It was only 10:17 am when Stephen woke up. Comtess was huddled against him. When she noticed he was awake, she started licking his face before dragging away his covers. The soft barking that followed was a clear call for her belayed walk.
“Comtess? Gimme a momenn, girl, al’igh?” Despite his slurred voice, Stephen didn’t take too long to get out of bed, having slept surprisingly well. He was shocked he hadn’t made any nightmares or was so refreshed even after sleeping for only ten hours. With the day he had before, he wouldn’t have been surprised if he had woken up in the evening. Thinking of the events from yesterday also brought to mind all the notifications he had had upon exiting the Dungeon.
“Right, rewards! Hmm, System? Blue Screen? Character Sheet? Status? ...
Damn it, I might as well go back downstairs. Hopefully, that screen will show up.
…or maybe not. With all the fish, I’d instead not go back there, ever. Aaargh! That was really dumb!”
"Wouaf!"
"How nice of you to agree 'Tess."
Knowing he could only delay the inevitable, Stephen went outside after putting on some clothes, Comtess on his heels. Unfortunately, she wasn’t his reason for doing so. He only wanted to open the small windows that led to his basement, hoping the smell would disperse. At least it wasn’t so bad that it had already drifted outside.
Going back inside was another problem altogether. Comtess had decided it was unacceptable that he wouldn’t go with her on their daily stroll. When Stephen showed he wouldn’t stay outside, she ran to him and put herself in his path, barking in disapproval.
“I know, I know. Just give me some time. I promise we will get out. There’s something I need to check real quick, okay?”
Her whinings were answers enough.
“Don’t be like that ‘Tessy. It won’t take long. Not if you don’t block the door at least...”
It wasn’t often he skipped their morning walks, as he genuinely enjoyed doing it, but every time it happened, Comtess showed her disappointment. That he didn’t mind much and always made it up to her certainly didn’t help her behaviour. Well, he liked spoiling her, so what?
For now, though, Stephen had more urgent things to do.
There was a pungent smell when he arrived in his basement, as he had dreaded. The dozen or so fish that had stayed outside weren’t the worse. That honour belonged to the corpses he had brought back. Fortunately, there were only seven of them. Yet the odour was disgusting enough. He felt sorry for the snake lady he had left in the safe room. Maybe being assimilated by the Dungeon would be a better fate than her last ten hours.
While he couldn’t dispose of the corpses, the fish were put in a trash bag, a trial by itself.
It had seemed a good idea to loot everything he could. After all, fish from a place straight out of a fantasy world would taste great, right? Might as well take them all to enjoy later. Who knows, there could be unexpected benefits! It wasn’t unusual for food to give buffs when magic was a thing. To not harvest everything would’ve seemed a waste.
Well, in hindsight, arranging for a place ahead of time to store them all would’ve been better.
Stephen eventually went to the portal after walking around the four sledges crowding the space. One was filled with corpses. Another sledge was filled with leftover materials he didn’t use to build the cage in the safe room and partly with mushrooms. A third filled with the mushrooms left and the moss he had harvested. And the last one contained the loot from the enemies: their weapons and armour.
The vortex within the otherworldly structure was still glowing in an emerald green. The sign it was that the Dungeon was open was soon proven true.
Dungeon Portal #MW-SOL-EARTH-PIGMED-QUEEN
Status: Open
Dungeon Breakout: 3d 19h 29min
Access System Shop?
Y/N
“Cool, those screens do show up. Aa–nd the timer is way beyond what I thought, uh? The hell? Guess I shouldn’t complain.
Yes, of course, I want access to the Shop. Though seeing the screens I got yesterday would be nice, too. System Help?”
- Facilities Upgrades -
- Dungeon Shop -
“...alright, you win. Facilities Upgrades.” In his mind, it was to choose between hardware (facilities) and software (shop). Hardware seemed more important.
- Facilities Upgrades -
Obelisk of Awakening: 25 000 tokens
Are you scared? Want to grow before coming in? By linking with this obelisk, individuals can awaken and display their Status Screen before entering the dungeon. If they didn’t already have access to it, also unlock their mana.
Require one runic prism per person.
It will appear outside of the dungeon, next to the portal.
Runic Prism: 100 tokens [Locked – building missing]
A small device allowing someone to link with an Obelisk of Awakening.
Additional Portal Instance: 5000 tokens (+2500 for each following upgrade)
Independent Safe Room: 2500 tokens
Dungeon’s Safe Rooms can be accessed at any time, irrespective of the cool-down for entering the dungeon, but won't be included in the instantiation. If the Dungeon is already instanced before this upgrade is bought out, only one safe room per floor will be maintained. All others will be lost, reacquired by the dungeon itself.
Home-World Safe Room: 2500 tokens
You don’t trust the dungeon? Not to worry.
A room whose dimensions mirror the dungeon’s safe room (10*10*5 m²) will appear around this world’s portal.
If the space where the portal is located is smaller than needed, the room will be expanded externally or internally if the space around doesn’t allow it.
None of the items included in the range will be destroyed.
Safe Room Size increase: 1000 tokens / m²
Orb of Healing: 5 000 tokens
Provide the equivalent of 2 [Inferior] Health potions to each party member.
For a full party (6), that would amount to twelve potions, or 1,5 L
Orb of Mana: 5 000 tokens
Provide the equivalent of 2 [Inferior] Mana potions to each party member.
For a full party (6), that would amount to twelve potions, or 1,5 L
Armoury: 1000 tokens
Contain weapons racks and armour's stands.
Slowly restore durability at 1%/h.
Ice Box: 1000 tokens
An enchanted chest allowing storage of ingredients, food and other perishables for an unlimited amount of time.
It can hold a tenth of the safe room’s volume. (~ 50m³)
Garbage Pit: 1000 tokens
Have you got some useless things you’d like to discard?
The dungeon has a retake-all policy! No refunds, though. Items are lost forever. Living things aren’t accepted, either.
- 2nd Floor needs to be cleared for more upgrades -
The first thing Stephen noticed was the exorbitant price required for the Obelisk. Then the many hints amidst its description, one of which was about what he had been trying to do since waking up.
“Woof!”
After that was how helpful the Obelisk would be when he intended to involve others. Even if from the cost, it looked more like something to buy as a shared effort.
Then, of course, to have magic be proven to be a thing thanks to mentioning mana was also fabulous news, as it opened untold possibilities.
The rest of the upgrades were briefly skimmed over, although Stephen took note of the Independents and Home-World Safe Rooms as well as the Ice Box and Garbage Pit. While not that helpful long-term, the last two were sorely needed.
Still, some things took priority.
“Status screen! Display, Status Screen? Yay~” Nobody was there to see Stephen jump away upon the screen’s sudden appearance. Nor did anyone see his little dance when his request was acknowledged.
"Woof?"
- Status Screen -
Name:
Stephen Veil
Lv 4
Tokens: 7500
Xp: 1000 / 2500
Titles:
Displayed
Earth Trailblazer I
Others
Earth’s Emissary; Plunderer; Lone Wolf I
Health:
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
660 Hp
60.5 /h
(0 to 100% - 10 h 54 min 33 sec)
1.01 /min
Mana:
210 Mp
35 /h
(0 to 100% - 6h)
0.58 /min
Stamina:
675 Sp
742.8 /h
(0 to 100% - 54 min 42 sec)
12.38 /min
Stats:
Strength
Constitution
Dexterity
Free Stats: 12 pts
10
11
12
Perception
Wisdom
Intelligence
12
11
10
Skills:
14 available slots
36 skill points
Free slots:
[Identify] – Lv 1
Allows to show information about an entity in sight upon focus. The amount of detail depends on Skill Level.
Lv 1 - Basic and/or known information
[Inventory] – Lv 1
Allow access to a pocket dimension. Only items that can be held, lifted and moved can be stored.
Lv 1
→ 10 slots
→ 1 * User’s weight
→ Up to 10 parts per slot
Actives:
Passives:
There was a lot to take in. The numbers looked nice, but not having a way to compare them with his previous status was off-putting.
Although with his success in displaying his Status Screen, Stephen had some ideas. Though, he might have gotten a bit stubborn in wanting to get another prompt answered.
“Display previous Stats. Uh. Display missed notifications. Display past notifications. Display missed screens. Display past screens. Oh, come on!” “Woof, Woof!” “Display everything! … Tsk
Mmh, display, I don’t know… Display unawakened status screen? Display rewarded stats, display quests, display… Oh good, soon enough!”
Ongoing Quests:
- None -
Completed Quests:
5 – Show? Yes / No
Failed Quests:
- None -
Evidently, Stephen chose to display those.
Description:
Rewards:
Main Quest - 1st Floor cleared:
4800 xp
4800 tokens
The dungeon Break timer pushed back by 50 h
5 skill points
Achievement – Unique Quest - Earth's First Delver:
Congratulations, you’re the first Earthling to delve into a dungeon.
Title (Earth Trailblazer I: +1 to all basic stats)
1 Uncommon weapon of your choice, of a similar kind to the ones used during this delve
1000 tokens
10 skill points
+25% xp for this delve (1200 xp).
Hidden Quest - First Contact:
You're the first to meet another world's inhabitants
Title (Earth’s Emissary: makes it 25% easier to learn the language of sentients you’re the first to meet among earthlings.)
Language book allowing communication with the natives met. (Parseltongue)
500 tokens
Hidden Quest - Plunderer:
You've proven to be a very thorough person, looting everything you could, leaving nothing but bare stones and water behind you.
Title (Plunderer: Materials looted will get less damaged upon getting dismantled)
200 tokens
Cool-down until the next dungeon break increased by 12 h
Hidden Quest - Solo Delver I:
Lucky, greedy and overconfident;
Or skilful, forehanded and confident remains to be seen.
Still, you survived and thrived alone on the first floor, proving you had what it takes to delve on your own.
Title (Lone Wolf I: +5% in stats when fighting alone)
1000 tokens
1 Rare piece of armour
1 Uncommon Weapon among the ones used during this delve.
Cool-down until the next dungeon break increased by 12h
5 skills points
This time, Stephen made sure to read everything attentively. All previous screens were still opened before his eyes, as holographic pastel blue panels that allowed him to see through. Moving them could be done by hand, although it seemed to also work on intent, as they sometimes moved before he did.
The presence of Hidden Quests was a welcome surprise, as were the few Titles. He didn’t know if the rewards would be the same no matter how many people were at the party. Although he suspected it wouldn’t be, considering the description for the Orbs available in the store.
The part about the Solo Delver Quest couldn’t be any truer. He might have been forehanded, but he definitely was also all the first three: lucky, greedy and overconfident. As for whether or not he would go back on his own? That was a loaded question. What he knew was why the timer until the next Dungeon Break had been pushed back so much. Having another day to prepare before he made his decision was a blessing.
For now, though, Stephen took his phone, which he noticed he had left behind last evening on the table next to the portal, and looked for each of the rewards while comparing them with his Status Screen.
He first looked into the experience he earned and his level. He had apparently earned 6k xp, meaning 5k was spent to reach level four. He guessed he started at level zero rather than one since he needed only half of that experience for his next level. This seems to work well, with five hundred xp to reach level one, then five hundred more per level. One reason why he bothered figuring this out was to know how his stats increased.
The easiest cause to single out was his Title - Earth Trailblazer I, granting him one point across all his stats.
Another, although he had doubts about this one, was his level. It would make sense for his stats to increase after each increment. But he already had free stats to allocate, supposedly three per level.
Yet he doubted those were the only stats he earned. Otherwise, he wouldn’t feel so much better than before. Be it his body or even his mind. That he felt well rested despite his short night was proof enough. Another noticeable sign of this was his senses, from a keener sight and better hearing and sense of smell. Although unwelcome for the last one. It seemed a safe assumption to link that to an increased perception.
Another stark difference was about his strength; trying to lift a few weighty items around him proved he got a significant improvement. Of course, he certainly wasn’t twice as strong, but the change was enough to notice it once he exercised his body.
Overall, he believed his body had improved by around half. Something he could quickly test later concerning his strength once he went back upstairs. Since that was where his dumbbells were, the simplest way he could think of to accurately gauge his new strength.
While he couldn’t find the exact cause of his stats increases, for now, focusing on each stat displayed on his status screen revealed details on how they affected him:
Strength was how efficient muscles were in exerting effort. Physical damages, carrying weight and health were the most apparent aspects related to this stat.
Constitution was for the wellness of the physical body. Mainly related to health, stamina and resistance.
Dexterity was linked to movements, be it their precision or their scope. Accuracy, nimbleness and coordination were its main parts.
Perception was to qualify how in tune a person was with their environment. Thus encompassing awareness, intuition and sensitivity.
Wisdom was to measure how deep was someone’s character. Mana, insight and empathy were at its core.
Intelligence was to appraise how skillfully a person could use their mind. It pertained to magical damage, learning ability and mana.
While the descriptions were rather broad, at least there were examples of their main aspect. Albeit, how each stat influenced each of those aspects remained a mystery. Stephen got tempted to take a picture of this screen to think about it later. Its transparency didn’t make it optimal, but it worked well enough. He didn’t want to open each screen whenever he wanted to know something. It would be impractical, but he didn’t know if others could see the system windows.
Not seeing what else he could learn about stats without trying things, the newly awakened human focused on his other rewards. He was still pondering about whether to look into the items
he earned – a rare piece of armour, two uncommon weapons and a language book – or the thirty-six skill points.
Comtess had other ideas in mind. She had been patient, even allowing her human caretaker to ignore her for a while. But enough was enough. He deserved to be reminded of his priorities. Or her priorities. But obviously, she was the most important among them, so her priorities took precedence over his own.
The following series of noises were a vivid wake-up call for Stephen. First, the scratchings on the door until the doorbell turned, then a creaking noise and the short happy bark Comtess did when seeing her path cleared. More obvious yet was the very displeased barking that followed, echoing in sync with the pattering of her paws on the stone stairs.
By that point, ‘Tess bipedal friend had already noticed her approach. She might not be aware, but Stephen was deeply scared of what would happen to her should she cross the portal. As such, when he heard her coming down, he had already turned around and was ready to intercept her. Instead, he saw Comtess lying on the floor, whining, with her paws covering her muzzle. It was a relief to the dog’s lover; the corpses and fish had turned the area into a forbidden ground. He wasn’t sure he could’ve stopped her if she really wanted to explore the portal. She could sometimes be surprisingly nimble and devious in avoiding him. Then he started feeling sorry for his friend’s suffering and not holding his promise, aware he had lost track of time.