economic and social situations of the people I passed. A lot of the homes appeared to be apartment or townhome style. In the more affluent districts, I saw huge mansions that must have been guild headquarters. They all had different names and insignias over their entrances. Most of them had guards stationed in front.
I arrived at the entrance of the mountain after a half hour of walking. It reminded me of a typical town square, but about ten times bigger. There were shops, inns, and other craftsman lining the entire square. In the middle of it stood the largest building I'd seen up to this point. It had to have been about forty by forty meters, and five stories high. Some of the guild houses I'd seen were rivaled the size of it but weren't quite as large. There was a lot of foot traffic entering and exiting the building. With its size and location, I figured it must be an important building. I'd have to check it out soon.
For now, I decided I'd grab a bite to eat before attempting to head into the potential dungeon. I planned on doing some eavesdropping to learn more about it.
I walked towards the entrance of the mountain looking for a place to eat nearby. As I got close to the entrance, I spotted a place and ducked inside. I took a seat at a table near the bar and tried to look inconspicuous. I ordered my meal, which consisted of a type of rice with gravy and meat. I ate and soaked in the words around me.
A half hour later and I felt like I had learned a substantial amount. It turns out the mountain was a dungeon. One of the most famous dungeons on the continent at that. People came from hundreds and even thousands of miles around to make a life here, exploring the dungeon and fighting its inhabitants. I also had learned the names of some of the more powerful guilds in the city. The two that I heard the most about were the Reverent Raiders and Lupoura. Due to the fact that there were hundreds of guilds here, I wasn't sure what the power structure was, but the Reverent Raiders and Lupoura were in the top ten from what I could tell.
I finishing my meal, but before leaving I ordered food to go for a few days of travel. I wasn't sure how long I'd be down in the dungeon and I wanted to be prepared. After paying for the food, I headed outside towards the dungeon entrance. There were guards at the entrance that I analyzed as I approached.
Name Ryan Moffet Level 5 Highest Stat Strength HP 85
Name Russ Mertuka Level 6 Highest Stat Intelligence HP 48
One appeared to be a mage if I understood the intelligence stat correctly. I nodded to them as I started to walk by, trying to be friendly. Ryan stuck his arm out to stop me before I could pass them.
"Excuse me, do you have an association pass?" the guard inquired.
"Uhhh, no I don't. Do I need one?"
"Yes, you'll need to obtain one from the dungeon association."
"Where is it?" I asked.
"It's the big building in the middle of the square," he responded.
Oh, that makes sense. I thanked the guard and walked to the building. I was able to maneuver myself through the front door and quickly found myself in front of a desk.
"Excuse me, how can I obtain a dungeon association pass to access the dungeon? I asked the employee.
"One gold," he responded.
I took out my money bag from my pack and looked through it. I had three gold, and a smattering of silver and copper left. I was surprised by the price, one gold was enough to by quite a lot.
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"Can you do seventy silver? One gold is a little steep." I countered.
"It's one gold, take it or leave it. We get enough business that we don't need to lower the price. It helps regulate the amount of traffic going into the dungeon. No offense, but we don't negotiate."
"Okay I'll take it," I quickly said and handed him the gold piece. "Is there anything else I should know about the dungeon?"
"The dungeon is a dangerous place to be," he said as he looked me over. "You'll probably want to go with some more experienced people your first several times. The association lists on that board over the various contracts we have for harvested monster parts or monster cores," he said as he pointed at a board near the entrance. "If you want to accept a contract, please inform one of us and we'll register it on your pass," he said as he handed me a pass.
It looked like an identification card, including name, height, weight, a picture (how did they get that already?), a number zero, my level, and a blank space. I looked at him questioningly in regards to all of the info they had on me, but he didn't meet my stare.
"What does the number zero represent, and why is there a blank space?" I asked.
"The number represents the lowest floor you've been to, and the blank space is room for the contracts you accept."
Oh, I get it now.
"Will it automatically update? Or do I have to come here?"
"It will automatically update."
"Great, anything else I should know?" I asked, trying to prod him for any more information.
"The association also provides the service of divining your stats, free of charge. You'll just need to let one of us know and we can send you to the second floor to be tested."
"So you can tell me the numerical values of my stats?"
"Yes. It only takes a few seconds with one of our mages."
Shucks, well it looks like I wasn't going to be making much money off of analyzing people and telling them their information. The only customers I would get were those who weren't association affiliated. All well, it was still a useful ability to have, especially for combat.
"What's considered normal for a level one adventurer?" I asked.
"Well, there are the five primary stats, namely, strength, agility, endurance, intelligence, and spirit. Strength is pretty self-explanatory. The easiest way to explain agility is speed and coordination. Endurance relates to how much you can endure and how long you can do something for. Strength and endurance are linked because they affect your health points. Intelligence relates to your knowledge and spell potential. Spirit reflects how in tune with your spirit you are. Intelligence and spirit are linked because they affect your mana points. A basic level one adventurer has more or less ten points in each stat category, depending on their strengths and weaknesses. After you gain a level, you gain more stats."
"How many stats do you gain per level?" I inquired.
"Well, I'd say around three to five. People sometimes receive more based on merit," he responded.
Wow, that meant I was the equivalent to a level ten adventurer more or less.
After some thought on what he had said, I thanked the employee and walked out, my new dungeon pass in hand. It was time to head into the dungeon.
*****
Unknown guild's headquarters
"Guild Master Rachelle, I'm here to make my daily report."
"Proceed," the woman responded with a hint of impatience.
"There were three things of note at the gates. One, some of our own were seen leaving the city with supplies for a substantial journey. Their destination is unknown. Second, the wagon with the goods we've been waiting for finally arrived today. Third, a boy came in with more exquisite finery than I've ever seen. His boots and pack must be worth a fortune. We attempted to tail him, but it was plain that he suspected as much and we quickly lost him. He's small and blends in well. That is my report."
The report of her men leaving town bothered the woman for a short moment. Some of the guild members had talked about branching out to other cities, but up to this point she had forbade it. Perhaps they were trying to take matters into their own hands. They would be severely disappointed if they hoped to garner her support after the fact. Some people say that it's easier to ask forgiveness than ask permission. She disagreed.
The wagon arriving with their goods was excellent news. They had imported weapons made from materials found in another dungeon across the continent that was said to contain extremely durable metals. Her guild would test such claims.
The boy peaked her interest slightly.
"Explain to me what made the boy's pack and boots so exquisite."
"Well, they both seemed very well made with the addition of this golden material that was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was beautiful and spoke of great taste and expense. I was surprised to see it on a mere boy. He probably was older than sixteen, but his stature made it difficult to tell his age."
The woman thought for a moment longer before saying, "If you see him again, try to tale again. Otherwise, we'll see if he makes any waves and approach him then. You're dismissed," she said, motioning him to leave.
*****
After making it through the guards this time, I started exploring the first floor of the dungeon. I was surprised it wasn't very crowded, but not very surprised considering the fact that the dungeon was huge and there were supposedly multiple ways to go up and down each floor. The ceiling was an unexpected advantage. There were small crystals that glowed all throughout the tunnels, enabling people to see without a torch. The floor was made of rock, but there were parts of the dungeon that had dirt on the floor as well. The dungeon wasn't just a series of tunnels either. There were small room and caverns, boulders strewn through, and even foliage growing in places.
I was about ten minutes in before I experienced my first dungeon monster.
A large lizard humanoid had turned a corner, and upon seeing me, rushed to attack. The lizard humanoid was about a half meter taller than me. I immediately analyzed it and scanned the surrounding area for environmental advantages.
Name
Lizard Humanoid
Level
2
Highest Stat
Strength
HP
55
As it approached, I readied my daggers and scooted back a several steps. There was a rock jutting out of the ground by about a foot which I planned on using as a stepping stool. The humanoid was about eight meters away when I started running. As soon as I started running towards the monster, I could feel myself either speed up or everything else slow down. I hit the rock when it was about three meters away, pushing off of it to jump over the monster. I sailed over the monster's surprised face, slicing his neck on both sides as he passed below me. I completed the front-flip and landed on the other side, before turning back to attack again. The humanoid had tripped over the rock after I sliced him, not getting up.
It was definitely dead. It had lost so much blood within the first few seconds that it probably had fainted before dying shortly thereafter. Or perhaps tripping on the rock and hitting its head on the ground had done the trick. Regardless, these daggers were sharp, which I much appreciated.
I looked at the body trying to figure out where the monster core I had heard about was at. I turned the body onto its back to do some searching. A few minutes later I found what I was looking for. I saw a slight protrusion coming from it stomach, and after some investigation with my dagger, I pulled a small crystal core from the monster's body.
Crystal Core Weight: .4 kg Color: Black
From my eavesdropping in the restaurant, I had learned that the monster cores came in different weights and colors. The heavier a core, the more valuable it was. The color also determined rareness and worth. I knew black was the lowest on the totem pole of colors. If I remembered correctly, rarity was in the following order, from common to rare. Black, Brown, Grey, Green, Blue, Yellow, Red, and White. White was unimaginably rare from what I heard. There were a few other colors that people hypothesized existed, but no one had ever seen them.
I put the core in my bag and decided to continue on. After walking for another minute I ran into another lizard humanoid of similar strength. Maybe there was a group nearby? This time, I spotted the monster first and hid behind a boulder. I decided I'd sneak up on it and try to one shot it like the previous one. It was walking my way, so I continued to hide until it got close. As it passed the boulder, I quietly snuck to the other side and quickly climbed up it. Before it got farther away, I took a couple of steps, once again feeling the time lag, and jumped. I soared through the air and plunged my daggers into the base of the monsters neck upon contact. The monster roared in pain and tried to reach back for me with its hand, but I just let go of one dagger and hung onto the other. It attempted to slap down on both sides of its neck to get me, but just ended up pushing the daggers further into itself. I had to let go at when it made impact with the daggers, but I didn't have to worry because it was immediately killed. The creature fell forward on its face and I retrieved my daggers and the core.
The whole slowing down time thing was a little freaky. I thought about the benefit I received from my boots and just how amazing it was, looking down in wonder. It seemed to activate when I was fighting or approaching a fight. It's not as if everything froze and I could do whatever I wanted, but I felt like I could effortlessly attack and dodge without worry of getting hit. These monsters did seem slightly slow and dimwitted, so I couldn't get cocky. I decided to look at my character sheet to see how many more things I'd have to kill to level up.
Name: Jalen Elendor HP 68 Level: 1 MP 0 Experience: 450/10000 Know Thyself 2/1000 Stats: Strength: 14 Intelligence 22 Agiligy: 28 Spirit 19 Endurance: 20 Luck: 3 Abilities: Analyze ??? - Level Insufficient ??? - Level Insufficient ??? - Level Insufficient
What!? I only had 450 experience? This was going to take forever. I took off my pack and started eating a roll, considering what my options were. I could seek out lower levels, but I didn't feel that was wise on my first day in the dungeon. I felt like I could kill the monsters at this level easily enough, but it took a bit of time to find them. How could I find monsters at a quicker pace?
A slow smile appeared on my face as I thought of an interesting idea.
*****
John's POV
"Eve and Sarah, stop talking" John hissed.
The girls stopped talking immediately and intently listened for movement. In the distance, they could all hear heavy footsteps coming from a tunnel on the opposite side of the small cavern. The group was currently waiting to ambush a monster. John, the warrior, Eve, the healer, and Sarah, the archer. The group were siblings and had come to Bountiful for adventure.
Well, not only that, John admitted to himself. He personally wanted to make a lot of money, but so far they weren't succeeding. It was a dangerous business, and he'd often get hurt. He was lucky that his sister Eve was a healer. Mages weren't as rare in Bountiful as in other cities, but to have one in his group was a huge boon.
"Should I shoot after you make contact or right before?" Sarah whispered.
"Do it right before I'm on it, that way it's caught off guard. Unless, it doesn't see me, then wait until after I make contact," John responded.
The group hid in another tunnel at the edge of the small cavern. As they watched, a group of three lizard humanoids walked into the small cavern, pausing in the middle to look around. They started making noises, apparently talking to each other.
Shoot. Three was too many for their group to handle. John wondered if there was a way to lure one away when he saw the humanoids all look down a specific hallway to his left and ready their weapons.
John couldn't hear or see anything for a moment, but then a figure in a brown cloak dashed into the cavern, headed straight towards the humanoids. John was speechless, and he could hear Eve's intake of breath and Sarah's gasp behind him. The person was moving insanely fast. He could see and register the figure's movements, but he could tell they were an order of magnitude beyond his own.
The figure had reached the humanoids before he was done thinking. Right before crashing into the middle one, he veered to the right, dodging its overhead swing while slicing at its kneecap with a dagger that had appeared out of nowhere. The middle one howled in pain. The figure parried a blow from the right one with a second dagger that magically appeared, still sprinting, and almost simultaneously used its knee as a stepping stone to jump up and plunge both daggers into its neck.
The other two humanoids rushed to attack the figure on their comrade, but before they arrived, the figure had pivoted itself so that it was now on the humanoid's back, hanging on the dagger handles, thereby creating a barrier between him and the other two humanoids, as well as keeping out of reach of the one he was killing.
The two humanoids started circling their comrade, one on each side, but were surprised when the figure ripped out the daggers and used their comrade as a springboard to jump at one of the two humanoids circling. It didn't stand a chance. The figure slashed both daggers into its chest, before dropping between its legs and slashing the back of both kneecaps. The second lizard humanoid dropped to the ground in pain.
The figure jumped out of the way before the humanoid dropped on him and positioned himself in front of the third humanoid.
John was stunned. He could tell from the silence that the rest of his group was sharing a similar sentiment. The figure was almost like water, but in person form. It moved so fluidly. It must be a high level adventurer, although even in skirmishes he had seen in the arena, he was sure he hadn't seen someone move so fast.
While John was distracted, the figure had somehow disabled the third humanoid so it could only fight with one arm. With one last lunge, the figure parried the humanoid's blow and stabbed it in the chest with his other dagger. This appeared to have ended the fight, because the humanoid slumped to its knees and felt face flat, the figure moving out of its way. All three humanoids were on the ground, squirming in pain or not moving at all.
The figure waited about thirty seconds for the movement to stop before quickly moving to each humanoid and digging out its monster core. It took off its pack and dropped the cores in. The figure wiped the daggers on a cloth it had taken out, did a disappearing trick with the daggers, took a bite out of a roll it pulled from the pack, and then put everything back in. It looked around, considering the tunnels, before choosing one. It slung the pack back on, before jogging off.
Right towards John's group.