Before jumping in, I informed the others as to the nature of the red beam. They didn't qualify just yet, so I decided to go alone.

  My vision went black for a second before being almost blinded by bright light. I was standing in a hallway that seemed to go forward forever. There were no doors and the walls were a curious flesh color. I looked behind me and saw a wall about 4 meters back.

  So I started walking. With nothing else to really do, I focused on my surroundings. Something smelled good, a bit savory like roasted meat, but with a subtle sweetness.

  The smell got stronger the further I went, and my hunger grew as the hours passed. I was about 5 hours in when it just got to be too much.

  Several times during my trek I had touched the walls, but this time it was different. Perhaps it could sense my intention, but the wall… shivered?

  Without much thought, I opened my mouth and bit down.

  This dungeon was delicious!

  I had no time to savor the bite as an ear splitting roar echoed through the hall. The wall where I bit down split open like a tent flap, revealing a cluttered room. Holding my ringing head, I stepped in.

  The walls were the same color and smelled the same. Several tables were set up along the walls and throughout the room, covered with an assortment of the most random shit. Hammers, balls of yarn with sewing needles, what looked like magic wands, and so many others. As I was looking over the tool selections, I received a notification.

  Quest: Profession Diskovery.

  Objective: Diskover your profession.

  “Seems pretty straightforward, if a bit misspelled,” I said as I picked up a small hammer and chisel that was set next to a cubic foot of marble.

  Hours became a full day as I tried out the different tools. Sewing, smithing, sculpting, carving, knitting. Some things I sort of knew how to do. Others I spent much time just trying to figure out what the tool did. There were a few items I recognized from fantasy books like wands and orbs and such. Again, I had no way to know how to use them, but I tried nonetheless.

  Organizing as I went, I had saved the most disheveled table last. As I moved a mechanical sewing machine, I noticed this table was different. Embedded in its center was a rune covered disk no larger than a compact disc. I slapped my forehead. The quest, which I had assumed was misspelled, was a clue. Feeling like an idiot, I inspected the disk.

  Assessment Disk. Rare. This embedded disk will, through various means, detect what the best profession for you would be and offer you the best option.

  “Son of a-” I whispered as I touched the disk. The runes lit up and a blue hologram of me in my human form flickered into being. I stared at me as I changed into my current Omnis Vorare form. My hologram sat down and grabbed a hammer from out of view. With my arms spread, I closed my eyes and the hammer floated up in front.

  Fascinated, I watched energy flow from around holo-me into the hammer. Small runes formed along the handle and on the hammer's head. I felt a light buzzing begin in my mind.

  You have the option to gain the Neophyte Enchanter profession. Accept? Y N.

  That sounded awesome, honestly, so I agreed. I felt knowledge pour into my mind as I received several new notifications.

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  You have gained the Neophyte Enchanter profession.

  Neophyte Enchanter. You can channel and condense the magic of the world around you to enhance objects with magical effects. May your enchantments bring you power.

  New Skills Unlocked.

  Meditation. Inferior. You can enter a meditative state that improves your ability to sense the energies around you and slightly improves your recovery rates.

  Infuse Object. Inferior. You can infuse a small object with an inferior enchantment. The type of object may limit the kinds of enchantments you can apply.

  Quest: Profession Diskovery complete. New Records gained.

  Quest: Escape the Dungeon.

  Objective: Create the correct magic item to escape.

  First up, I grabbed as many of the small handheld tools as I could and made a small pile on the ground. Then I sat and mimicked my hologram's position. I closed my eyes and tried to focus.

  While I knew how it technically worked, getting a sense for the energies around me was hard. My lowest pool at the moment was stamina, lowered through all the time I'd spent working. As I slipped into the meditative state, I felt my stamina begin to rise.

  If I couldn't sense the outside energies, I would focus on my inside ones. As I breathed, I felt the invigorating energy flow from my core out to my limbs and back along pathways.

  There were more mixed in the flow. Assuming the extra energy was health and mana, I needed to figure out the differences. I had no spells yet, and the cloak drained both mana and stamina, so lowering my mana alone would be difficult.

  Health was easy. I bit a chunk out of my lower left arm, grunting in pain. It nearly pulled me out of meditation, but I focused on the wound. The continuous flow of my energy slowed at the wound, and a different subset of the energy stayed behind to work on healing the injury.

  That left magic. And with the three now understood, I felt I could more easily isolate them internally. And, though they had no color, I found it easier to visualize them as separate colors. My internal pathways were a jumbled mashing together of the three. I started with my stamina, visualizing it as green, my vitality as red, and mana as blue. Too much influence from video games, perhaps.

  What started as a white stream with sparks of the three colors slowly began to separate and become a coil of three distinct streams, which seemed to glow brighter than the mixed stream had. My stomach rumbled as several system messages appeared.

  DING! Profession: Neophyte Enchanter has increased from Level 0 to Level 2.

  DING! Race: Omnis Vorare has increased from Level 5 to Level 6.

  Meditation, Inferior adapts to Meditation, Common.

  Meditation. Common. You can enter a meditative state that improves your ability to sense the energies around you and significantly improves your recovery rates.

  Only one word changed as my skill upgraded. Slightly to Significantly. I had no idea how that scaled, but I hoped it would help with my next task of figuring out what I needed to get out of here.

  I stood up and stretched my legs a bit, checking on my status and tutorial windows.

  Status

  Name: Dan Trench

  Humanoid Race: Omnis Vorare 6

  Class: Hypocrite Revolutionary 10

  Profession: Neophyte Enchanter 2

  Max Health: 440

  Max Stamina: 260

  Max Mana: 250

  Agility: 13

  Endurance: 13

  Intelligence: 13

  Perception: 17

  Strength: 13

  Vitality: 44

  Wisdom: 12

  Race Skills:

  All Stats Must Be Eaten. Unique.

  All-Consuming. Unique.

  Infinite Tank. Unique.

  Class Skills:

  Eat the Rich. Uncommon.

  Guerilla’s Cloak. Inferior.

  Profession Skills:

  Meditation. Common.

  Infuse Object. Inferior.

  Equipment:

  Amulet of Holding. Common. Current capacity: 1300 kg.

  Razorclaw Gauntlets. Inferior.

  Steeltusk Leathers. Light Armor. Inferior.

  Tutorial Time Remaining: 55 days, 12 hours, 23 minutes.

  Survivors: 1847/2000.

  My jaw fell as I saw the remaining time. I’d been meditating for more than three days. It had not felt that long. And on top of the time loss, more than 100 more people had died. I hoped Jen was okay.

  Rubbing my face with my upper hands I sat again to re-enter meditation. The next step was to try to feel the external energies around me. It was easier to slip into the meditative state this time, and I made sure I could still feel my pathways as before. The logical next step was to try to extend my senses outwardly.

  Sensing the ambient magics was much harder than figuring out my own. I felt like my stats were too low. I needed a way to increase my perception. And there were no enemies here for me to eat.

  Other than the walls themselves.