21) Delve

Today I did a dungeon run.

According to Mark Wilks, the dungeon's owner, "We can only send in a group about once a week, magic is just so weak here on Earth it takes that long for the dungeon to respawn everything.”

He shrugged, “But in another couple of years, who knows.”

Wilks himself spent most of twenty years in another world called Catasent, and during his time there he acquired several of what he called Challenge Cores. “The gods made them over there, a place to test and challenge champions to deal with various threats. For right now I’m only going to make one of them available. As for the rest…" He grinned. " I'm thinking an auction, one with only the richest people, or nations putting, in their bids."

I would imagine he might not have much choice in giving up the rest of his cores to our beloved government, but he seems pretty confident. And he survived for twenty years on another world, his time, four for ours, and made it back. Taking anything away from him that he doesn't want to give might be something of an issue for whoever tries it.

But that's not my problem or concern.

Instead, I was there to delve dungeons deep, along with a few celebrities. I’m not sure how exactly I got included in their numbers, maybe someone canceled at the last minute?

The dungeon, which Wilks calls Level One, was implanted about a year ago in the basement of a mall on the edge of town that got only partially built before the project ran out of money. Wilks gave me a tour, “Once we get to the point that the dungeon can take multiple parties a week, most of this will be set up as stores, training halls, bars, and a nice hotel."

For right now though, we, my party that is, are being bused in from our accommodations in town, and getting dressed in a set of cargo containers.

“Safety gear, whatever you think you need, help yourself." Wilk's assistant, Jeff, waved at the array of armor, weapons, and other gear along the wall of the container. “For you guys, it's free today, but we will want it back since it’s normally a rental.”

So the dungeon is running on the rules of Catasent, just stepping inside it will give us a class, like in a game. A class gives you powers, but you only have access to them while you are in the dungeon, or when the gods of Catacent give you a quest you would need those powers for.

Needless to say, those gods aren't around here. So once I step out of the dungeon I’ll be going from a supernaturally empowered being back to a mere mortal.

At least on this world.

In this next part, I’m going to stop using names. I’ll explain why further down.

Me and the Action Hero, both of us a bit too old for this, start picking things out. I start with a padded coat still wrapped in a shrink wrapper, while the action hero goes for something made of overlapping layers of black leather and chromed buckles.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The Rapper just shakes his head at us. “Man, you two are crazy, all that crap is just going to slow you down, besides, I got all the protection I need right here…”

Then the idiot pulls out a large shiny gold plated automatic pistol.

Me and the Action Hero exchange a look, then a nod. Yeah… the Rapper can go out front, where we aren't.

Over the padded coat, I put on a short sleeved shirt like pullover made of links of metal, it goes down almost to my knees. A leather thing with metal plates goes around my neck, with another thick leather belt around my waist, with smaller plates on the front and larger ones on the back over my kidneys.

I had already known what I would be picking out, they had a website, and my trainer Glenn made me spend most of an afternoon wearing something similar while she beat on me with a blunt sword.

A helmet with a cam goes on my head and a long blade by my side. In my hand, I have a short thrusting spear, which I can throw, kind of, and an interstate highway sign shaped shield on my left arm.

My bag is over my shoulder, so if I do need a gun, I do have one, but this is practice for me.

Besides me, the Action Hero, and the Rapper, we have the girls. A Model trying to become an actress and the Influencer.

The two of them went with something lighter like the Action Hero as well. But none of them bother with anything on their heads, I guess they want to be seen and recognized.

So I guess I’m the Tank, but I’m not going out front if that puts me between the idiot waving the gun around telling the two women how he’s going to protect them and anything he might be aiming at.

Action Hero has an axe at his side, and is carrying a crossbow. The Model has a light sword, and the Influencer has a knife by her side but is keeping her hands free for her phone.

Priorities I guess.

As could be predicted, it's a disaster, which is why I'm not using anyone's name.

Down a flight of stairs, we came to a set of reinforced chain link gates beyond which was a dark hole in the cement floor. A thin line of smoke rose out of it as we waited for the gate to open to be opened. Alex stood by wearing a set of cheap costume wizard robes and holding a clipboard.

"Alright, the Level One Dungeon is just that, a level one dungeon. The monsters tend to be weak and in small numbers, all except the boss monster near the end of the dungeon. If you are getting hurt, we have people who got healing classes who can go back into the dungeon with you and fix you up, but don't push on to the final room if you are hurt."

He went on for a bit with some more warning, but I wasn’t really paying attention.

It was pucker time, I was going in.

Despite all my concerns about the rapper, I wanted to see what was in the hole.

It turned out to be a downward slope. Going down it, I had a feeling like a cold breeze was blowing gently against my back. Dim streaks of light seemed to be flowing past me.

There weren’t any boxes floating in the air this time, the knowledge that I was Brawler, one of the ten starting classes we had been briefed on, was suddenly in my head.

“Oh good, once again, no magic.”

The interior resembled an actual cave, a living one, by which I mean damp, chilly, and smelling like an old basement. Slightly glowing moss gave off enough light to see by, but not enough to see what was lurking around us.

At least until I saw something creep up behind the Influencer by the light of the phone she was talking into.

Action Hero picked up on where I was looking, and shouted a warning while I was still realizing that yelling myself might have been a good idea.

Everyone turned to look at the cat sized spiders, three of them creeping up behind the Influencer.

Which is when the rapper opened fire, on the spiders, and everyone in between them, and him.

The Influence took two in her legs, Action Hero got one in the arm making him drop his axe. One spider took a hit, and to be fair the bullet killed it dead, but the Rapper was still shooting at the other two which had begun to climb up on the screaming Influencer.

I swear I was just trying to knock the gun out of his hand, but the Rapper flinched at just the right time. His thumb got caught between the edge of the spear head and his gun before he dropped it with a scream, but I was already stabbing at one of the spiders while the Model kicked at the other one.

With three people injured, we didn’t even get past the first room. But the Level One staff was able to fully heal everyone, including putting the Rapper's thumb back on.

All in all, it was interesting. I confirmed that I’m not one of the people that freeze up in a fight, even when dealing with something with too many moving parts around its mouth hissing at me.

Two out of five starts, but I would go again. But only with some people I trust.