Of course I was frustrated.

Jvorg didn’t give me nearly enough information, before sending me packing. Hell, I’m halfway convinced that he’s just withholding information for the sake of appearing mysterious and annoying.

“Ah, excuse me—are you okay?”

Looking up, a woman I’ve never seen before comes into view, a concerned look on her face. She was wearing the robes of a city magus, along with the badges of an officer.

“Me?” I asked, pointing to myself.

“Yes—I couldn’t help but notice you seem upset. Do you need help finding your parents or something….Wait! Did I say something wrong!?” Asks the woman, as I walk away from her.

“I’m not a child.”

“Ha, how cute~!”

“Stop following me.”

The woman stopped.

“Fine, have it your way, kid. Just don’t come crying back here when you can’t find your parents.” She said, walking away while shaking her head.

What the hell was that about?

Damn it, now my mood’s even worse.

Nosy woman.

Walking a few more blocks brought me to a train station. The platform wasn’t crowded at all, given that it’s nearly dinnertime, and most everyone has already made it home after work or school. The only people here are those who stayed late after work. They were too tired to pay any attention to my joining them on the platform.

It was only a couple minutes of waiting before the next train pulled up alongside the station edge. It’s doors opened, discharging a few people whose stop had arrived. Once everyone was out of the doorway, those standing on the platform entered the mostly empty train. There were plenty of seats available, and no one ended up having to stand—unless they wanted to, of course.

 Taking up a window seat, I watched the city skyline as the train started moving, with the great dome seated high above us all, making Jor inhabitable on this planet. Our sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon line, dyeing the sky a waning violet hue.

In another half-hour, night will have fallen. Hopefully, I’ll be home by then.

Really, Jor is just a small city—only useful for commercial purposes based on it’s location. Those of us that live here are entirely dependent on trade for our livelihoods and jobs. If ships were to stop coming through Jor, then the city would crumble in time. There simply wouldn’t be a reason to stay any longer.

There have been a few planets abandoned in such a manner. Humanity arrived, set down roots, then left in short order. The buildings still standing in such places are testament to what humanity had done, and the shattered domes are evidence to our neglect.

One day, Jor will be like those ghost cities. It’s an inevitability, since there will come a time where it would be cheaper to simply build a new city, rather than maintain Jor.

Hopefully, such a thing will happen far into the future. I’ve come to like this place quite a bit, and would be reluctant to leave it.

My stop arrived sooner than expected, being so wrapped up in various thoughts and ideas. Funny how that happens, right?

Anyway, it was easy as ever to get home. Living in a nicer part of the residential areas is expensive, but well worth the bother considering how easy it makes my commute. Even more so since there’ve been rumors of increased gang activity in some of the rougher parts of town. Sure, a normal gang really can’t do anything to me, but it’d still be annoying having to deal with them.

A block and a half later (along with two flights of stairs), and I was home. My five room apartment might be sparse when compared to other homes, but it’s just right for me. It has everything needed—well, along with a few amenities which had seemed a good idea.

First things first, some food would be nice.

A quick look through the fridge gave me an idea of the ingredients at hand, and narrowed down the types of dishes that could be cooked up.

Though, I’m in the mood for some fried rice. And given the ingredients still left, there’s just enough left for that. Lucky~

The fridge is getting kinda empty though, so a trip to the grocery store looks to be in order. Tomorrow morning’s probably the best time for that. It’ll be the weekend as well, so there’s no worrying about school or anything.

The fried rice was pretty easy to make, and within twenty minutes I was tearing into the still steaming bowl full of the stuff. While my cooking isn’t all that great, it must be said that this particular dish always turns out pretty well. Probably because it’s relatively simple, and there’s a recipe you can follow every time to get it right. There’s no subjectivity, you just accomplish a series of actions in the correct order, and a good meal is made.

That’s really the only way I can cook. If anything else is tried, or added to a recipe…well, nothing good happens, okay?

All that aside, now the dishes need washing. Lucky, it’s only my own dishes that have to be taken care of. Joel—while he was here, that is—always left an unholy mess after each meal, which I would end up having to clean up.

The soap suds and warm water were refreshing somehow, especially as there was only one set of dishes to wash. Taking care to rinse the suds off first, the wet dishes got placed on a drying rack.

Those will get put away as soon as they’ve all dried.

With all the dishes done, it’s time to let off some steam.

That whole incident with Jvorg, and the fact that he was blatantly hiding some information annoyed me. There’s a need to violently break something in a way that harms nothing.

Good thing VR exists, right?

The passing of a few minutes finds me in my Deus disguise, wandering the wilderness of Ashenload. Right now, my mood’s too shitty to deal with other people. I just want to beat up on monsters. I want to break them. 

Unfortunately, it will take some time to find a proper stress reliever since monsters of a caliber comparable to mine are rare. So then, a recap is probably in order.

Apparently, the little treasure hunt going on is progressing fairly well. Or, as well as it could for nobody having figured out the first hint.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

To be fair, it was a pretty ambiguous hint. “The path starts with the end of today” could mean a couple of different things. Most thought it meant that they had to go to the eastern most part of Ashenload, where the binary suns sets. Unfortunately, nobody’s made it all the way over there yet, due to the massive size of Ashenload’s main continent, and the lack of fast-travel points in the more remote regions of the continent.

So, they don’t know if anything will be over there. They don’t know if their guess will be right.

It won’t be, by the way.

There’s a small glade named “Day’s End”, and it’s only a few hours of walking away from one of the main cities in Ashenload. It’s completely underground, all the vegetation and wildlife sustaining themselves on whatever light is generated by thousands upon thousands of tiny glowing crystals growing from the ceiling. There’s a single massive crystal up there as well, perfectly rounded like a moon. The entire place is seemingly suspended in a perpetual night, the stars and moon overhead. Hence the name, “Day’s End.”

It’s a quiet place, tranquil in its own way. Slightly dark, but that’s to be expected by a place that simulates a night-time environment. In addition, very few people are aware that it exists. Though, more are coming to hear of it, since there’s an automatic NPC script going around where they discuss rumors of a beautiful night-time cavern somewhere out in the wilderness.

Nobody’s connected the dots yet, unfortunately.

Oh, and those player gods are still in power—much to everyone’s chagrin.

The normal players are getting understandably upset with the way things are going, and some of the ridiculous decrees given out as of late.

Things are beginning to look like a dictatorship, in a game where you’re meant to have fun with friends and embark on epic quests. Of course people would start to get frustrated by this turn of events. It’s getting to the point where people are asking the game developers for a way to keep things from getting too out of hand. The developers haven’t said anything yet, though. I understand why, but the average player is seeing it as the company condoning whatever’s going on with the player gods. Which isn’t the case, of course.

There’s already a way to topple the player gods from power.

Anyway, it seems I’ve found what I was looking for.

 Deep in the wilderness, a single craggily mountain rises above the tree line, it’s jagged rock surfaces turned black by blasts and extreme heat. The thick forests, so verdant green and practically vibrating with life and vitality, indomitable and unconquerable, the trees which stand sovereign in this place, and the many, many varieties of wildlife living here—none of them dared approach that black spire.

The tree line ends a good kilometer away from the place, and nothing lives in the broken ground between the forest and the mountain. Even the birds give this place a wide berth, diverting their paths in a long arc around the sinister looking mountain.

They probably feel the aura of what lives within.

You see, it’s not for nothing that this place is named “Dragon’s Tooth.”

That being said, a normal dragon wouldn’t really pose me any threat here, given that my character is…well.

Suffice to say, it would take either a thunder of dragons to give me a decent workout, or something that’s managed to evolve beyond a dragon.

So, in other words, I need to find a raid level challenge—Something that would take dozens of normal players to complete.

Thankfully, such a thing can be found here, at the Dragon’s Tooth. It’s actually a fairly famous location, since all sorts of dragons can be found here. It’s a full on dungeon. Expect, where most other dungeons start off with small fry mob characters like slimes or skeletal undead, this place starts you off on wyverns.

Dragon’s Tooth doesn’t mess around.

Neither do I.

We’re a perfect match~

Anyway, because this place is so well known, it’s a bit of a given that other players come here. As mentioned, normally it’s raid groups, consisting of a good twenty to thirty players. They don’t normally go over forty, unless the group is planning on venturing as far into Dragon’s Tooth as they can.

However, just twenty or so players is good enough to beat the first boss, normally. Unless the group is incompetent.

The point is, I was going to run into other players eventually.

Just, it was surprising to run into a raid group almost immediately.

They were lingering right outside of the dungeon, most of them milling about and talking to other players. There was a group of five players conferring over a map, likely going over strategies and scenarios of what would happen once they enter the dungeon proper.

They were a lively group, obviously excited to be entering the Dragon’s Tooth dungeon.

However, they still noticed me walking towards the dungeon entrance fairly quickly.

The conversations died down, as more people saw me coming closer.

None of them questioned me, though. The red robe I was wearing, and the sword strapped to my side precluded any sort of suspicions as to who I might be, or why I’m at the Dragon’s Tooth.

It was well known that many of the more powerful individuals liked to test themselves against the dungeon.

Granted, there are still very few who will go in alone…but that’s neither here nor there.

I passed by the group, and continued into the dungeon itself.

The tunnels leading into it where made of stone, but had been blasted into a smooth glassy surface, clean enough that it could be a functional mirror. The floor had deep claw marks etched into it’s surface from passing dragons, along with scattered bones left from those who had failed right at the beginning of the dungeon, having vastly underestimated the strength of the first draconic enemies which had met them.

Speaking of which—All the sudden, the tunnel widened slightly, and the click of claws on stone became audible. There, in the middle of the tunnel, stood the first foe people meet in the Dragon’s Tooth. A half-grown wyvern.

Not quite an adult, this wyvern is still unable to fly, as it’s wings are not quite developed enough for that act. That’s not to say it’s unable to liberally tear a mans face off, though. Even small wyverns are enough to pose a serious risk to the average player.

The wyvern noticed me, and immediately sprung into action. It’s powerful back legs propelled it towards what it perceived as prey, and the wyvern’s jaw opened wide enough to swallow me whole. Not that that’s hard or anything. I’m still short.

Without any preamble, I sidestepped the wyvern’s strike, leaving him to chomp down on empty air.

The soft rasp of metal could faintly be heard under the cascade of scales and armored hide rumbling past me. It was followed by a faint snick, and a light splattering.

The wyvern continued moving, inertia allowing it to charge even after total death. The reptile slammed into one of the glassy walls, bereft a head and bleeding profusely—each pump of the still functioning heart sending blood out the exposed neck in a sad attempt of continuing life.

Not a challenge.

Not at all.

 Things won’t be difficult for a while yet, unfortunately.

I’m guessing thing’s will only start to get fun after the second or third boss. Until the lesser mobs clear out, nothing will be too difficult.

Just treat this as form practice, I guess. Make sure that my swings are precise, and that my stance is steady.

Advancing deeper into the dungeon was easy. The wyverns posed no threat, even with larger numbers and even fully grown members of their nests. At most, I needed two or three swings of my sword to kill a single one.

Then I reached the first boss.

The Guardian Dragon.

There aren’t any wyverns past this point. Instead, drakes and fully grown dragons can be found.

The Guardian Dragon itself is simply a normal adult dragon who defends the entrance to the next part of the dungeon. There’s nothing special about it at all.

Well, unless you count the fact that it’s a dragon.

An average raid party will normally be pressured by it, and will be hard pressed to wear down it’s natural defenses to the point where they can actually wound the damned thing. 

The Guardian’s first move was to open it’s mouth wide, giving me a great view of it’s teeth, and the glow gathering at the back of it’s throat. Ah, yes—that’s another thing separating adult dragons from wyverns or drakes.

They can breathe fire. 

A powerful push off with my right leg sends me out of the ability’s path, and dragon fire scorches the cave entrance behind me. The heat of it causes the walls to glow a dim red as the stone is partially melted.

The dragon turned it’s diamond shaped head, and seemed slightly surprised to see me standing firm off to the side, unharmed. It reared back, readying itself for a second blast.

The light tap of my boots on the pitted stone ground was the only sound I made moving forward. The dragon’s foreleg loomed in front of me before it could even react. My sword cut a brilliant white arc out of the air—an arc that crossed through the dragon’s leg.

For a moment, everything seemed to stand still.

And then the dragon collapsed, it’s leg cleanly bisected in two. Furious roars echoed through the tunnels, as it valiantly tried to bite at me with its head. Another arc relieved it of that troublesome appendage.

While stepping off the bosses corpse and sighing, a pleasant ding rang in my ear, announcing that some rewards had been transferred to my inventory after felling it, and that bonuses had been given for beating the Guardian Dragon on my own.

Nothing significant, of course. It had only been the first boss, after all.

----------------------------------------

Later that night, I pulled off my VR visor, and glanced at the bedside clock.

1:46 am.

So, about 4 hours were spent in Dragon’s Tooth. My character was left at the very bottom, so that all the enemies will have respawned by the time I re-enter the game.

Should be fun.

For now though, some sleep is in order.

Then, I’ll try contacting Jvorg again tomorrow, and seeing if he’s willing to divulge any more information. He’s been speaking like its imperative I go with these Pantheon people peacefully.

I say that anyone wanting to take me away from Jor is harboring bad intentions in their hearts. Needless to say, their motivations are dubious at best, and harmful at worst. It would be the height of stupidity to simply go along with whatever they want.

So then, why is Jvorg so insistent I go?

To be found out tomorrow, I guess. Hopefully.