"Talk"
"Think"
(Timeskip/Scene)
[Game Menu]
{Writing/Audio}
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⫘⫘⫘POV-1st⫘⫘⫘
Sitting up, I rub the rheum from my eyes as I focus on the fantasy world I'm back to before I flip out of the tree, landing with a crouch and stretching while calculating the time.
"Nothing better than a nap with nature~ It should be about 10Am close to 11, plenty of time to get to the guild so I can start making some cash. Then buy something to eat"
Making my way through the streets of Orario, I couldn't help but smile at the chatter and people going about their day with smiles on their faces.
"Just like back home..." I huff with a small grin as I enter the guild hall, noticing the lower number of people. "Must be in the dungeon, or still sleeping"
Walking up to the guild desk, I tell them my name and the reason for being here before making my way to a waiting room and picking up a book on the dungeon's floors and the monsters there.
"Let's get some info on the crap I got to fight down there. I ain't jumping in the deep end without floaties"
{Dungeon: To the adventurers that are new. The Dungeon may seem like that of a monolithic maze, but be warned. The Dungeon is as much alive as you are, spawning monsters from the walls and ceilings, changing its internal layout, and even repairing itself on its own. Be careful when exploring the Dungeon young adventurer. For if you lower your guard, the Dungeon will strike at the easy prey}
"Interesting~ So the entire Dungeon is like that of a megastructure with an AI controlling it all~ It can detect when an Intruder enters its facility levels and sends 'guards' to rid of the intruder. The lower the level, the more lethal the guards."
Flipping through the pages, I lose track of time as I look at the upper floors along with the creatures, flora, and materials before a voice calls out my name, causing me to snap out of my tunnel vision.
Closing the book, I put it back on the table as I make my way to room 03 and take a seat on the adjacent couch while quickly glancing at my would be advisor.
She had long blood-red hair with what seemed to be a type of dog's ears on top of her head which complemented the trained blank neutral mask she seemed to put on.
"Nice to meet you, Miss. You must be my advisor?" I greet with a small smile as she nods while looking away from me to the papers on the desk.
Rose: "That is correct. My name is Rose, and I will be your guild advisor as you explore the dungeon and grow. Now let us cut to the major problem. You're without a God or Goddess blessing, yet you still wish to enter the dungeon"
I can feel the air get heavier as she narrows her eyes, causing my smile to grow a bit. After all, a good hunter loves the thrill~
"You do know why the gods are here, don't you? Entertainment~ Now why would you think a village new blood like me could just get into a Familia with no achievements?~"
My words and the fake sad smile on my face cause her to sigh. But unfortunately, I need to eat, a place to sleep, and I ain't working in a basic job when I could train in the dungeon for both combat experience for Lob corp, and for money in this place.
Rose: "There are gods and goddesses that accept new blood adventurers. I'm positive you could get into a familia with at least one"
"That may be. But I'm not one to take handouts, nor am I one to join something just because it was 'safe'. Danger is what drives growth and adaptability, and that means the deeper I go the more I'll grow"
Rose: "An adventurer without a blessing from a god or spirit can't make it to the middle or lower floors. It's simply impossible"
Everything is silent for a minute as she looks at the desk before looking back at me with guilt in her eyes before it's buried. Guess I got an adviser with a bit of bad history.
"Well then, I believe I have a proposition for you, Miss Rose~ How about a contract?"
Rose: "A contract?"
"Exactly. When I go into the dungeon, I can only access 5 floors at a time. What I mean is, when I go into the dungeon, I can only go to floors 1-5 for now, then I have to complete a personalized mission by you or the guild to unlock the next five floors I can go to. 5-10, 10-15, 15-20, Ect"
With that, I get up from the couch and begin walking over to the door before looking at her from over my shoulder. "Accept or refuse, I'm still going~ It's my life, I can do what I want with it~ See Ya~"
With that, I let the door close. I wasn't gonna let something like not having a blessing or people worrying about me stop me from living how I want to live~ I'm from the US of A baby! I have no master besides the wind that blows freely~
With a twirl of my Riot baton, I watch as a wave of golden light flows over it before reforming into One Sin's Penitence, which was a little top heavy, but perfect for a weapon like this.
"Time to get this started" With a smile I adjust the thorn crown that appears on my head as I walk down the stairs, ignoring the glances at my crown and weapon as the skull on Penitence clicks its teeth already tasting the sin in the area.
"If they think this is weird, I can't wait to see people's reaction to stuff like Big Bird's coat or the set for Mountain of Smiling Bodies~"
Walking onto floor 1, I let out a breath as I immediately put up my guard. I am in enemy territory, and I don't plan on dying in this dungeon. I know for a fact that this place can't make something like Nothing there, and I'll have to actually fight and work with the damn thing.
"Alright, Dungeon-chan~ Get ready for a Lobotomy~"
I grin as i take off in a small sprint through the winding halls of floor 1, saving the path I take with my Hyperthymesia. "Never thought I'd love having this for anything but school~"
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⫘⫘⫘⫘Time-Skip⫘⫘⫘⫘
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Nothing. I've run around most of the paths within floor 1, but it's been looped. I can only get about 36% of the place accounted for in my memory thanks to the way most of the light gems in the walls are placed and spaced from one another.
It's in groups of 15 every ten feet, yet only 13 on a side for the next five feet when a corner is coming up. I stopped near each corner to see if I could find any monsters, yet I hadn't run into anything at this point.
"Either the dungeon is focusing on a familia on the deeper levels, meaning it has to monitor its floors to respawn monsters. Or It's trying something. I'll have to ask Rose for info books about the dungeon when I get back"
Walking around another corner, I spot a group of three adventurers looking around in confusion. "Guess they don't know what's happening. Must be new from the starter gear the guild hands out" Waving as I jog over, the three turn to me.
"Oi! You three haven't seen any of the monsters either? I'm Xylus, by the way" I ask, causing the woman who I'm guessing is the main DPS from the sword on her back to nod.
Miko: "I'm Miko. This is my group. The boy with daggers is Dunkin, and the plum girl with the axe is Venus. To answer your question, no. We haven't seen any monsters since we got here an hour or two ago"
As she explains, Dunkin nods as he gestures to the walls in a huff while Venus looks through their travel bag to pull out an apple, which she starts eating in the background.
Dunkin: "We pack all this stuff ready to get some valis for our boss, then the dungeon doesn't want to try killing us today."
Venus: "Lame"
Bringing a hand to my chin, I narrow my eyes at the wall before a scream echos through the halls, causing all of us to look at each other before grabbing our weapons and rushing down the halls towards the sound.
"Well, Dunkin, looks like the dungeon heard you!" I call over with a grin, making him laugh
Dunkin: "Yeah, Looks like it di- Holy Shit!"
Our eyes widen at the Sea of monsters rushing around, attacking a wall of adventurers who are trying and failing to stop them from getting to the staircase to the surface.
"What the hell is going on?!" I call out to an injured adventurer getting healed by a mage.
Guard: "It's a monster wave. The dungeon stops releasing monsters on most of the upper levels to flood the top level with low-level monsters to get outside and cause chaos"
Nodding, I turn to the wave of monsters before looking at Penitence, which was shaking and the skull clicking its teeth, making me smile "Hungry, huh? Don't worry buddy, these sins are all yours~"
Rushing past a few adventurers I flip over a goblins swinging club and landing on another goblin's head, slamming it into the ground before spinning on my heel to bash Penitence into the head of a third goblin causing its head to explode making my eyes widen.
"Oh right. White damage. It seems the mental effect it has can overload the mind to the point of making the target's head pop if their prudence level is low enough. Guess that explains Porccubus"
Ducking under another club swing, I jump back and high kick the chin of the attacking goblin, launching it in the air before slamming my heel into the head of a charging goblin as I glance around me with a grin.
"Three charging from the right, two thinking about it to my left, and what I can guess is a Kobold, from the dog head it has, waiting in the back for an opening. Easy~"
Waiting until the goblins are close enough, I jump above them, Letting two swing at the air and hit each other, knocking them down as I fall and land on their necks, causing them to snap. Before swinging Penitence like a baseball bat into the head of the standing goblin, making it pop and sending blood into the eyes of the two goblins on the left.
Blinded, the two drop their weapons trying to clean the blood from their eyes, allowing me to toss Penitence into the air and grab the two by the neck and snap them before catching Penitence and spinning to block the blunt sword of the Kobold as it growls at me.
"What's up, ugly~ Did you know I'm not alone~"
My words cause it to tilt its head before a blade slices through its neck, launching its head into the air before it dissipates.
I look at Dunkin with a grin. "Thanks for the save~ Even if you're a little late to the party~"
Dunkin: "Pfft~ You only got the first few kills because we didn't expect you to just charge in like a lunatic"
"Hey, I had it~ Sometimes you just got to go for it, man~ If you wait too long you can't get an opening, but if you rush too early, you miss details. It's all a balancing act~"
Holding out my arm, I block a goblins club with Penitence and spin bat it away into a group of others. Knocking them down like pins while Dunkin swipes his hand out to throw a dagger that sinks into the head of one of the knocked down goblins before exploding.
"Nice~ How's you get one of those?" I ask, turning to him with a smirk as I rest Penitence on my shoulder.
Dunkin: "Made it myself, actually. My parents were smiths and taught me how to make and repair weapons before we moved from Rakia. My parents call it a Blast rune. It's usually made for arrows, but I thought to use it on throwing knives instead."
Nodding, we both duck under clubs before smirking at each other as he swipes his left arm to cut the neck of his goblin while using his right to throw another blast knife into the eye of my goblin making it drop its weapon in pain and allowing me to swap to the Riot Stick before swinging to bat it into a far group of goblins as we stand and fist bump as it explodes.
Looking around, we notice the number of goblins and Kobolds were reduced by about 3/5ths, causing me to de-summon Penitence and look around before looking to Dunkin with a grin as we spot the hundreds of monster cores around us.
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⫘⫘⫘⫘Time-Skip⫘⫘⫘⫘
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Outside of the dungeon, Dunkin and I stand next to each other with blank faces as Miko looks at us like a mother catching her kid with a stolen snack.
Miko: "So. . . Do either of you want to explain?"
I glance at Dunkin as he glances at me before we look back to Miko and shake our heads, making her sigh before grabbing the zipper of Dunkin's jacket and pulling it down, causing a small pile of about 80 monster cores to pour out and onto the ground.
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"Welp. . . Plan B!" I shout before grabbing an armful of monster cores along with Dunkin and rushing off before the guards can take and distribute them to the adventurers that participated in the Monster Wave.
Dunkin: "Later, Miko! See you at Mama Mia's"
I could barely hear Dunkin call back as I ran while laughing like an idiot "Hell yeah, baby! Payday!"
It didn't take us long to get to the guild, allowing me to walk up to Rose with a large grin as I dropped the monster cores on her counter.
Rose: "Well, looks like someone had fun"
I simply smile at her sarcasm as I puff out my chest in pride "Told you so~ I would like to trade these in please~" I say with a smug look that causes her eye to twitch for the fraction of a second before sighing.
Rose took all the cores and, with quick and practiced movements, scanned each stone with no trouble before placing a bag of Valis on the table along with a card.
Rose: "43 goblin monster cores, 3 Kobold cores and 1 Killer ant core. That's 1,160 Valis and your Adventurer card. Now get out; I have paperwork to fill out thanks to you"
Taking both the card and bag, I turn on a dime and walk out of the door, wondering how I'll carry these two things before watching as they disappear in a golden light like my weapons
"Well, I guess that solves that. Wonder if they got sent to Angela? I'll have to ask if any strange things happened while I was 'Sleeping' in my room"
Deciding to think about it later, I fold my arms behind my head and begin making my way through Orario with a whistle as I notice the sun starting to set.
If I remember right, the map said, There's a lot of abandoned buildings on the west side of the city, so that's housing for now. As for food, there are plenty of food stalls around here, and even fishing rivers outside the west side of the city.
"That's temporary housing and food taken care of for now. That should allow me to make enough cash to get proper stuff later."
Walking along the streets, I notice how most of the buildings on the west side are in varying states of decay before finding one near the city wall that's pretty alright and structural integrity. <>
Walking up to the door I notice it's locked, causing me to look around before finding a missing window on the top floor making me smile as I back up and run up a tree before jumping to a branch that I swing on for a second before letting go, flinging me onto the roof with a soft thud.
Climbing through the window, I land in what looks to look in an empty bedroom and decide to make my way around the place.
The Kitchen has a stone stove that is stable enough to hold my weight when I climbed on it. The house doesn't seem to be in much disrepair, and if I get some cleaning supplies it should only take a few hours to make the place look nice.
Nodding to the house that I've made my own, I move back up to the bedroom and sit in a corner with my riot stick on my lap, ready to sleep and get some new equipment.
"Alright~ Time to get back to work~"
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(Howdy Everybody! You all thought I was dead, didn't you? No, my old laptop's graphics card burned out, so I had to get a new one. I just grabbed the last of my stuff needed to write, so I'm now back and better than ever!)
(I'll have a few other books coming out soon, so look forward to all of that. Till then~)