That was when Nick learned that Annie could and would yell, given enough reason. It seemed that getting a concept was enough to trigger it. After her outburst, she went into a five minute silence. He watched the clock and waited patiently until she came back.
“You should not be this good at meditation yet. It takes most path classes months to get the trick of it, just at the basic level.”
“Meditation? I was just zoning out.”
“No, you weren’t.” Annie’s voice got sharp. “People do not gain major class concepts just from zoning out, as you put it.”
“Well, deal with it, spaceship. Because that’s what this guy did.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Yes I did! I zoned out. I didn’t meditate.” Nick tapped his head with his index finger. “I was here the whole time. I think I’d know.”
“Fine, then. Describe your zoning out to me. In great detail.”
“It’s simple enough. You just stand there. Your mind goes blank. I did it all the time at work.”
“Blank, huh?” Annie took on a goading tone. “And yet you comprehended something. Understood it. How, if you were blank.”
“Well, it’s not completely blank. That’s boring, and in my work you’d have to stand at the counter for hours, hardly moving. You are going to think about something. Anything, so long as it was interesting enough to figure out, and… Oh, damn.”
Annie was immediately smug.
“Yes, keep going.”
“That’s meditation, isn’t it. Just clearing your mind of everything but one thing and pondering it.”
“Yes, and due to your… unusual? Your unusual employment history seems to have given you several months of concentrated practice meditating for extended periods of time.”
“That seems good.”
“It’s very good. What did it award you with?”
“Five stats, and an incomplete skill. Which seems like a lot.”
“It only seems like a lot because you shouldn’t have it yet. You’ve gained a single level, Nick. This is usually something that would come about around level eight or ten, and would seem like a consolation prize.”
<table><tbody><tr><td>
Level 2 Starlight Mercenary
Accumulation: 130/1500
HP 50/50
MP: 10/10</td><td>
Proficiencies:
Gunslinger (Level 1)
Knife-fighter (Level 1)
Tinker (Level 1)</td></tr><tr><td>
Stats:
Skill: 13
Toughness: 10
Quick: 18
Psyche: 10</td><td>
Traits:
| Stranger |
| Bound Captain|
| ??? |</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A level in each of his fighting skills from his first combat, a level in his crafting skill for making his weapons, and a total of eleven stat points felt very different. He realized now that he had expected the extra speed his quick stat gave him to be hard to control, but now that he had spent some time with those points, he realized nothing could be further from the truth.
He pulled his gun a few times and made a few more swipes with his knife, trying to keep things down to what he considered to be normal human speeds. At that level of quickness, there was no difficulty keeping himself from going too fast, or controlling his own motions. He wouldn’t be accidentally running into walls while getting the hang of it, anyway. It seemed that Quick got its own hang all by itself.
At greater speeds, he felt as much in control. The enhancement to his speed, it seemed, came with a suite of unspoken abilities that made him able to manage them, as well.
“If you need something else to do, I say probably take a look at loading some of that… damn. Hold on.”
All the control panels near the front suddenly lit up as Annie suddenly lurched to a stop.
“Anything I should know?” The lights on the consoles were blinking silently for several seconds before Nick prodded Annie, then continued blinking for a split second more before her voice came back online.
“Yes. Do you remember how I said not to touch the consoles, because I had plotted the perfect route? It turns out it’s not so perfect.” Annie sounded infuriated and apologetic at once in a tone so in conflict with itself that Nick wasn’t sure a purely human voice could have pulled it off. “We are stuck.”
Nick looked out the windows. They were still in deep space, begging him to ask the question of what they could possibly be stuck in.
“None of this will make sense to you, especially without a piloting skill.”
“Give it a shot.”
“Imagine a black hole. You know about those, right? Good. They have a certain level of gravitational pull. If you go closer to one than your ship’s engines can pull you out of, you get stuck. You can keep yourself from getting pulled in further, but you can’t get away.”
“So we are stuck in a black hole?”
“Worse. We’re in a dungeon.” Annie huffed. “Or at least my nose is. Just a brand new dungeon that spawned out in space, and I had to fly into it.”
“So fly out of it. Hit the escape rockets, or something.”
“Can’t, because I don’t have those. I have a low level captain, remember? I got just about enough equipment to keep a single passenger alive and to move around the universe. It’s worse than that, too. This damn thing is trying to claim me.”
Nick sat down at the captain’s chair, still unable to see anything out the front viewport that would give him context for what was happening. There was nothing.
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“Claim you?”
“It’s a dungeon floating out in space. There was probably just enough energy out here for it to spawn in the first place. If it doesn’t find something to latch onto, it’s going to use up that energy and dissipate.”
“So it’s trying to turn you into a dungeon? Can that happen?”
“Derelict ship dungeons are a dime a dozen, so yes. It would take it some time because it has to contest your claim.”
“What happens to me then?”
“My interior gets turned into a shell for the dungeon, and you stop existing. You are going to have to clear this thing, Nick.”
Nick looked down at his gun and knife, hyperconscious of their barebones, starter-weapon status.
“Am I ready for that?”
“I can’t say. Probably not. But it’s your only choice.”
Nick took a deep breath and gave his equipment a once-over. Everything was in good working order, strapped down and secured.
“How do I get there? From the ship to the dungeon, I mean.”
“Give me a moment.” The engines of the ship flared as it ground against some kind of invisible something, turning its nose 90 degrees to the left. “You open the door and walk out. Every dungeon is its own space. It will take you in. If you clear it, the act of paying you for your reward should drain it of any energy it has left and destroy it.”
“And me?”
“You get your reward and we both hope the dungeon has enough power to teleport you back in here. If it doesn’t…”
Annie paused. The lights on the console all flashed a bit redder than usual.
“Just take a big breath before you actually clear it, if you live that long. And Nick?”
Nick was already feeling vulnerable and alone heading towards the door when she stopped him. He turned back to the ship’s panel, curious.
“Yes?”
“It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this.”
There was motion at the ship’s manufacturer as a small, rubber banded watch sprung into existence.
“What’s this?”
“A watch, and a means of me staying in contact with you. At least for now, that’s all it can do. As long as you don’t go too far or get yourself mixed up in a jamming signal, I’ll be able to talk to you through that, and see some of what you see.”
So he wouldn’t be completely on his own. He’d take it.
“Thanks, Annie.”
“It’s what you are owed, at your level. No need for thanks exists. Good luck, Nick.”
The ship’s hatch opened with no fanfare or explosive decompression, revealing what appeared to be nothing but empty space. Nick clenched his jaw, drew his weapons, and stepped through it.
The next thing he saw was what looked like a badger, leaping claws-forward straight at his face. His reflexes kicked in, bringing his dominant arm up in an awkward uppercut. Unluckily, that was his gun hand. He made contact, but the force of the blow did nothing more than to bounce the blur of fur and teeth further into the air. The mystery animal snarled and clawed desperately as it flew over him, scattering dust as it caught itself on the ground behind Nick''s back.
Nick wheeled around to face it before it could get its bearings. Annie was gone, replaced by miles of canyon-lined riverbed, dry outside of a trickle of water. Nick fired his gun at the badger thing. He managed to wing it twice as it circled him, giving it a limp that slowed it down a bit before its next attack.
“Stand up to it, Nick.” Annie’s voice blared out of his watch as the animal set itself up to pounce. “It can’t change direction midair.”
Nick kept firing his gun, working the trigger as fast as the gun would allow as the bolts of light from the barrel singed the sides of the animal. He wasn’t hitting center mass, but the damage was starting to build up when it launched at his face again. He ground his feet into the dust as he pivoted, driving his knife to his right on an intercept course with the dungeon dweller’s face.
He got it. The knife took much better advantage of his new speed than his gun did, rocketing through the air, then the skull of the animal. It jerked midair, then slipped limp off the knife as it plopped on the ground.
Nick examined it. Like most things, the system didn’t keep secrets about the animal once he proved he could handle it.
<table><tbody><tr><td>
Aridiac Drone
Aridiacs are social colony mammals. They survive off whatever organic matter they can gather, collecting all edible material they find into a communal supply shared with the group.
Aridiacs are like most rodents in their ability to survive almost anywhere, but spread fastest in desert environments with little competition from more effective predators. Their primary attacks are physical in nature, coming in the form of claws and bites that bear no venom or elemental force.
Accumulation Rewards: 20
Loot drops: Aridiac Pelt, ???
Mastery Reward: Trait</td></tr></tbody></table>
“That’s a lot of accumulation.”
“Compared to what?”
“Stink Wraiths. They were one apiece.”
“I will not spend the time it takes to explain to you how incredibly rare a reward a single point of accumulation is. In the greater universe, twenty points is absolutely nothing. It will add up quickly for you because your level is so low. Now harvest the pelt before it despawns.”
Nick bent down and touched the aridiac corpse. It flashed with light at the contact, shifting its form into a small, folded square of hide and fur he shoved into his pack. There hadn’t been any question of what he’d get from the carcass, since the system had revealed just that one item of loot for his first kill.
“I’m going to have a lot of these pelts by the time I’m done, aren’t I?
“As many as you have aridiacs to kill. Take them. Even if you don’t find a use for them, we can feed them to the manufacturer. Now check your dungeon description, Captain. You can’t just walk around blind.”
<table><tbody><tr><td>
<b>Carnivorous Canyon</b>
You have entered a canyon with little water and even less plant life. Behind a bit of brush, you see a flash of tan you would have missed if it wasn’t moving. The next thing you know, your neck is ripped out. That’s how life works in this kind of place.
This canyon is infested by Aridiacs, a hardy carnivorous predator rodent that has established itself on millions of system worlds, disrupting local ecosystems and generally making a nuisance of themselves. You are tasked with cutting down their numbers to a more reasonable level, giving the local flora and fauna some ecological breathing room in the process.
Objectives: Destroy 50 Aridiacs
Rewards: Class Equipment Choice</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><tbody><tr><td>
<b>Alert! </b>
The system has issued a bounty on this dungeon. Completing the bounty will result in increased rewards.
Bounty Objective: Destroy Local Aridiac Breeding Capacity
Rewards: Class Equipment Choice, Accumulation Bonus</td></tr></tbody></table>
“What’s this Class Equipment Choice?”
“It’s a choice between several pieces of standard class-related loot. It’s worse than an assortment, which gives you every choice you might have made. It’s still better than a bare Class Equipment reward, which offers no choice at all.”
“Is it worth it to go after?”
“That’s the bad news.” Annie’s voice got a little more serious. “If my guess is correct, the system couldn’t offer that reward unless this dungeon had the energy to offer it. Which means it likely won’t break apart after being completed like we had hoped.”
“It might if I complete the bounty, so I have to? Regardless of the danger?”
“I’m not sure. I may be able to break free if you only weaken the dungeon. I request that you don’t put yourself in any unnecessary danger until we know.”
Nick took a look at the canyon he found himself trapped in. It was steep, at least steep enough that he didn’t think he could run or climb out. That made him feel a little trapped, but it also simplified things. The only real option he had was to walk forward, whether he was pursuing the extra bounty or not.
The next Aridiac almost managed to hide from him. In the distance, he actually did see the flash of tan movement the system had described, then nothing. He carefully leveled his gun and waited. It seemed like he should have more patience than a starving rodent, at least.
It ended up close. His arm was aching by the time the animal finally showed itself, snarling and charging in his general direction. This time it was much further away than the first attacker of the day had been, which for the first time let Nick get the most out of his ranged weapon. He pumped the trigger, missing most shots but catching the animal flush a couple times. The aridiac had to face him to charge, which made it harder to hit at the same time it assured every shot hit a relatively vital area.
Before the aridiac had covered half the distance, it was kneecapped, headshot, and planted in the dirt. Nick almost felt bad for it as he walked up to it and put it to ground permanently with a single, dead-center shot to the back of its head. He stood over it for a moment looking from it to his gun, trying to figure out the odd feeling in his gut.
“Annie. My stomach feels warm.”
“You are ill?”
“No. It’s not unpleasant. It’s just something that''s been happening since I killed the aridiac. It’s not the same as adding stats, but it feels kind of good in the same way. Do you know of anything that works like that?”
“Ah. I keep forgetting you are stupid and sad.”
“Hey!”
“It’s all right. We can fix both. We’ve even already started. That feeling is pride, Nick. You feel proud of yourself.”
“No.”
“Yes. We have a bond of sorts. I can’t feel everything about you, but I can feel a bit. You did something good, Nick. It’s OK to feel good about it.”
Nick stood very still for a minute before dropping to the ground and converting his prey into another hide. Annie was probably right, but even if she wasn’t he wanted to feel that feeling again. The only way he knew to do that was to take down more of the threats in this canyon. He had some hunting to do.