Confusion is a staple of the Dungeon. No matter what I do or who I talk to, there is always something I end up missing completely. Navigating the Dungeon just so happens to be one of the bigger things that I happen to never get.

Which was the exact reason that Dean was currently sitting in the middle of my room with a piece of paper between the two of us.

“So, did you get all that?” the ranger asked.

I looked at the man, who just moments prior had opened the door to my small apartment, sauntered over to the couch in the middle of the room and calmly told me to wake up till I actually did. Honestly, I was half asleep, and hating the fact that I lent him an extra key by the time I realized what he was talking about.

In that case, I locked eyes with the man and nodded. “I understood it all.”

“Like hell you did!” Dean laughed, patting the paper in his hands as he motioned to another place on the couch. “Now get over here! Helen’s making me do this so its not like I have any choice in the matter.”

I grinned at him. “So, what I’m hearing is that she’s got you seriously wrapped around her finger.”

“Of course not. It’s just that I realized you were hopeless when concerning maps.”

“I see your point,” I admitted easily. “However, how do you expect to teach me like this?”

“Shut up and just get over here; we need to do this before we go.”

I paused at his wording. It sounded like we weren’t doing the same thing today. “Where are we going?”

“I know we keep you Newbies out of the loop and all, but you don’t really think that the Newbie areas with only the weaker Featherkin are all there is on the first floor, right?” Dean asked rhetorically.

And with his words, I was given a little bit of an answer to one of my questions. I had always been wondering why the first floor seemed to be pretty small on all the maps I had taken the chance to get confused by, but with how much we walked everyday, I was half convinced that we weren’t even looking at a part of it. Dean had just confirmed that for me in the weird, cryptic way veterans chose to be.

Mollified, I got up from my bed to go to my living room. The apartment itself was a rendition another human before me had created, and I was lucky to even get a place with one bedroom and a living room. Even if they were on the small side.

The rooms themselves were boxy and bland, barely fit to be of housing to one person. It was like someone had the idea to try to fit everything that one person could need in one room and call it a day. Honestly, I felt the rooms were just like this so that people would be motivated to not stay in them all the time.

Just another thing that was done so that people focused on the Dungeon in the end.

Finally, I dropped myself onto my couch. There wasn’t much bounce or comfort, but my butt wouldn’t be in constant pain from the action at the very least.

“So, when’s the lesson?” I asked, eyeing the maze of tunnels on the paper between Dean and I. It looked more like someone had simply scribbled at random over the paper and decided their lines were now the Dungeon’s paths.

Dean caught my sight on the paper and laughed. “Don’t worry, Glen. I know you’re not the most gifted in the art of reading maps, so I’m just gonna go over the basics.”

“Thanks.” I sighed.

“Don’t get too excited now,” he grinned to himself, dragging a finger over the map. His path ended up at what looked like an inverted ‘V’ with the word ‘body’ written above it. “This is pretty important. Its a mark that says there’s a descriptor room here with something that will help body-type Traits. When you eventually go out on your own, you want to look for maps that have these marks, so that you can hunt down whatever description you want to add to a specific Trait.”

I frowned at the clearly important bomb that was just dropped. “Why haven’t we been informed of this when we first came here? Maps are obviously the most important thing if they can give us stuff like this.”

“Well, you see, its not like I don’t want to tell you guys, but its kind of a tradition to not tell Newbies everything. Helen says its so you guys don’t end up relying on us for everything.” I didn’t look too convinced from his words, and apparently it showed as Dean hurriedly continued. “It stuck when there was this one genius who came into the Dungeon. I know she eventually made it to the fifth floor, but not without losing an arm and a leg all because everyone kind of babied her to the point where she either massacred every enemy she came across or lost hard.”

“An arm and a leg don’t sound too bad if she made it that far.” I reasoned, knowing that she survived to the highest floor of the Dungeon.

Dean winced, whispering, “And maybe there might’ve been a couple thousand lost on the third floor because of her.”

My eyes went wide, knowing that the amount of people only got smaller the further one went into the Dungeon. A couple thousand on the third floor was absolutely massive, and even without that fact the loss of thousands was not something anyone talked about lightly. “That’s-”

“All I can say on the issue.” Dean hurried to say, looking over his shoulder as if Helen herself had appeared to announce his execution. “I can’t really get into specifics on what happened on the later floors, and I spent most of my life on the second floor, so I only have some second-hand rumors. If you really want to know the history, there’s a library in the City of Flowers on the positive second floor.”

“Its fine,” I sighed. “Anyways, we were talking about maps?”

“Right, right, where were we?”

“Descriptor rooms.”

Dean nodded, pointing at the mark again. “These things do have a limited amount of uses before whatever’s powering them runs out. They do recharge, but its too long for any meaningful stuff. Its why some veterans volunteer for some harder assignments; they get the chance to reserve one of the better descriptor rooms they need.”

“This sounds like they basically take all the good stuff, and leave the scraps for the Newbies.” I accused, not really meaning anything bad by it. They took the time to train us and offer help, so allowing them to have the better rooms was not that big of a loss.

“Even if we did let you guys have a chance at them, the dangers of the Dungeon beyond the Newbie zones is pretty steep.” Dean defended with a smile. “In any case, we let Newbies build up a bit before the actual challenge of the first floor comes into play.”

My eyes narrowed. It sounded like this information was being given too easily. “Should I like the fact that you’re telling this to me or not.”

The smile he gave me didn’t help one bit. “Well, I did say that we were mainly going to the Newbie areas to toughen you up. Now that that’s done Helen and Charlotte want to get you to the actual parts of the Dungeon.”

“I feel like this is a bad idea.” I stated, knowing full well I couldn’t refuse. Where else was I going to get strong, knowledgeable teammates who almost unconditionally helped me?

“That’s just your gut speaking, Glen.” Dean said standing up to exit my apartment.

My sigh was explosive as I followed after him. “Don’t people normally say to listen to your gut?”

It wasn’t long before the two of us were out on the town. I had relented myself to the fact that I was going to have to do this sooner or later. While the situation wasn’t as ideal as I wanted, there were enough positives to outweigh most of my doubts.

However, it was still quite a shock as Dean dragged the two of us through several shops to get a couple of sleeping bags, flint and water canteens. I imagined that the trek through the Dungeon would be long and arduous, but I wasn’t quite expecting that we would need to sleep in a place that wasn’t my own bed. Granted, the bed in my tiny apartment was only a short step above that of sleeping on solid ground.

“Hey, Dean,” I called out to the man as he pondered over what arrows to trade for. “How long is the trip to this place?”

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The man paused to look over his shoulder. “What are you talking- oh right, we just call the area the Outer Tunnels. You can think of the Newbie Tunnels as a sort of maze that circles around the Room of Beginnings, and the Outer Tunnels are the places where things aren’t so well kept. They take about a month’s travel on foot if you’re heading there through the fastest tunnel system, and that’s without including breaks.”

“Is- is it really going to take that long?”

My face probably portrayed my devastated expression as Dean broke into a cheery laugh. “Oh man, sorry about that. I really wanted to see what face you’d make.”

I brightened. “Then, how long is it actually?”

“No, I’m serious it takes about a month or two on foot.” Dean grinned as he saw my face twist again. “But, there’s a shortcut that’ll get us to the main outpost there in a couple seconds.”

“Wait, seconds? How?”

Dean wriggled his fingers at me while smiling. “Magic.”

He laughed again as I gave him an unimpressed look. I very much doubted that our group had some sort of teleportation magic. It wasn’t that I underestimated any of the three, but that none of them used outer energy. Well, Dean probably did since he uses a crossbow and all…

Actually, I pondered over the fact that Dean never told me much else other than he was in a relationship with the other two and that he managed the scouting.

“Honestly, where’d you guys get that sort of magic? It doesn’t seem common.”

“Yeah, no one here should have that kind of magic yet, and if they do, they’re definitely from a higher floor.” Dean explained. “What I’m talking about is a sort of teleportation symbol. Some old guy from the negative fifth floor appeared, and basically started putting these everywhere to help everyone manage the massive size of each floor. Where once we were resigned to march on, we can now just step on a circle, input some outer energy and be on our way. Of course, they only work on a floor not between them, so no skipping up or down without the acquired rights from the Dungeon.”

I whistled at the sheer importance of these transportation circles. Honestly, the fact that they had teleportation of all things wasn’t as surprising as the efficiency of the entire system. If Dean’s earlier guess on the time it took to walk to these Outer Tunnels was to be factored in, a time save of months was huge. There was also the fact that this system appeared on other floors, making it an insane project that I most definitely approved of.

Finally, we reached our destination, and I blinked as I recognized the building. It was the exact same one where everyone drops off their Dungeon materials. Dean was already pushing me through the doors as I realized that there was a reason I wasn’t allowed on the second floor the first time I went here.

I turned to the countertop on my right as soon as I entered, expecting to see the visage of the old man. However, in his place was clearly a demon woman, based on how her front teeth were needles while the back ones were triangular. Her eyes met mine, and I held my breath as two reptilian slits stared back.

“It’s rude to stare, cutie.” She said with a syllabant hiss.

I robotically marched along, apologizing to the woman. There was already evidence that demons and beastwomen were quite the exotic partners. Dean had made that abundantly clear with his own relationships.

It wasn’t till we were a little ways away when I felt something. Almost like something soft brushing against the back of my neck for a second. I turned on instinct, and found the demon woman at the counter was absently waving her hand back and forth.

A frown began to stain my face. I know I hadn’t offended her, but the same feeling brushed against my face again, and I focused on it this time. There was a brief flash of light as a small chute for Featherkin feathers lit up in a brief flash of light.

It hit me that maybe this was outer energy. As this place was apparently where the so-called teleportation transportation was, it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that they used the exact same thing to conveniently transport more than just people around. With a dedicated volunteer to sponsor their own outer energy, it would be pretty easy to manage all the materials coming in from the Dungeon so long as everyone put their materials in the correct chute.

With my new knowledge, I began taking in the room unlike before. Apart from the desk at the front, the room had tons of little cubbies and chutes to drop materials off in. Above each slot there would be a picture and description of what each required, and there would be the marks that each could be traded for. At the back of the little maze of chutes and slots, there were a set of stairs that I recognized as our destination.

As there was a group that had just finished dropping off their materials, Dean and I ran into them as soon as we started making our way over. Promptly, the guy in the lead brightened as he saw me.

“Glen! I haven’t seen you in a week. How have you been?” Marcus asked. The same easy smile and bright eyes hadn’t been stained by the Dungeon. A small part of me wanted that fact to never change.

Dean looked at me and then the group, blinking. ‘You know these guys?”

I hid my wince as the group behind Marcus flinched at Dean popping up. The self-proclaimed scout wasn’t as threatening to me, but I recognized Julio in the group knew the guy had a bit of a fear for anyone who they considered a veteran. Wayland certainly didn’t do us many favors now that I looked back on the experience.

“Yeah,” I supplied lamely, taking the time to put myself between Dean and them. Marcus apparently saw it, and offered an awkward smile. “Marcus and two others in the group were part of my assigned squad when we all got our energies. We’re… friends?”

“Okay, I’ll go look for the other two upstairs. If anyone stops you at the door, tell them that Helen said it was okay.” Dean said, not even sparing a glance as the group in front of us split to let him pass.

I gave the man a weak smile. “Should I question why its Helen instead of you?”

The man just waved and hurried off as I shook my head. However, the interaction wasn’t lost on the rest of the Newbies in front of me. Julio looked just as uncomfortable, but Marcus held his smile.

“You look like you’re doing pretty well.” Marcus stated. “I didn’t doubt you would be one of the people to get invited to join the veteran teams, so I guess it worked out for the best.”

“Right, for the best.” I said, remembering the fact that I felt this guy was more of an annoyance in all our brief conversations. Still, we were all Newbies, and I felt a bit worse as I looked at Marcus’ forehead.

A deep, white scar ran from his right temple to his left brow right above his eye.

Marcus patted the scar awkwardly. “Ah, this? Don’t worry about it. We’re not that close anyways.”

There was a twinge of guilt in my heart at those words. No matter how much I said I wanted to survive, everyone else wanted the exact same thing just as badly. We all just took different paths to show it.

“Still,” I paused, fumbling around in the pocket of my pants for a second. My hand felt a small, wooden coin, and I carefully pulled it out. In the middle of the coin was the number ‘30’. “Take this. Anyways, I got to go. It was nice seeing you again.”

Marcus moved to protest the coin in his hands, but Julio quickly snatched it up. In the end, Marcus just sighed and looked over as I left. He whispered just loud enough for the two of us as I passed by, “It was nice knowing you’re still alive. If anyone can survive, I believe it can be you.”

I nearly froze at his words. They sounded almost like he was going to give up, and from all the bandages I was seeing hidden under their armor, they were in a pretty rough shape. It was almost night and day compared to my treatment.

And the knot in my gut only got worse as I ascended the stairs to the second floor.

In a way, the second floor was much less cluttered compared to the first. There was just so much unused space, but no one seemed to walk over the many red circles that littered the floor. They all just stuck to the walkways marked in white chalk between them.

As for the people there, I didn’t see that many despite this being a central hub of sorts. And while I didn’t have to state why I was up here, there were a couple of people giving me a second glance as I passed by. Overall, I had expected something along the lines of a subway station only to find myself at a bus stop that barely anyone took anymore.

I found Charlotte waving over to me with Dean and Helen behind her. Quickly, I rejoined my party as we all stood before the teleportation circle. Dean explained a bit of how it was a one way teleportation with the only necessity being to input outer energy.

With that said, he and the other two felt it was in my best interest to go first as I received a push from behind. Clumsily, I stumbled into the middle of the circle, and I briefly thought back to my interactions with Marcus and them.

“Dungeon, show me my status.”

Race Human (average): A regular human with little redeeming physical qualities. The addition of energy paths have given the means to aspire potential. Evolutionary paths are limited in most cases. Traits

  Healthy Body (lesser): A healthy, human body with little to no advantages besides greater stamina, heat regulation and slight adaptive properties. It is slightly weaker than most of the same race. Strength and speed shall suffer as a result.

  Weak Blood (greater): The standard for the human race. Wounds sometimes never heal, and a sufficient amount of energy and material is needed to repair most injuries.

  Weak WIllpower (average): The Dungeon says, “Congratulations on surviving longer than estimates. Human (average) had been marked as anomaly 488.”

  Inner and Outer Energy Paths (lesser): A human who has chosen the path of potential. Grants the ability to wield inner and outer energies to their extremes. The potency and quantity of both energies shall suffer as a result.

Skills None Acheivements None

I sighed as the information came to me. “Can I even survive with this?”

It was a depressing thought, but one I hadn’t stopped having. How much is enough? Yet, even as I had those thoughts, this was still the path I must follow.

So, I dipped into the outer energies I could call upon. It always felt weird every time I did it whenever Helen had instructed me in my training; like I was reaching into some thick liquid that surrounded me, and every time I tried to separate some there would be a weird ‘rubbery’ stretch to the ephemeral energy. Then, like a rope that snapped, I pulled off a chunk of out energy from my reserves before lightly tossing it into the red circle I stood in.

In a flash of light, I was gone, and for a couple seconds I felt like I was floating. Scenes passed by my eyes like the flickering of a movie screen. However, I couldn’t move one inch; not even my finger could twitch under this odd feeling.

And perhaps it was the surreal feeling of it all, but I could have sworn I felt something brushing up against my skin. Almost like thousands of strings being pulled alongside my body but not fast enough to give me a burn. It felt familiar to me; like I had experienced this exact thing before, but the memory was just a distant haze.

I blinked and it was over. There were no strings, no flickering scenes and no paralysis. It took me a minute to realize that I could move before I realized I wasn’t where I had started.

“Huh,” I intoned, looking at the new scene in front of me. “Teleportation is a little weird.”