"You're looking extra handsome today," Katie comments as Adam and I approach the trio in the Dungeon Guild's table area, and her boyfriend and girlfriend voice their agreement.
One of the new outfits I bought yesterday was a set of black pants, a dark green tunic without sleeves, and a dark grey vest-like covering to go over it. The vest is made of leather that was treated with alchemy and then enchanted, giving it some extra durability.
On my hands are a pair of fingerless gloves made with a dark grey fabric that's slightly thick, giving them a little bit of warmth. They, too, have been enchanted to give them increased durability. I'm also wearing a pair of dark grey boots made of the same leather as my vest, though its laces are dark green.
[Metal Boar Vest] Quality: 3 This leather vest was crafted from the hide of a metal boar, then treated with alchemy and enchanted to enhance its durability and provide extra protection to its wearer. Durability: 60
[Metal Boar Boot (Right)] Quality: 3 This right-foot leather boot was crafted from the hide of a metal boar, then treated with alchemy and enchanted to enhance its durability and provide extra protection to its wearer. Durability: 60
[Metal Wool Fingerless Glove (Right)] Quality: 3 This right-hand fingerless glove was crafted from cloth spun from the wool of a metal sheep, treated with alchemy and enchanted to enhance its durability and provide extra protection to its wearer. Durability: 60
The Durability factor is the item's equivalent to a person's Constitution, meaning that they can handle attacks the same as I would at 60 Constitution. That's more than enough to provide protection through to the end of the Dungeon with only minimal damage to them, if any.
A bit overkill, but to make sure that no matter how long it took me to reach the puzzle, I wanted to have at least something to provide extra defense. The vest is to protect my organs, the gloves and boots are to make my punches and kicks not affect my hands and feet as much.
They also come with the added perk of looking stylish, especially compared to some of the other things I saw in the shops yesterday.
"I look handsome in everything," I tell Katie. "I had the tunic getting tailored while I was training with you three yesterday, though the boots, gloves, and vest were already purchased and back at the inn."
"Well," she says. "You look extra handsome in that outfit. Did you buy new pants, too? Was something wrong with the pairs you had before?"
"I did," I nod. "I wanted them to be made out of the same type of cloth as my tunic, even if the weave is different. That makes it match better."
"Your outfit does look nice," she nods. "Are those the packs you mentioned?"
Adam and I are each wearing one of the packs I bought yesterday while Adam is carrying the third.
"Yeah," I pull off the one I'm wearing. "Here you go."
Adam also hands over his packs and the archers pull them on. We move to another part of the Caniton Dungeon Guild so the trio can check their movements with the packs on and adjust the straps as needed. Once that's done, we head to the room with the Dungeon entrance.
"Remember the plan?" I ask.
"Leaving me behind?" Caleb asks from right behind the archers, startling them.
"I knew you'd shown up," I tell him. "And that you were coming over. You're late. Now. Does everyone remember the plan?"
"We'll run the first Zone," Katie says. "Depending on how well we manage the run, we'll take on the second Zone as well."
"Both of those should take us about a day each," Elise says. "The first Zone because of how large it is, the second Zone because the fights are tougher and so will take more time to finish, meaning we'll likely need longer rests as well. Using some of the stuff you bought and my water magic, we should be able to handle staying in the Dungeon for an extended period without having someone devoted to carrying supplies."
"If we do the second Zone," Chance says. "And we find that it wasn't too difficult, then we'll take on the third Zone after getting some rest. However, pushing further only happens if we're feeling good about the run we had in the Zone we're in. If we feel things are still too difficult, then we'll end the run there and return three days later."
"It typically takes up to ten runs," Caleb says as we pass through the Dungeon Gate and into the Dungeon itself. "To be able to handle the Zone you were running. Gaining Experience can be… a struggle. You don't gain very much, so you just have to keep running an area over and over again until you hit a Level, then repeat that again."
"That's why everyone generally sticks to grinding out up through a certain Zone most of their life," Katie nods. "Some will push through to the next Zone and farm it, or even the Zone after, depending on how strong and comfortable they are. If it was just the three of us and another Party, we wouldn't even dream of going to the second Zone until we've done this one for at least five years."
"Really?" I ask.
"Yeah," Katie nods. "By that point, we would definitely be strong enough to handle it. Each further Zone you go increases the danger, and it's better to act with caution. But if we're satisfied with our earnings from Zone 1, we may never go past it. That's just how most people are."
I'd looked into the sell prices of items from the various Zones and was wondering why there was a significant increase in price when selling things that can only be found in deeper Zones. While a price increase was expected, items being double or even triple in value wasn't. The fact that most groups probably never go past the first Zone hadn't occurred to me.
Up until now, I'd just assumed it was a deal of taking a year to get the Levels needed to progress, then working on the next Zone. I didn't think that Parties would deliberately stall just because it was easier. Most probably never want to risk themselves and so just stick with what's most comfortable for them.
"Makes sense," I say. "But you three are okay with potentially going further now if we think we can?"
"Yes," Katie answers. "The six of us together are already able to handle the first Zone, as proven in our last run. Based on that, it probably wouldn't be more than two or three more runs for us to have the Levels needed for us to be able to handle the second Zone."
"Also," Chance adds. "We know that if we didn't come with you and you couldn't find others that you liked, you'd probably just run it with yourself and Adam alone regardless of difficulty."
"Hey!" Caleb exclaims. "What about me?"
"I don't think he'd trust you without at least three others around," Chance states, then looks at me again. "If you didn't have us, you'd run this with just Adam and go to the second Zone, wouldn't you?"
"Yup."
"Wait, seriously?" Caleb asks. "Do you have any idea how insane that sounds?"
"I'm a Summoned," I fix my gaze on him. "I have abilities beyond the norm. If I actually put the effort in, I could have run this Dungeon from start to finish without having earned any Skills before entering it, while butt-naked and without any supplies."
Caleb stares at me in confusion.
"I don't get the point of that exaggeration."
"You did notice I gained a lot of Levels last time, right?" I ask. "The archers already figured it out, but I gain Experience at an accelerated rate inside of Dungeons."
"Even with that," Caleb says. "You wouldn't be able to run all the way through, not on your own. You-"
"You already gain extra Experience when something is more dangerous," I remind Caleb. "My perk basically gives that a boost as well. One of the Skills I received upon arrival was [Dungeon Delver], which basically guarantees that I gain enough Experience to at least make it through the Zone I'm in. A group can take down monsters more easily than an individual can, in normal circumstances, so I need a lower Level to make it through a Zone when in a group rather than alone. If I were alone, I'd need a significantly higher Level to manage it, so I'd gain even more Experience."
That's an actual Skill that some Summoned are found to have according to my research, so I'm using it to help explain why I gained so much Experience before.
"Now," I say. "It only works if it's actually possible for me to complete the Zone with those boosts. So if the Dungeon has factors I can't handle no matter how strong I am, I won't receive a boost. So going into a Dungeon filled with undead will result in my own death. I don't have any abilities that can actually properly take down undead."
"This Dungeon, however," Adam says. "Is full of monsters that can be taken out using physical combat. With his perk that gives him a boost to combat-related Skills, he'd gain [Martial Arts Mastery] at the very least, possibly [Sword Mastery] as well if he picked up a goblin's sword."
"Damn," Caleb says. "And you even proved that you can breathe underwater thanks to that other Skill. The gods must really like you to have given you so many useful Skills to start off with. The possibilities for you are basically unlimi-"
Caleb cuts off as his eyes widen. The Ultimate Skills of each species aren't an unknown thing, but they're also not things that a person can be granted. They're something we have to be born with according to what I learned when I was looking stuff up a couple of days ago.
Since the information isn't unknown, that means that anyone who actually knows about the Ultimate Skill for humans could piece things together and figure out what I came to this world with. I wasn't granted a Skill, I had one innate to me already and it's manifested itself through the System as a way to boost me even further.
Though having such a Skill is definitely a rarity and would likely make me a high-value commodity in some ways, I'm not too concerned with people realizing it. I'm a Summoned, after all – trying to take advantage of a Summoned is a well-known folly.
Caleb takes a few steps up to me and puts his hands on my shoulders, staring me dead in the eye.
"You just became a million times sexier."
"I was already at the top of the universe in looks," I say. "I've apparently now made it impossible for anyone to come close to me."
Caleb opens and closes his mouth several times, then his face turns bright red as he steps back. Adam chuckles at his response.
"What is it?" Katie asks, brow furrowed a little in her confusion.
"Caleb just finds people who have the power to become strong as fuck attractive," I tell her. "He's forgetting that he's yet to have made a good impression on me. By the way, Adam, what do you think your grandpa is going to do once he gets to Caleb's hometown?"
"Asher's going to my hometown?" Caleb asks. "Why?"
"To let them know that the bounty on me is unjustified," Adam tells him before looking at me. "Custom for their actions would to be completely wipe out their town in response for their town's members wiping out our clan. But since I was acting clan-chief and only wiped out the people directly responsible for the attack, he'll probably just tell them that we should leave it at that unless they want a Triple-Ranker breathing fire down on them."
"How long will it take him to get there?" I ask.
"Depends on how he travels," Adam shrugs. "If he walks or rides a carriage, a couple of weeks, maybe? He can also grow draconic wings and could probably fly there in a few days."
"He can do what?" I ask.
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"It's a Rank Advancement perk for demihuman dragons," Adam tells me. "If Avuldrax returns to dragon form and lets Grandpa ride him, then he could probably get there in an hour or two. Five minutes if Avuldrax flies as fast as he can."
Would it be possible to learn a spell that can fly me that fast? I file that thought away for future research.
"Archers," I say. "You each have a map in your pack and stuff to mark it with. I'll be leaving you three with the responsibility of mapping out our run today, as discussed yesterday."
"Got it," the archers say.
"Everyone ready?" I ask, and they confirm. "Then let's get going!"
Today's run is a little bit easier than the previous run was, no doubt because we're all just a tad bit stronger than we were for the last run and because we've already had some experience fighting the monsters here. Adam, Caleb, and I are even able to take on a stone statue alone, though Caleb struggles a little if he's not using his magic martial arts.
My new gloves and boots work wonders. The gloves prevent my fists from getting torn up with my punches against the stone beasts yet have don't affect my grip for my sword and knife. That's one of the perks of them being made from a fabric with a magical metal aspect to them. Both my gloves and my boots are durable enough to withstand the hits as well, so they aren't falling apart. In addition, they help absorb some of the shock from the impact to reduce how much it affects me beyond just protecting my skin.
After we stop for lunch in a safe zone, the three archers begin comparing their maps together. They all look the same to me, so I can't figure out what's going on.
"You guys noticed it?" Caleb asks the archers, who look up.
"Notice what?" I ask.
"I overheard some people talking," Caleb says. "But didn't know if they were just yanking chains of some newbies or if they were serious. Ever since the Dungeon upgraded the other day, it's had the exact same path for the first Zone."
"What?" I ask.
"It wasn't noticed immediately, of course," Caleb says. "Since people stopped comparing routes awhile ago because there's no discernible pattern to what determines them. It was only when someone who's good at memorizing routes ran the Dungeon a second time since the shift that people noticed. Then some others ran the Dungeon's first Zone, compared their maps, and realized it was true. For some reason, the Dungeon decided to make the path set."
"And you're only telling us this now?" I ask.
If this is true, it also partly explains why so many important people were wanting to run this Dungeon the other day. They were wanting to investigate this as well.
"I didn't think it was serious," Caleb shrugs. "So I dismissed it."
"If you want to run this Dungeon with us," I say. "You need to tell us everything you hear that may hold relevancy, even if it might not be true. We could've come in with a map of this already instead of having to navigate around like lost ducks."
"That's weird," Katie says. "We started realizing it a little bit ago, but yeah, our maps are matching the one from our last run, at least, as far as the areas we've gone that we went before. But this Dungeon's first Zone is notorious for the fact that it's different every run. That's one of the reasons why there aren't any other challenges here besides the two monsters. The maze is the challenge."
A sudden shift to how this Dungeon works? That shouldn't be how it goes. Upgrades make things more difficult, not easier.
"Wait," I say. "Archers, you have the old map memorized?"
"Yes," Katie nods.
"Mark up one of those with the stuff that we haven't already crossed."
"I can do one better," Caleb says. "I have the new map completely memorized."
Caleb takes one of the maps and starts marking off all of the routes. I watch as he does, surprised to find that the Dungeon doesn't just change the paths for each run, but it even completely isolates some areas, preventing a way to get in it. That must be to help create an illusion of the Dungeon being larger than it really is.
This design…
"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
"What?" Everyone stares at me.
"Remember what the old men told us?" I ask. "When a Dungeon upgrades, it adds in a puzzle that only the Summoned who caused its upgrade can solve. The puzzle remains the exact same until either the Summoned solves it or leaves the area."
"You're suggesting that the new path is the puzzle?" Katie asks.
"Yup," I answer. "That's why it's not changing – because the puzzle is to navigate to a specific part of the maze. Until I clear it, the puzzle is the exact same for everyone. In this case, that forces the maze into the exact same pattern every time."
"How can you be certain that this is the puzzle?" Adam asks.
"The map," I answer. "The design it creates, to be more specific. If I unfocus my eyes slightly… I can make out letters from my native tongue. Most of the letters are written plain, except for here, where I can make out the word 'decide'. It's written in a stylized form called cursive, which is when apart from certain dashes and dots, you don't pick up your pencil or pen. Or, uh, whatever you're using to mark with. And the dots and dashes go after. This one has only one dot and no dashes. There's a sealed-off section of the maze right at the start of the word, as if you'd be coming from there, another at the very end, and another set between the dot and the rest of the letter it goes to."
"Meaning what?" Caleb asks.
"You think that one of those three sectioned-off halls are the goal?" Katie asks.
"Possibly," I answer. "There are four more of them, one at each of the first two and last two letters, inside of them. But I think we can rule those out. There's a possibility that we actually have to walk the route from start to finish, so let's give that a try. If it fails, then we check out the space between the dot and its letter."
"What's the path?" Adam asks.
"We start here," I point at the appropriate spot on the map. "We're not that far, we should be able to get there in about ten minutes."
"Let's go!" Caleb says.
The six of us pack up and head out, and I make sure we do not stray off of the path, ignoring the questions when we go through loops that make no sense to the others. Cursive sometimes has us writing over a spot we already wrote and I want to make sure we follow the path exactly, just in case. This entire section of the map doesn't have any off-shoots, meaning that we can't stray too much, anyway. In fact, the only ways in are from the left-hand side of the top of the first 'd' in the word and from the right-hand side of the bottom of the last 'e' in it.
The moment we reach the end of the word, there's a chiming sound and runes appear on the wall before us – the wall that blocks off this side of the sectioned-off hall, creating a chamber within.
Enter Now, O Chosen One, and Reap the Reward Which Awaits You
"That's definitely you," Caleb says. "I bet if we tried to go through the wall-"
Caleb charges the wall and slams straight into it.
"Oof. Yup. Solid wall."
I roll my eyes and approach the wall, putting a hand against it. The wall ripples as my hand passes through it.
"Back in a minute," I tell the group, then step through the wall to find myself in a chamber that's only twenty feet long.
Ivy grows up each wall as well as on the pedestal in the center of the chamber, that plus the moss covering most of the ground providing a gentle green light to the room. Blue flowers grow here and there on the ivy, adding a touch of faint blue light to the room as well.
Floating above the center of the pedestal is an orb that looks to be made almost entirely out of shadows. Transparent, but dark. Everything viewed beyond it is tinted as if cast in an unyielding shadow.
When I reach the orb and inspect it to see what my reward is, I find that the orb itself isn't my reward for solving the puzzle.
You may choose which reward you wish to accept, Summoned One. [Box of Infinite Meal Bars] [Celestial Water Tree Sapling] [Staff of Ancient Missiles] [Sword of Celestial Flames] [Jar of Infinite Lube] [Refilling Coin Pouch] [Spirit Wings] [True Dimensional Storage Cuff]
Even though the message doesn't state it, I somehow know that every Summoned who does one of their puzzles in its original form is presented with a choice like this for their reward. The choices are submitted by the gods and may vary from puzzle to puzzle. Not just for what the rewards are, but even which gods submit a reward option can vary.
Something else I instinctively know is that the reason there was no mention of this during my research is because I'll be completely unable to reveal the truth to others. The moment I leave this chamber, I can only state and reveal the reward itself, not that there were choices, nor that the rewards are actually from the gods themselves.
I read through the eight choices offered by the eight gods who submitted them. Surprisingly, I'm able to actually view the item's information when I try. All eight of them are Item Quality 9, which I suppose fits for a reward offered by a god.
The [Box of Infinite Meal Bars] allows people to, at the cost of 5 Mana, pull out a meal bar with a standard flavor. If they spend an additional 5 Mana on it, they can even choose the flavor of the meal bar to "nearly anything they can imagine". The box itself isn't large, only eight inches long, three inches wide, and two inches thick on the outside, but with half-inch-thick walls. The meal bars are conjured in the inner space when the lid is closed after the Mana is supplied.
Even though there's a Mana cost for this and only meal bar can be produced at a time, that's still effectively infinite. According to the description, they contain 'all of the nutrients needed for a healthy meal', and whether it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner is decided upon conjuration.
The [Celestial Water Tree Sapling] is an immortal sapling that produces water from its leaves when Mana is infused into it. If planted into the ground, the soil around it becomes more moist. Once it grows, a pond forms around its base, and eventually, a lake.
Even if not planted, it can be used on journeys to provide clean water at all times. It can also be used to produce water for alchemy or cooking, which are also boons.
The [Staff of Ancient Missiles] is a magic staff that casts [Arcane Missile], a more powerful form of the [Arcane Bolt] spell. They can home in on targets, fly further and faster than the base spell, and when cast by the staff, cost only 1 Mana and have ten times the Magic of the wielder.
That… is ridiculously powerful. Even a non-mage could use that to essentially blast their way through most targets.
Not that the [Sword of Celestial Flames] is any better, being a high-durability sword that can produce flames at ten times the user's magic for a cost of only 0.100 Mana per second and with an edge sharp enough to cut through quite a lot.
Then there's the [Jar of Infinite Lube], which is exactly what it sounds like. For a cost of 10 Mana, one can even change the flavor, color, scent, and slickness of the lube. That's the only thing that costs with it, too – it just keeps refilling itself as lube is removed. Handy if someone's planning on doing it a lot instead of adventuring or whatever. Would be perfect if all I was going to do was settle down.
The [Refilling Coin Pouch] would be extremely useful, as it would ensure I'd never need to worry about earning money again (so long as it didn't get stolen). There are seven coin types: copper, silver, gold, platinum, mithril, adamantite, and godsteel. Each one has five denominations: one, five, ten, twenty-five, and fifty. This pouch contains five of each type of each denomination – or one hundred seventy-five coins in it. When a coin is removed, a brand-new one is generated within.
Just like the jar, there's no cost to produce more coins. That would basically pay my way through life here.
The [Spirit Wings] are a set of spectral wings that I can summon at any time for no cost, and they would allow me to soar around at will. There's no flight cost if I use the standard speed or slower, but there's a little bit of a cost if I want to fly faster.
Finally, the [True Dimensional Storage Cuff]. It's a dark grey metal cuff one-and-a-half inches in width that can be worn on a wrist, with some green runes engraved on it. The cuff is a portal to a pocket dimension that is "essentially infinite" and has a temporal lock on it, maintaining the exact state an item is in when placed inside. There is zero cost to put items inside or pull items out of it.
What's more, a temporal lock that places everything in stasis probably means that if a living thing goes into it, it would come out exactly the same as when it went in. To the plant or animal or person – if possible on those last two – no time would pass. They would enter and leave immediately after from their perspective.
All of those look extremely useful to me, some more than others. The God of Journeys and Travels, the God of Agriculture, the God of Magic, the God of Weapons, the God of Desire and Sex and Love (and other related things), the God of Commerce, the God of Beasts, and the…
"Huh," I examine the last item again, as I realize that I don't just know the identity of the god who provided it. "That's interesting."
I can tell that it was submitted by a god as with the others, but I have zero clue who the god is. That's an object I can't just 'glean', either, as I'm not entirely sure which god of the ones I know would offer an object for storing goods in. Though it does seem that not all of the gods who submitted an item are known to still be active in this world.
The God of Agriculture and God of Commerce were both mentioned as having not interacted with the world in centuries and so are assumed to have left it. Yet both have submitted an item, which means that they're both clearly around right now.
"Though the choices really narrow down to two," I think aloud as I examine the list again. "Even if everything would be useful. I want them all, but practicality. The [Refilling Coin Pouch] and [True Dimensional Cuff] are the better options. Could go with the sword or staff for this Dungeon and maybe future stuff, but they would probably draw too much attention. And make things too easy."
Even if I don't quite yet know what I want to do long-term here, I know that simply obliterating every monster without any effort won't be fun. At least, not when it's through some magic item I simply acquired. If I become strong enough for that? Then I'll definitely be fine with simply obliterating them.
"The pouch will ensure I never have to worry about money again," I say. "But the cuff means I won't have to leave behind any valuable materials I find while traveling. Those materials might be rare and even able to be fashioned into stuff I can use superior to something I could just buy."
If my time here continues as it has been, money won't be an issue for me, anyway. Those scales gave me more than twenty gold coins in total and I barely spent five gold coins on my new gear. That's even with me getting boots, gloves, a vest, a sword, and a knife all at Quality 3. All of this gear is also superior to what's needed for this Dungeon.
In other words, I'm probably never really going to need to want for money. At the moment, I definitely don't need to worry about finances, and the cuff will make it so that I don't have to worry about deciding what to loot and what not to loot while doing this Dungeon run and any future ones I do.
I can just loot everything.
"Alright!" I make my decision, and the cuff appears in the orb of shadows.
I reach into the orb and grab the cuff, then pull it out and examine it. The object is just as the description provided. Even though the quarter-inch-thick cuff has no gap in it to help it slip onto my wrist, it slides on just fine. Not only that, but it's a perfect fit for me as well. There's definitely magic involved to ensure that it slides on fine and doesn't slide back off on its own.
"Thank you," I say to the god who provided this reward, then I leave the room the way I came.
"Neat cuff," Adam says. "I was hoping it was money."
He looks extremely disappointed as the others all notice the cuff and inspect it.
"Considering we can now loot everything," I tell him. "We can make more money. And remember that the reward is for the Summoned, Adam. If it was you, it probably would have been money."
I don't doubt that in the slightest.
"Now," I say. "Let's go finish this Zone. It's been fairly easy thus far, so let's just head straight to the end now that we know the path. With our Party dynamic and the Levels we've gained so far, we can probably take on the Boss Chamber without issue."