Irion heaved, slamming a disembodied head onto the living room table, oozing black blood.
Mall gagged, covering her mouth in her hands. “What is that?!”
“Yorgon head?” He perked up, turning the face toward her as he explained. “It’s like an Ork, but a lot bigger, and with a quilt-like pattern on its skin.” He ran a finger down the various stitchings and mottled flesh, nodding to himself. “That’s actually the skin ripped from the carcasses of its victims. First it prefers to use a rock or sharp object—”
Mall made belching noises and bolted for the nearest bathroom.
“Ah, right. Rookie. Weak stomach.” Irion sighed, addressing the rest of us. “I see Sern’s got a new dress. That’s good.”
Even after she’d fallen asleep, Sern clung to the dress.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m sorry shopping took longer than expected.”
“Don’t worry about a thing, friend,” Irion laughed. “We did just fine on our own. As I was trying to tell Mall, this head here is worth a fortune. Each of those skins have different chemical and medical properties, and most appear when the Yorgon spawns in—and so, more often than not, Yorgons have biomaterial from other areas, which would normally be all but impossible to get here, and which are almost always necessary to make an elixir."
I nodded, setting Sern onto a small couch. “Good.”
“Hey, are you feeling alright?” Irion asked. “You look pale.”
“Do I?” I held a hand to my face. “Huh. It’s cold.”
“Are you sick?”
“I don’t think so,” I muttered. “No, it’s probably just the night air, that’s all.”
“Good, good.” He reached from his inventory, dropping a pile of bronze rings. “We managed to get a fair deal of money, so potions and simple supplies shouldn't be an issue, and the Yorgon head is worth at least two or three gold rings.”
I nodded. “Good.”
“Yes of course.” Irion cleared his throat. “Right now Quin, Bruce, Mall, Eere, and Dexten are clearing a dungeon. You should start hitting some yourself, to get better stats, namely damage, which is something you’re lacking.”
“My damage is good,” I muttered.
“Good, yes, but it’s only a quarter of your health,” he grunted. “Ideally it’d be higher, and at minimum, you’ll need three hundred damage to take down a two rank,” Irion sighed. “Eere can triple your damage, and a couple of the other members picked up some strength buffs, so between all of those just one hundred strength should be enough, but I’d rather get you to one-fifty or two-hundred.” Irion mused, hands clasped together. “Two-star dungeons have two floors, instead of just one, and more loot, so we’ll be able to get a decent amount more loot once we actually reach the dungeon.”
He glanced at me, noticing the expression across my face. “What?”
“The dungeon only had one floor,” I muttered. “The boss’s room was big, but it was definitely on the first floor.“
He furrowed his brow. “That shouldn’t be possible.”
“It is,” I said, with a shrug.
“We’ll get to it when we get to it,” Irion sighed. “Now to business. THROTTLE!”
She groaned, sitting up from her couch. “What?”
“Once Sern gets into her dress, take her, Cierin, and Grind to one of the open first star dungeons. Got that?”
“At this hour?” Throttle huffed. She got to her feet, grabbing miscellaneous weapons scattered across the floor. “Fine.”
“Good,” Irion poked me in the chest. “Break a leg, Grind.”
{Throttle : (-13) 70 Hp}
[Neurotoxin I applied (0:10)]
Throttle gritted her teeth, straining against the Dungeon Core. It writhed in her arms, spraying dirt and moss.
That wasn’t the issue.
The issue was the film of poison that covered its entire body. If any got into your bloodstream, then your limbs began freezing up.
Throttle had to pin the monster between two blades, which was a lot harder than just grabbing the thing and pinning it.
Other than that, the Core was slow and clumsy.
It was a pathetically straightforward fight.
“NOW!” I shouted.
Throttle jumped back, snapping her skill book open, and the monster staggered into the path of a legendary shovel.
[Strengthening II : (+2:00)]
~applied~
I swung down, muscles bloated hard as iron, cleaving through the entire monster, the wall behind it, and grass underneath, spraying dirt everywhere.
The Core shuddered, just once, before I had its core in my hand.
The crystal shattered, and the Core stopped, frozen in place, like a statue.
[+15 Str]
“That’s it?” I sighed, clenching and unclenching my hand. “So much for a challenge.”
Orbs and exp sprung from the mound of dirt, crashing and shattering over the grass.
Five of the orbs were for mana, so I handed them to Throttle. Apparently, casting an ability during battle took a lot more mana than outside of it, because something-something concentration of whatever. Besides, I preferred basic health and strength, as those stats were more straightforward than anything magical.
[+1 Hp]
[+1 Hp]
~
[+5 Str]
[+7 Str]
[+1 Str]
[+1 Str]
[+1 Str]
~
[+1 Mana]
~
{LEVEL UP!}
~
[+(500) 106/700 Exp]
~
[+1 skill point]
[+1 inventory]
~
{GRIND}
Level 7
Rank “Uncommon”
[ 231 Hp 82 Str]
[ 30% AtkSp 2 Mana 3 Dur]
Easy come easy go, I guess. If a dungeon takes fifteen minutes to clear, don’t be surprised if you get fifteen minutes worth of rewards.
Throttle dropped to the ground, rooting through the pile of dirt. “Any weapons?”
I shoved a hand in grapsing the end of a handle. “There’s something.”
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{Moderately Adequate Sub-Generic Dagger}
[+5 Str]
[1100/1100 Durability]
[Durability IV]
I shook my head, tossing it toward her. “It’s durable, but not very strong.”
“Maybe I can sell it for something,” She muttered, catching it from the air. “Or maybe I could transfer the enchantment to something better? Is that a thing?”
She glanced at Cierin, who sat under a tree, next to Sern.
Throttle snorted.
“What?” Cierin huffed.
“Nice work ya did there.”
“C’mon, somebody’s got to guard her,” Cierin grumbled.
Sern peeked her head from around the tree, before running to me, twirling her silvery dress.
Throttle snapped her skill book open, cracking orbs and tossing them in. When the dust sank into the book, and it started shimmering.
Cierin peeked over her shoulder. “You can upgrade your book with mana?”
“Haven’t you done even the least bit of research on how the game actually works?” She snarled, dumping another orb in.
“Never had to,” Cierin muttered.
I kicked the pile, searching for additional loot.
There wasn’t any.
“Alright,” I said, returning Crapshoveler to my inventory. “Let's try another one.”
“Another one?” Throttle gagged. “Nobody does two dungeons in one day.”
“We ought to,” I stated. “We’re in a rush, remember?”
Throttle panted, collapsing onto the grass. “Give me a moment to catch my breath.”
Unfortunately, the next dungeon was easier than the first, and by quite a wide margin.
I sighed, pushing the tiny core away with one hand.
{Core : Gauntlet of Dolls}
[Core : active]
It was a tiny little doll, with a couple floating strings around it, which occasionally wrapped one of us, dealing some insignificant amount of damage. Sometimes they tethered to like, a rock, and then we’d have to hit the rock before it started doing some insignificant amount of damage.
That was about as wild as it got.
Throttle poked it with the blunt end of her sword. It flashed red, shuddering.
{Core : (-5) 25 Hp}
”Is this a joke?” I groaned, squeezing, and the doll splintered in my hand, dropping its core onto the ground.
{Core : 1/1 Hp}
I stomped it into a fine powder.
[+10 Str]
[+5 Hp]
{GRIND}
Level 7
Rank “Uncommon”
[ 236 Hp 92 Str]
[ 30% AtkSp 2 Mana 3 Dur]
There was a little spurt of exp and iron rings, and the Core crumbled to dust.
[(+50) 156/700 Exp]
Cierin sighed, collapsing onto the wooden floor. “Please tell me we’re done for the day.”
I frowned.
“No,” he warned, shooting to his feet. “I’m on thirteen health, Grind, and every member of our party has some measure of exhaustion.”
“I’m fine, rookie,” Throttle grumbled. “In case you haven’t noticed.”
“You made me fight all the monsters in that dungeon!” Cierin hissed. “Grind, come’on. That was two decent dungeons. Call it a day.”
I glanced up.
[Exhaustion VI: Indefinite]
[Hunger I : Indefinite]
“I feel fine,” I said.
“But I’m not that strong, Grind,” Cierin snapped, pointing above his head.
{Cierin : Exhaustion III : Indefinite}
“That’s your problem,” I muttered. “Get stronger. If you can’t keep fighting, then I’ll fight a dungeon on my own.”
Cierin blinked. “Grind, you’re half half, six exhaustion—”
“It’s been two hours,” I said. “That’s nothing.”
“It’s the middle of the night,” Cierin groaned. “Sern, give me a hand here, will you?”
Sern wrapped her hand around mine, leaning into my side.
Throttle nodded. “If the girl’s staying, then so will I.”
“You three are nuts,” Cierin groaned. “Could we at least get some real supplies, like health and debuff cleansers?”
“Fine,” I sighed. “Though I was hoping to spend our rings on stats.”
We left the dungeon, walking to the town square.
It was awfully quiet, without much anyone wandering the streets. The dungeon board itself was stranded, raid captain nearby.
A stranger in a hood stood beside me, waiting patiently.
I tried to ignore him, but he trailed behind, flickering in the corner of my vision.
The stranger was an old man, hiding inside a thick black cloak. His face was almost entirely covered in shadow, except for a silver haired chin.
“Can I help you?” I snapped.
“Perhaps,” he said, voice soft but raspy. Beneath the shadow, I think I could make out the hints of a grin. “Probably not.”
He pulled a quest from the board, holding it out to us.
“It's power you want, yes?”
Ciercin poked him in the chest, and his hand went right through.
“No, I’m not human,” he sighed. “And yes, this quest is much better than the previous two adventures of today.”
~Quest offered~
{Quest : Our Little Secret}
(no information given)
[y/n]
“Should I trust you?” I asked, taking the pin from his hand.
“Of course not, master,” he whispered.
I blinked, and he was gone.
Cercin frowned, waving a puff of smoke away. “That was weird. For an NPC he seemed to know a lot about what we're doing.”
I glanced down at the pin. “Where was this?”
On the board, in a far corner of the map, there was a small dot, where something'd been pulled out.
The stranger huffed. “That’s the place.”
I turned around, facing an empty street.
That man…I’d met him before. He’d tried to stop me from finding Sern.
“Cierin? Throttle? Sern?” I whispered. “Are we doing this?”
Throttle scoffed.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I grunted.
{Quest : Our Little Secret}
(no information given)
[Quest Selected]
We bought some health potions, and there was one place with anti-debuff supplies, though we couldn’t afford more than a couple hour’s stall for our exhaustion. As for food, we’d have to get round to it whenever we finished.
“Cierin?” I asked. “Don’t you think it’s odd that there’s nobody around?”
He shrugged, so I continued.
“The town square is usually on fire, or swarming with antsy raid captains—even in the night.” I stated.
“They probably all found dungeons,” Cierin muttered, glancing at the board. “It sure seems like there's a lot more of them than there used to be, and they’re a lot harder. The more dungeons there are the less people have to fight over them.”
I glanced at the board, the map, covered in layers and layers of red pins.
“Come’on, snails,” Throttle barked, slamming a fist on a nearby stall. “Chug your potions and get going!”
She purchased a handful of potions, tossing them over her shoulder, to the three of us.
[8/12 inventory]
Thanks to the ratpack, I had room for my shovel, five +50-Hp potions, one +25-Str potion, and an attack speed doubler, which I’d earned from a previous dungeon.
“Well, that’s all our money,” I sighed, doing the math in my head. At three iron rings apiece, potions were bleeding us dry. Still, stats were about one point for five iron rings, and considering that, dungeon raiding with potions was just a better use of our money.
“This dungeon better be good,” I sighed, sketching our team a map.
Hours later, we were in the forest, brushing past thick overgrowth. I had Sern’s hand in mine, careful to avoid any pits of mud, which would stain her new dress.
“Cierin, throttle, you two are still back there?”
Cierin started to talk, before he swallowed a spider web and burst into a fit of coughing and swatting his face.
“Throttle?”
She appeared at our side, swords drawn. “Keep quiet, will you? I don’t want to know what kind of monsters roam the forest at this hour.”
There was an echo from within the forest, and Throttle shuddered.
Sern reached up, patting Throttle on the head. She blinked. “Thanks, kid.”
We went back to walking, in silence, without so much as a goblin to attack us.
I was hoping that after a couple more steps, the dungeon would come into view.
After another good hour of walking, I was delirious with boredom.
“Grind, quiet down,” Throttle hissed, jabbing my side.
I ignored her, making popping sounds with my mouth, swinging Crapshoveler haphazardly around the forest.
Cierin groaned. “Do you want the monsters to find us?”
“I wouldn’t mind it,” I said. “Free Exp is free Exp.”
Crapshovered bounced off a large to large metal object.
“Is this…” I started, trailing off, tearing the brush away to reveal the gaping mouth of a dungeon tunnel.
Before anyone had the time to stop me, and I was already jumping in, headfirst.
