CHAPTER TWO

AN WORTHY ENEMY

After a few minutes of walking throught the corridor, young woman with unevenly cut cherry brown ponytail noted few things.

First of all, the air seemed to get warm enought for her to start sweating. She had to unclip the buttons and roll up the gray long sleeves of her baseball blouse.

Other thing that she noted was that the mushrooms that illuminated the safe zone she came from got smaller and became fewer in number, and started to get replaced with glowing quartz crystals.

Soon, she arrived at the crossroad.

[Tutorial activated]

[First lesson. Ways of dungeons]

[Novice dungeons are artifictially created entities- an legacy left by old empires of legends. They are supposed to teach newcomers the basics workings of System. They posses from two to five floors, and are passable only once. Some permits pass in groups, other only alone. They posses special classes or skills attainable as an reward of finishing the floor. There are 51 known Novice dungeons, with 9 of them having destroyed either entrace or core.]

[Introductory Dungeons are simplified versions of Novice dungeons. They posses only one floor, and may posses some rare or unique classes or skills. There are known 971 known Introductory Dungeons. They are also artifictially made and are managed by guilds, associations or kingdoms themselves.]

[Monster Den Dungeons posses one kind of species, and can have up to 3 floors. They are sources of unique components only attainable there.]

[Trap Dungeons posses from one to five species, and have various kinds of traps that can guard an treasure chest.]

[Magic Dungeons posses from one to five species, from which some members are capable of magic. Its also having magical traps and treasure chests that can contain unique spell scrolls.]

[Elemental Dungeons are specialised Magic Dungeons that posses species belonging to one element, and their rewards are guaranteed to be related to said element]

[Labirynth Dungeons are filled with riddles, and may posses either Trap, Magic or Elemental dungeons traits]

[Vanity Dungeons are unique entities that are said to be created from dead dragons heart that died with deep hatred. They are vicious in nature, and usually dont have many trasures inside. Some of them can camouflage themselfes as other kind of dungeon.]

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[All of these dungeons, other than Novice Dungeons, can become Wild. Their inhabitants mutates and leave it then and infest the outside. These Dungeon cores needs to be destroyed before they do too much damage.]

[Quest acquired. Choose one of the roads. All of them lead to different room working as an artifictial mini dungeon. Finishing System Quests gives pointsthat can be exchanged for prizes later. Warning. You cant change your choice.]

Magnolia looked around, her hand gripping the sword. There were some scribbles on each wall, but they were too faded to understand anything from them, other than that they were using different colors that once could have been green, blue and red. No color belonged to the road she came from. But what was the meaning behind these colors?

-Usually.. colors refered to rarity? Green should be easiest..

Having not much of choice since she didnt know if it was true or not, she decided to trust her guts and choose the right patch. This time the road was short, as soon she was greeted with huge wooden door with specks of green dye left. When she put her hand on the handle, she saw another text coming.

[Do you wish to enter Artifical Nature Dungeon? You have to formulate the answer either verbally or mentally]

"So color reffered to element? Green is nature.. is red an fire, and blue water?"

-Yes.. I wish to enter.

Doors opened with ease, but Magnolia couldnt remember taking an step and passing throught them. Suddenly, she was surrounded by nothingness. Soaked in infinite darkness and overcome by fear, she wanted to scream badly, but no words escaped her mouth.

After what seemed like eterinty, but was really an matter of seconds, young woman fell and onto cold marble stone. Sprawled on the floor, she enjojed the cooling sensation that soothed her body and spinning sensation in her head. When she decided that she calmed enought, she reached for the sword that fell somewhere around her... and got awarded with an odd moss ball instead.

-W.. What .. what the hell was that! I am feeling.. sick...

She threw the thing away and tried sitting up... in the process, she puked out her guts.

[Welcome to the Artificial Nature Dungeon]

[Quest Completed]

[One Reward point gained. Level privilege gained]

[New Quest acquired. Defeat all the opponents inside and proceed for the second floor]

-If it is going to be like this every time... Argh.. how scary..

Magnolia igonored the bad taste in her mouth and stood up unsteadily. Her hand found an column that she used to steady herself..

"Wait. Column? It looks a bit like.. greek corinthian style order..."

It was definitely simmiliar thought there were few differencies. In the middle of the decorational vines was blob like thing and something that looked like tree stump. Both of them surrounded an childlike figure. There were also strange symbols written on the base. She wondered whenever should she note these too, but soon remembered her problem.

-Where is my sword?

After looking around, she found it in the middle of the rubble covered in moss that once was an column. Actually, most of the surroundings were covered in the moss and mushrooms - the room she was in resembled an cave, or maybe, taking an consideration of columns and marble floor.. an ruin of old temple?

Throught one big split in the high ceiling came light, along with faraway sounds of birsong and wind rushing throught leaves... There was also an slightly lounder sound- one of the moving water, like an fountain, and an sound of chimes. The place it illuminated was hidden by some rubble , thought an shape of an greenish wiry sculpture peeked from behind it.

After recovering her only weapon, Magnolia checked the straps of her backpack and wanted to go in this direction, but an sound from behind made her pause. When she turned back, she saw an green blob get from under the rubble. It moved rather slowly, and when it noticed her presence, that thing made an strangest thing possible- as if it was an cat, it curved into an "n" shape and spitted in young womans direction.

-What the hell!

Instictively, she ducked to the left. Her decision was correct- an hissing sound from behind and unpleasant smell gave Magnolia an idea what blobs weapon might be.

Acid.

She didnt have any time to consider her discovery. Was it lethal or not? Green blob stretched and leaped in her direction, making an gurgling sound. Magnolia barely evaded the second attack. Enemy crashed on the colum she was studying before.

Blob was twitching slightly, but not making any other move. Was it stunned by the impact? Magnolia didnt know, but she saw it as an chance. She tightened the grip on the handle of her blade, and slashed blindly at the creature.

Sword went throught it as if it was an warm butter, and as she retreacted her weapon, an green goo followed, seeping slowly from the cut. Seeing the effectivness of her move made her slash at it again and again, falling into strange madness. Blob tried to attack her again, but its acid spit failed to do any real damage other than discoloring her shoes and jeans.

[1 experience gained]

[Level up! Current level- 1]

Magnolia felt an rush of energy throught her body, making her revitalized. Fear and anger left her face, giving place to an small grin that soon became big smile.