Wolf
The silence of the labyrinth is quickly replaced by the chirping of cicadas as I open my eyes to see myself surrounded by extremely tall trees and various other flora as the beautiful smell of nature fills me.
Unfortunately, the beauty of my surroundings doesn’t last long as a splitting pain echoes through my head before I fall to my knees and begin to feel the existence of dozens of different living creatures near me.
“Damn it!” I grunt as I hold my head in pain.
This skill may take some getting used to.
I wince as I slowly let go of my head before getting back up to take in my surroundings.
“So the eleventh to twentieth floors will be in a jungle style?” I mutter before a notification appears in my vision.
Administrator Dungeon Notification
Congratulations, Competitor!
You have entered the eleventh floor!
As a reward, you will now be granted the full privileges of a Competitor!
Wait, I didn’t already have the full privileges?
Actually, what even are these privileges anyways? Does it mean access to the Administrator Dungeon Competitor menu?
I stand unmoving for several seconds in the hopes that another notification will show up to explain it, but nothing ever does.
Instead, I feel a life source begin to approach me from the left.
I activate both of my claws before slowly drawing my sword while turning to my left.
This ‘full privileges’ stuff can wait until later to figure out.
A light smile emerges on my face as I feel the life source continue creeping closer to me before the plants begin to rustle in front of me.
And the first monster of the eleventh floor is…
A large spider suddenly jumps out of the thick plants straight at me before I raise my hand and shoot a wave of icy mist at it, freezing it into a block before rolling out of the way as it slams into the ground where I was.
“A spider,” I finish my thought out loud before walking towards the frozen creature to take a closer look at it.
The spider is about one meter in length, and half of that in height. It has eight black orbs for eyes, with sharp claws at the ends of each of its legs, and a dark – but very thin – layer of hair covering its body.
_-| Unnamed – Lesser Jungle Arachnid – Level 114 |-_
What’s with the different id? Is it because of the new privileges I have?
I ignore the id part for now and focus on its species name.
A lesser jungle arachnid?
Since this is a lesser version, then I’m willing to bet that one of the mini bosses will be a greater jungle arachnid. Or something along those lines at least.
Speaking of the arachnid, it’s kind of creeping me out. It’s not even trying to make any noise at all as it’s frozen.
Most of the monsters – if not all of them – have made some sort of panicked or angry noise, but this arachnid?
Nothing.
Actually…
I tilt my head at the spider as I mutter out loud, “Can spiders even make sounds through their mouths?”
Before I can ponder any more on the subject, another living creature enters the range of my senses and begins heading towards me.
I raise my head in its direction.
Could it be another arachnid?
As if answering my question, a mix of a screech and a roar suddenly sounds from the direction of the life source before a creature jumps out of the bushes at me.
_-| Unnamed – Jungle Raptor – Level 115 |-_
I quickly roll out of the way right before the monster that I swear looks just like a velociraptor from a certain movie lands right where I was standing.
“Overgrown spiders and now dinosaurs?” I mutter before raising my hand and creating three spears of ice above my head.
Let’s see how it deals with this.
I lower my hand to send the three spears at the creature right as the raptor turns to me. The raptor makes another screech as it tries to sprint to the side, only to get struck with one of the spears and pinned to the ground.
It’s faster than I had thought it would be, but it still wasn’t fast enough.
I create another two ice spears before launching them at the still-pinned raptor, piercing both its eye and its throat and killing it in an instant.
After taking a moment to make sure that the raptor is dead, I approach the spider and form a fist with my hand as my ice begins to shrink, slowly crushing it as it noticeably tries to strain its legs to move.
Well, that was a lot more interesting than constantly fighting undead. Especially since I don’t have to worry about any stupid infections or viruses.
I raise my hand in front of my face and generate a small orb of icy mist over it before playing around with the orb.
That mutation may have been painful as hell, but I do have to admit that it really did help with my ability. Not only am I able to create stronger ice now, but I have better control over it, and I can create more without worrying as much about stamina!
I look back up from the orb to the large trees above my head.
“It’s nice to have sunlight again,” I mutter before sending the corpses one last glance and starting forwards through the thick jungle.
Maybe I can find a store somewhere to stop and research this Competitor privileges stuff.
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Arcadian Live
“It’s nice to have sunlight again,” Wolf mutters as he begins walking away from the corpses.
Mikaela smiles in amusement as he says, “I bet it is. Just the thought of being stuck in a labyrinth for months makes me feel stiff!”
The audience laughs in amusement before Katherine adds, “Well, tell that to the rest of the competitors, considering that they are all still in that labyrinth!”
As if on cue, the screen changes to show a man wearing a black t-shirt and shorts with a pair of gauntlets on his arms as he stares at the frozen – and headless – corpse of a zombie knight.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Name: Norbert Heinrich
Title: Nosferatu
Species: Dhampir
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Level: 107
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Laughter breaks out from both the audience and Mikaela as they see the strange look on Norbert’s face.
Katherine also snickers as she says, “And we mustn’t forget about all of the little marks that The Winter Wolf left on the past floors!”
Mikaela nods his head in agreement while still laughing as Norbert mutters, “This must be the work of that forerunner.”
He then glances at his sword before raising it and striking at the ice, only for his sword to bounce off without leaving a scratch.
Mikaela raises an eyebrow as his laughing comes to an end and he says, “It looks like Nosferatu is trying to test his might against The Winter Wolf’s ice!”
“And failing pretty miserably at that,” Katherine adds while crossing her arms with a smirk of amusement on her face as she sees Norbert grimace at the recoil from the strike.
“That’s true,” Mikaela says before turning to the audience and adding, “from what we have been able to figure out, The Winter Wolf’s variant ice appears to be completely invulnerable to anything below a certain level when compared to his, so it’s no wonder that Nosferatu can’t even leave a scratch on it!”
Katherine suddenly shivers as she thinks of something.
Mikaela notices it and turns to her before asking, “What is it?”
She just shakes her head before saying, “I was just imagining how much damage The Winter Wolf could do if he was angry at someone. He could freeze an entire village and no one below his level would be able to stop him!”
Mikaela shakes his head at the thought and says, “You need to remember that he is an ice variant harbinger.”
“I know,” Katherine says while nodding her head before adding, “ice variants tend to be pretty reclusive and prefer to mind their own business over dealing with others.”
“Exactly,” Mikaela says with a single nod before turning back to the screen as Norbert continues on past the ice statue, “and The Winter Wolf definitely fits that category of person.”
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Wolf
I stand still for several seconds as I stare at the refined wooden door in front of me.
The Expanded System Stores on this floor are inside of trees?
I glance around at the large trees around me before shrugging and reaching for the doorknob.
On second thought, it makes sense.
The door opens to reveal a small room with a totem, a table to eat, and a trap door behind the totem that I am assuming leads to the living quarters and bathroom area.
I enter the store before freezing the door shut behind me and opening up my status.
Let’s see if anything is different…
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Name: Wolf Adler
Class: Harbinger of Eternal Winter
Privileges: Competitor
Soul-bound Ability: Ice Reaper
Species: Harbinger
Level: 113
EXP: 126/11300
System Points: 31.47
Skills List
Inventory
System Communications
Administrator Dungeon
Administrator Dungeon Competitor
System Clock
System Terminal
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Well, that’s new.
I identify the word Competitor in the Privileges area to see if anything happens, and surprisingly, a description pops up below my status.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Competitor
The Competitor Privilege is a trial executive privilege, granted only to those players who are competing in the Administrator Dungeon.
These Privileges grant the Competitor the power to:
Use the Competitor level version of certain Standard Tier skills, including Identify.
Use ability upgrade tokens if the Competitor possesses one.
Stay in a viewing room for a total of ten minutes instead of five.
Close
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Wait, so this privilege is similar to Administrator and Moderator in that it’s a sort of executive privilege?
Does that mean my player ID is a different color now?
I shake my head to dislodge the thought.
Not the time.
I focus on the part about being able to use Competitor level versions of Standard Tier skills.
That would at least explain why the IDs are different now.
I open up my skills list to see if Identify was the only one with new abilities.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Skills:
Stealth – Tier 3 – Level 2
Knife Mastery – Tier 2 – Level 6
Unarmed Combat – Tier 2 – Level 9
Identify – Standard Tier - Competitor
Initiator – Standard Tier - Competitor
Razor Claws – Tier 5 – Level 4
Call of the Undead – Tier 4 - Level 3
Predator – Standard Tier – Level 1
Pain Resistance – Tier 4 – Level 5
Sword Mastery – Tier 2 – Level 5
Ice Flow – Tier 4 – Level 3
Increased Recovery – Tier 5 – Level 2
Basic Contracting - Tier 3 - Level 1
Life Sense – Tier 6 – Level 1
Return
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Initiator also has a Competitor version?
Well, that’s interesting.
I select both of them to bring up their new details.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Identify – Competitor
This skill allows a player to identify the name and level of another player, and the level and species of a non-player.
The Competitor version of the skill allows a Competitor to identify the name, level, and species of both a player and a non-player.
Close
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Initiator - Competitor
This skill is only for those players who were initialized through an initialization.
It grants the player a discount of 5% on all System purchases excluding purchases from the System Access Store.
The Competitor version of the skill grants the player a discount of 10% on all System purchases excluding purchases from the System Access Store.
Close
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
So, a larger discount for Initiator, and the ability to identify a player’s species and a monster’s name for Identify? That’s actually pretty good!
I am a little disappointed that my Predator skill doesn’t have a Competitor version, but I get the feeling that it’s because it has a level, unlike the other standard tier skills.
Anyways, I close out of the skills list before claiming my profits and approaching the totem as I look at the SP on my status.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Name: Wolf Adler
Class: Harbinger of Eternal Winter
Privileges: Competitor
Soul-bound Ability: Ice Reaper
Species: Harbinger
Level: 113
EXP: 126/11300
System Points: 471.47
Skills List
Inventory
System Communications
Administrator Dungeon
Administrator Dungeon Competitor
System Clock
System Terminal
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Time to go shopping!