《EleMenTaLenT : A Dungeon Keeper's Tale》 Prologue I''m a big fan of RPGs. They seem to have an interesting vibe to get my mind off my pathetic life. However, nowadays RPG''s are so boring... They''re becoming so... predictable... I wish I can get more of it... And so I searched and searched... Up to the point I almost gave up. I even told myself that I will stop playing video games when I''m 25. Hope is almost lost... Until I found EleMenTaLenT. Just before I turned 25, the age which I vowed never to touch games again, the virtual reality game EleMenTaLenT was released. It was described as the Ultimate MMORPG, the best in the world ever! Everyone was buying it because how good the graphics were in the trailer ads on YouTube and other major game sites. Moresoever, there was a catchphrase in it called "absolute freedom", which means they allow people to do everything at their own pace and do whatever they want. When I finished watching it, I said to myself "Wow! This should be good! " Interesting... I love magic in fantasy stories! Especially Elemental Magic or magic that control basic elements. One thing that caught my attention that bothered me though... This world called Heaven On Earth... I don''t like the abbreviation... HOE... Sounds nasty... Am I the only one who realised this? Anyways, I still bought the game, which came with a headset and the CPU. The head set looked like a motorcyclist''s helmet with a built-in VR goggles, stereo sound system with a mic. It also had a temperature and moisture conditioning devices and also a built-in radio system (which is described to detect and nullify any sound waves coming from and to the wearer and their environment within 2 meters). The CPU which was connected with Internet cable, has a wireless receiver to connect it with the headset for online and built in with the best graphics card. After making sure everything was set up and running, I sat down on my chair, put on the helmet and pressed the start button. To my surprise, nothing happened... Suddently, from the ground burst forth a large magic circle and the world seemed to shake. And then the portal opened with a flash of light which made me close my eyes! I felt the world around me spinning and rushing at light speed, where random scenery flashed in my head as if spirited away or having a flashback. It all happened so quickly that I couldn''t recall most of it. When the light dissipated, there was a scenery of Utopia... I''m on a field near the forest. Surrounded by a luscious green, I looked around in awe. Every detail seemed so real. Then suddenly, I see fairies with bodies of teenagers with insect wings approach me. They are all good looking people that are only as tall as a the middle finger to end of the palm. A beautiful busty blond fairy with glittering butterfly wings appeared in front of me. Her clothes covered only her bottom two thirds of the twin globes of big bosoms. Half of her smooth thighs are bare way up to just beneath her ever so slightly transparent pink dress made of... flower petals? That''s way too less fabric. A leaf can cover more skin than this thin piece of fabric draped over her body. For most people this should be what you would call HOE. Her wings on her back means that she is possibly bare backed... And they blame the society for pedophiles when they put this in front of your nose... Then a sudden thought came to me... I think I''ve seen this fairy before... She looks just like one of those British child celebrities in the popular movie with wizards and witches. The fairy seemed to be indifferent and greeted my with a charming smile and enthusiastic voice like a bird, a sexy one that is... "Hello, young adventurer!" 3 seconds of awkward silence... Another thought came to me...You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Ermmm... But you don''t look a day over 12... How long does fairies live? And ermmmm.... I''m over twenty... That''s like calling my mother young lady. I may get owned by my father for trying to hit on her... The fairy remained silent until I was mentally ready and continued her greetings. "We were waiting for you to aid us! I''m Lilith and these are my fellow fairies. First, please introduce yourself! What is your name?" And then, she leaned forward as if to show me her cleavage with open arms as if to invite me in. Then her small hands touched my face... For some reason I felt discomfort. Something fundamental that our parents taught about people we just met, even if its a fine lady. ...... No, I''m not gay, I''m just smart enough to not get harassed by a stranger! Also, fairies are supposed to be shy creatures. They usually evade humans. Why are these ones so different? "That dress you''re wearing is showing to much skin for me! Since, it''s the first time we meet, please don''t come too close and don''t touch me..." The fairy did not lose her smile and flew a little backwards. "Why? You don''t like me? Well, if you insist, who do you prefer to be your guide?" I gazed upon the swarm of buzzing fairies, who are also whispering among each other. Then a question came to my mind. Why do they have this on a game that is open to all ages? What? Isn''t this like an online dating website or the kind people go online and date on cam? That is what you called an escort?! I need to ask more questions. "Who is your leader here?" "No one!" Something doesn''t seem right... "Don''t fairies serve a queen? " "We are masters of ourselves!" I don''t know what''s bugging me, but my momma told me not to talk to strangers, especially those who are too nice to you and don''t talk no lies. I better try to leave. "I don''t think I need any one to escort me... I can just find out on my own..." It''s a free world right? I''ll just figure out on my own. "You''re not leaving until you pick one of us!" The fairy who always did the talking suddenly became irritated and started to raise her voice. I tried to walk faster but in a moment I''m surrounded by the fairies again. Looks like they''re getting angry. "What do you want? I''ll give it to you. Money, pretty girls, fun, food, anything! Just let me know your name!" "I am quite self-proficient, thank you. And for some reason, I can''t remember my name. Can you let me go now?" "NO!!!! I WILL HAVE YOU ONE WAY OR OTHER!" Hysterically, the fairy lost her temper and screamed. Then suddenly, the surroundings changed! Everything changed. The scenery became scary and stone-grey, empty like a wilderness! Most of the fairies turned into little creatures with bat wings and flew past me. I noticed that the pink-dressed butterfly-winged one grew and grew until it is the size of a human teenager and the butterfly wings disappeared to be replaced by bat wings bursting open. It is a demon that resembled a sexually seductive woman but with horns like a cow and with beast fangs and... bat wings... "Why don''t you want to have me? I can make you happy~~" "So you are a succubus... What''s your goal?" "To have you for dinner of course... Boys in their twenties like you should filled with perverted thoughts so you should had been attracted to me! Then I can have your life energy for a long time and have you sell me your soul to give to my master!" "Enough of this! HOE, my ass! I will not fall under your illusion and I am not afraid of you! Begone!" "You don''t seem to be attracted to pretty girls. How can this be??! Can it be you are gay?! I will call my fellow incubi to come and service you!!" "No, you won''t! HAAA!!" With a fast motion, I made a sword-wielding stance and stabbed in the direction of the succubus, aiming at the ground beneath her. "That''s not goin- AA!!AAA!!!AAARRRGGH!!! Wha~~??!" Before she could react or even think about moving, the succubus was stabbed from every direction by a mass of emerald-green stakes that burst forth from the ground in a radius. Those are dozens of bamboo plants that are sharp on the tip had been summoned like a spear trap. The succubus was impaled and pinned on the spot but showed no signs of dying. The wounds inflicted did not draw blood but created holes with black, slightly distorting mist. I gave a smirk from the success. ¡°How~~??!¡± Not able to move or believe what had just happened, the succubus asked. ¡°This is the dream realm, I should be able to have complete control over you.¡± ¡°Well, for one, your speech are full of logical holes. Since I cannot tell whether you are really here in body or whether you are a player or a NPC (with or without AI abilities), I can¡¯t tell you which ones gave you off. However, I can tell you I won because I believed.¡± ¡°Believe??! What the hell would you believe in? You think it can overpower me?!!¡± ¡°I believe it is my dream we¡¯re in, so I have power over my dreams. Then, I know I saw that move once before (on the preview video) which was summoned by a magic swordsman. If seeing is believing then the reverse should be also true. In fact, that is the whole power of belief, especially over something that had not happened yet. I believed also that I¡¯m one of the strongest player this world. I imagine myself with a magic shinai and walla~~¡± I waved about the weapon that had materialised in my hands when I performed the technique. ¡°What are the elements in magic? Is it fire, water, earth, air and so on? Yes they are, but that¡¯s not all. The main element in a fantasy world with magic is imagining and visualizing. This might be extremely difficult in real world, slightly difficult in the fantasy world, but hey, this is my dream. If I don¡¯t believe in myself in my own dreams, there¡¯s no way I can succeed in real life, right? You lose!¡± There was a long moment of silence, then finally a sulky ¡°Hmmph!!¡± was heard from succubus with an expression as dirty as ****. She¡¯s not willing to admit but she had lost. She then resumed her attempts of trying to free herself with a face of grimace that covered her beauty like a dark cloud dimmed the moon! However, all was in vain!! I believed that my trap to be able to seal all her movements and so it did!! Bamboo is nearly unbreakable in tight clusters after all! ¡°Let¡¯s end this!! The previous technique is the technique I''ve seen from the trailer ad, named ¡°Lightspeed groundbreak, Bamboo-splitting Impact (¹âËÙÆÆÍÁ£¬ÊÆÈçÆÆÖñ)¡±. Now this, is my personal idea, an orginal Skill I had in mind!! Here goes nothing!! ¡®From the earth burst forth plant life and plants collect the power of sunlight and so with lightspeed growth and propagation, my bamboo sword will burst forth new dawn and purge evil and darkness¡­ Believe till dawn break at heart---Chest Driven Bamboo Stake Dawn Breaking Sword (ÐØÓгÉÖñ, ÆÆÏþ½£Àè)! ¡± With one step forward and a number of quick stabs, I used an original technique with exorcising abilities. The bamboo stakes from the previous move shone bright and my sword hits also shone like miniature suns. The succubus screamed hellishly as it died and vaporised into black mist. The bright light showed the silhouette of the bamboo stakes and then enveloped the whole field, brighter and brighter. Then I woke from the dream and opened my eyes to find a whole new world and an unexpected life ahead of me. 1 - Waking up in an Unknown Cave When I came to, I slowly opened my eyes. I can see some light. Not glaringly bright, just a stream of it. Then I felt slightly chillyfrom cool winddraftedpass where I was. The first question that popped up is ¡°Where am I?¡± I seemed to be lying down since I can see a plane of pale gray. The ceiling is grayish white and had a crack that allowed sunlight to stream in. I quickly sat up and looked around me. I was lying on top of a bed of soft moss. There seemed to be shining markings encircling me, in letters I¡¯ve never seen before ¡­ Perhaps I¡¯m sitting in the middle of a magic circle that was used for teleportation? Or is it aprotection circle? Where am I? I rose onto my feet and looked at my own body. Only then did I notice that I¡¯m naked. The bare body of a young boy was what I saw. ¡°What the¡­??!¡± I surprised myself from the voice that came out. Seem pretty young. Then I remember what pedophiles and perverts may do to young boys and leave them alone in a deserted placelike this. Oh hell~~ no!! I instinctively looked around for any person that fits the description but saw nobody. I quickly sprang onto my feet and examined my body to see whether I was violated in anyway. No, nothing¡­ Noscars, no wounds... No bleeding in the***... Whew!!Thank God! Suddenly I realized I¡¯m much¡­ smaller. What gave it away? Because I¡¯m much smaller, there... And hairless too, there¡­ I looked at my hands and I saw tiny hands, much smaller than a grown man¡¯s hand. Can it be I became much younger now? I looked around and saw a pool of water and I looked into it to check out my reflection. Sure enough, a cute young face of a human boy stared back at me. I should think that I¡¯m between 10 to 12, maybe? An Asian shota with fairly large eyes, this face I have should have potential to be quite good looking, an 8 out of 10, I suppose. Wow¡­ I look pretty awesome! I could see a row of neat, white teeth¡­ Thank God I hadn''t been left in danger and most importantly, Ihadn''t been violated by anybody. Hmmm¡­ Who am I? Why do I seem to be amnesiac?? Then I thought to myself, I could spend time to figure things out later. First I need to check the surroundings for any danger. I need to figure out where am I¡­ Then I saw stacked neatly like a pillow under my head was a large cloth pouch with a sling. Somebody left mesurvival equipment? I quickly opened the pouch and rummaged through the contents of the pouch. First I saw some clothes from medieval times---a plain white cotton shirt, a large pair of trousers. Not the best texture but quite clean. Not bad, I guess... Next, I found a long piece of fabric that looked like a brown sash and underwear which looked like a pair of shorts. There were even a pair of leather shoes and a leather belt folded neatly inside. One problem though¡­ The clothes are fitting for a grown man. How am I supposed to wear this? I thought for a moment and finally decided to make use of what I have. I put on the shirt like a loose robe which covered up to my knees. Then, I used the sash and wrapped it around my bottomto form some sort of underwear. I suppose I need to get used to walking barefoot soon¡­ Everything else is too big for me now. I continued to search into the pouch. Suddenly I touched something furry at the side. I almost screamed as I quickly withdrew my hands for fear of a small animal of some sort waking up and attacking me! When I finally mustered courage agood few seconds later, I grabbed the furry thing in a quick motion and lifted it up!Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ...... Itwas a bundle rolled and tied with two knots at both ends by strapand tied in a ribbon. When opened up, there was a large piece of cloth. It looked like a thin mat made of some animal¡¯s fur that can be folded as a blanket, some sort of a sleeping bag. Good Lord! I could have got myself a heart attack! The surface that was folded inside seemed to be lined with another layer of soft fur. The outer layer had very thick yet soft fur. This is most probably a fur hide of some animal. I wonder what it is for? Next I saw aleather skin with some waterand some stones that seemed to be used to start a fire. There are also a scroll listingbasic magic spells and how to cast them. I suppose I cancast them if I followed them. Are there any weapons? Nobody should be unarmed in a strange place right? *rustle rustle rustle* Ah ha~~!! Itis a large knife in its decorated sheath of brown leather! The sheathhas two pieces of long cord attached at the end near the handle, which folded into a leather pocket on one side. This should used to be tied onto a belt or something, but I think it can fit around my waist just about right! The knife itselfwas so large in my little hands that it looked like a single-bladed short sword. It had a wooden handle is a hollowed out leaf shape, embedded with a single large crystal at the end. Unsheathing it, I saw that the metal blade was shining from reflected light. The edge was quite sharp and the backhad a row of sharp teeth. The large crystal which faintly glows light blue that was embedded to the end of its handle. Suddenly, I had an idea and put on the sheath held it upside down in its sheath and suddenly I realized that the weapon somewhat resembles a wand! The person who designed this must be a genius! This should be a rare weapon! It might be suited for magical spells too. After beholding the impressive weapon for a while, suddenly a mental vision came to me in a sudden bolt. I can hear a harsh commanding voice in my head. ¡°Find the dungeons, conquer it and bring back the treasure! It is your duties as an adventurers. Fight for fame and riches!¡± Whoa! Immediately after, I hear a soft, gentle voice which was nothing like the other forceful voice, but it has a type of firmness was enough to make me to think that it has authority enough to counter the harsh voice from before with possibly equal power. ¡°There is more than one way to solve things than violence. Make love not war! Fight for the good of this world and defend the world from destruction!¡± The voices faded and I was dumbfounded for a few moments. What was that? These were the only clues of why I¡¯m here and what I¡¯m supposed to do. I still can¡¯t remember anything from this world... At least I remember that I am a working manin the realworld. Is it normal to come to this world without any memory of the past?Is there somethingwrong with the hardware or software? Orare the game designersjust plain mean? I decided to look around after securing the sheathby the cordaround my littlewaist like a ropebelt. I tied it in a liveknot from the side. This should hold onjust fine as long asi don''t pull it too hard... I perked up my ears and from afar, I cannot hear anything except a faint dripping of water. The air is cool and seemed to be loaded with indescribable energy¡­ The cave is a dome of stone of about thrice my height. The floor seemed to be irregular, just like those naturally formed caves. My bare feet can feel the cool stone and I can feel the grittiness of some gravel. How did I come here without any memory of this place? Or should I say, why do I don¡¯t recall anything? I scanned around me and did not see any creature, must less to say any signs of threat. There are some miniature plants beside the patch of moss I was lying on that grew in the cave. I suppose plants can grow in anywhere, even in a cave with so little sunlight as this. I suddenly look at the pool of water that I had checked out myself from and noticed something different. Is it getting further away? Then suddenly I feel anxious from the realization that I might be in danger¡­ I¡¯m in a cave which entrance is separated by water from an underground river perhaps? If I¡¯m in a cave that can be totally immersed in water, I¡¯m done for~~ I started to panic. I think I better start moving before it''s too late! Iwalked a few steps,about torush to the obvious exitwhen I stopped in my steps. That''s after Ithought about itagain¡­ Hmmm~~ The moss I was sleeping on is dry¡­ That means theplace where I was lying was never touched by the water. And the level that I just saw was about the highest it will ever reach. River tides are usually the highest at 9 am in my country. Is it about that time? Hmmm... Buthow do I know what pattern tides in this world is in? That means I¡¯m probably at most here for the night and woke in the morning... If until now no dangerous-looking creature had approach and no harm had come upon me, that means this cave should be safe. After securing and putting back everything I¡¯m not wearing or using at the moment, I took the pouch and wore it like a sling-bag. I started to walk along the tunnel slowly, scanning for things that may trip me or eat me. All that can be heard are my footstep rustling and faraway swishing sound of water and dripping of water. No other creature could be seen except occasionally plants where cracks in the cave allowed light was streaming in. The tunnel was cold with the chilly breezes blowing through occasionally. I could see places dripping with water and nearby places thick with moss. However, the sound of water dripping from the distance became louder and louder. I was almost expecting to see a miniature waterfall ahead. The smell of plants can be faintly picked up by my nose. I expect myself to reach a place where there are lots of trees. Eventually, I reached a place where the ceiling started to heighten and came into a large spacious cave. Light shone brightly through holes in the ceiling. Sure enough, there are a lot of trees. But to my amazement, the trees are much taller than any tree I¡¯ve seen! Ilooked around and saw a series of stages that I can climb up to which leadsa high ledge at least 5stories high. I should at least observe from above to see there''s any danger right? So I decided to climb them. After quite a long time, I found myself looking down from the ledge and I saw agreen canopy made of several large trees. To my surprise, I saw silvery white streaks splashed across the trees... And they seemed to be moving!! Then it dawned on me¡­ These are worms...Hundreds of smooth silvery white worms are in the trees. From the distanceestimated, the worms must be at least the size of a ten year old''s arm! Wait, that''s my current arm... This fact isdifficult to get used to immediately... I looked closeragain and I spotted fruits like clusters of grapes on the trees! The unusual thing is these fruits are white coloured withblack spots. Wow!Whitefruittrees and white worms... I think I''ve seen this scene before... I thought to myself. Can it be? White mulberry? These are white mulberry trees? Then what are those worms? Are those... silkworms??! 2 - Whats going on??! I still can¡¯t believe it¡­ Plants and silkworms this big¡­ Then I thought about it¡­ These are not mutated plants and bugs are they? Hope that they don¡¯t grow so big that they can fly around and kill people. The worst would be an insect with crushing jaws. I was a bit worried and I blame myself for reading too much tragedy manga. It¡¯s all right¡­ They won¡¯t do such things. After all, who kills players the moment they enter? I finally mustered courage and belief that I won¡¯t die so easily and start to head down¡­ Perhaps I just need to go through the jungle and see whether there¡¯s any way out. Just as I was about to enter, suddenly I saw one heap that was unmoving not far away¡­ It looked like a silkworm¡­ I decided to look closer to see clearly how big they are¡­ Oh my¡­ The more I came nearer, the more nervous I become¡­ This silkworm is a giant¡­ It is at least as thick as a child¡¯s fist and almost as long as me lying down. However, that¡¯s not the whole reason I was nervous. I noticed that it was not lying down unmoving¡­ It moves¡­ But there¡¯s something different about it. It is flailing it head slightly, as if drunk¡­ I am now about 10 steps away from the worm. It sure is not right¡­ What¡¯s wrong with it? Suddenly, the nightmare began¡­ The worm seemed to notice me and to my surprise, started walking up to me¡­ Or should I say creep towards me¡­ I noticed something wrong and just as I turned slightly to turn¡­ It started to run towards me¡­ I could have known that speed¡­ Quite close to a rabbit chased by a hunting dog¡­ Or should I say rabid dog chasing after me¡­ Argh¡­ Why are you following me?? ARGGGHHH!! I lost my control and screamed as I ran. To my relief these bugs are not suited for running¡­ It slowed down gradually and stopped in its tracks. I ran until it is a clear 30 wide steps away from me and then I stopped¡­ *Gasp¡­ gasp¡­ gasp¡­* I don¡¯t understand why silkworms that I thought to be like bug-shaped sloths will be so agitated at me coming close to them¡­ As I continued walking away from the crazy worm, with head still turned back at the worm, suddenly I tripped over something and fell face down¡­ Owowowowowow~~ I picked myself up and looked at the object tripped me, half expecting a branch or something... What I saw froze me and sent chills down my spine... The thing I just tripped over is another silkworm¡­ This gargantuan silkworm is already half buried in the soil¡­ It is not hard and I did not seem to have kicked it that hard to be tripped over¡­ It really is something embarrassing..But I recall the momentI touched it with one foot, the touch of something soft and cold made me stop 1 feet but the other could not stop in time and I tripped over my own foot. I quickly scrambled to face the worm I just tripped over from¡­ The silkworm that I just fell over from did not move, as if badly injured or is fainted or is dead. Then I noticed something different about this worm. What¡¯s more¡­ It has something sticking out ofits head! It is like¡­ like¡­ A horn!! Oh my God!! Fear came onto me¡­ Why does it have a horn? ... Is it dead?Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The worm is not less smaller than the previous one that chased me¡­ Does that one also have horns? No¡­ Otherwise I should have seen it from up close. Before I could stand up, I noticed a circleof 4 to 5 silkworms had gathered around me on the forest floor. They keep coming closer to me¡­ As if to teach me a lesson for their friend. And they are moving similarly to the previous one that chased me¡­ Is it here too? Strange enough, these had not grown horns yet. Is it some sort of demonification? A failed one or is it that they killed it before it can finish changing? Are they blaming me for this? ¡°Hey¡­ Stop! I didn¡¯t do anything on purpose. I was just running from another one of you when I tripped over this friend of yours¡­ Please¡­¡± Then, it started¡­ The worms practically jumped all over me¡­ They just latch onto me¡­ And I just couldn¡¯t shake them off¡­"ARRGGGHHHH~~~!!!" I can feel my strength slowly but steadily leaving me¡­But the most frightening thing is¡­ The mental strain. It feltas ifa group of large, heavy boyshad decided to come and sit on me andants crawled all over me at the same time. ¡°NOOOO~~~!!¡± I jumped onto my feet and started to use my hands to grab them and try to peel them off me¡­ Luckily they¡¯re not so tightly latched on and not one had bitten me¡­ I started moving towards one direction and started to get rid of them, shaking my body and using both hands to throw them off¡­ Strangely they did not seem to move after I throw them off immediately, as if they couldn¡¯t change their mind from feeding on my energy to chase after me. However, those who had been shaken off started to move slowly about 5 seconds after I throw them off. This isa nightmare!! I decided to run as fast as I can while I¡¯m still free of them¡­ My head is a bit hot from the sudden turn of events but my body just keep on running¡­ Suddenly I remembered that I need to make sure that my possessions are still with me¡­ Luckily I still have them¡­ This is some zombie attack crap¡­ Isn¡¯t it too scary for a beginner¡¯s experience? Suddenly, I heard a voice call out to me¡­ The voice of a child just like me. I turned around and sure enough I saw another child like me¡­ They are dressed in a light green robe¡­ No, not like my oversized shirt. A proper one, at that¡­ It has an olden Chinese or Japanese feel to it. I ran up to them¡­ Since I couldn¡¯t make out it is a boy or a girl. The person, possibly another player, made hand gestures to follow them. They turned their head over and started to run. I followed them quickly. Thank God I¡¯m not alone! I can cry today and not be ashamed at all~~ My savior ran towards an opening that lead out from the trees and jumped onto a ledge on the side of the cave similar like what I did before. I quickly followed and managed to do the same, although not as gracefully and nimbly. I had to scramble and heave myself onto the same ledge as them and then¡­ I managed to start to breath properly in deeper gaspy breaths while lying on the ledge¡­ Sweat formed on me in large drops that gradually became little streams and pooled all over the stone. ¡°Get up! You¡¯ll get a cold if you lie on the cold stone.¡± *gasp* ¡°H¡­ Give¡­ me¡­ a moment¡­¡± *gasp gasp¡­¡­* ¡­. ¡°Thank¡­ you¡­ ¡­¡­.. Your name is?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ I don¡¯t remember¡­ I don¡¯t have one yet. You can just call me Xiao Qing (СÇà, meaning Green) if you like¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Xiao Qing (XQ), is it? Thanks¡­ I owe you one¡­ ¡­. Who are you? I mean¡­ What do you do here?¡± XQ: ¡°Me? Hmmm¡­ I¡¯m a Dungeon Keeper. Or actually you should say that I¡¯m a Dungeon Keeper in training.¡± ¡°Dungeon¡­ Keeper?? ¡­.¡± XQ: ¡°Yes! ¡­ What about you?¡± ¡°¡­. I don¡¯t know¡­¡± XQ: ¡°Don¡¯t know? You don¡¯t know who you are and what you¡¯re doing here, yet you come here?¡± ¡°¡­ I don¡¯t¡­ I had just woken up in a cave here¡­ ¡­. Are you a player?¡± XQ: ¡°¡­ I can¡¯t tell you¡­ Not until I know whether you are a Dungeon Keeper or just a normal adventurer¡­ ¡± ¡°¡­ I¡¯ll be fooled that you¡¯re a player even if you are a NPC¡­ You¡¯re too natural¡­¡± XQ: ¡°¡­ What is your quest here? We are all given instructions to do something, especially in a dungeon¡­ Being blur, especially at times like this, is the most dangerous thing in this world¡­ Don¡¯t you know that once you die in this world, you can¡¯t come back as the same character again? Everything you do up to the point you die will be erased altogether.¡± ¡°That kinda sucks¡­ ¡­. some HOE huh¡­ My ass¡­.¡± I kinda thought aloud in my devastated feeling¡­ ¡°HUH?!? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?¡± XQ was seriously insulted at what I just blabbed without thinking¡­ ¡°Nonononono¡­. I mean Heaven On Earth, this world¡­ I would never insult you¡­ You¡¯re my savior after all¡­¡± XQ started to turn from a really angry expression to a somewhat embarrassed expression, but when they realized that I am looking at them, they quickly changed their expression back to an irritated expression while they retorted. XQ: ¡°That¡­ was¡­ totally messed up! Totally unaccounted for! You should be ashamed of yourself! Saying whatever you want¡­ Using such easily misunderstood terms¡­ You¡¯re lucky I did not directly kill you here and now!¡± ¡°So¡­ ¡­. I think I¡¯m going to be insulting you again, unintentionally of course¡­ Please don¡¯t be angry¡­ ¡­ (deep breath)¡­ Are you a guy or a girl?¡± XQ: ¡°What?? You can¡¯t look and see for yourself? I¡¯m a g¡­. Why should I tell you? Right after you just called me a ¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Fine¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­ You know I didn¡¯t mean to say anything rude to you¡­ ¡­ We¡¯re good?¡± XQ: ¡°Good? Why should I be good? It¡¯s not like you properly apologized or anything!! Hmmph!!!¡± Boy¡­ This is going to be a long day¡­ Especially after the scare of my life, almost killing myself over worms that I don¡¯t know why on earth¡­ HOE¡­ whatever¡­ Why they started attacking me and tried to suck me dry¡­ Do normal silkworms do that? What''s going on??! There''s so much I don''t know I think I''m gonna... Sleep over it... Pretend that I''ve fainted or something... What a bothersome day... How am I supposed to live??In... HOE?? HOE, my ass!! 3 - Lost for words... After a few minutes of awkward silence¡­ I¡¯m still lying down on the ledge with my leather pouch acting as a cushion formy head... Xiao Qing (СÇà, literally meaning Green, XQ) was standing leaned against the cave wall at an angle I can see if I slightly turned my head over. Their arms are tucked in front and when they saw me looking at them, they just looked at the other direction, showing they are still mad... Still trying to ignore me, huh? Whenever theyturned to see me looking atthem, they looked at the other direction to show that they don''t want to talk to me... ¡°¡­... I¡¯m sorry okay? Can you tell me what¡¯s going on in here?¡± XQ: ¡°¡­... Hmmph! Fine¡­ I wanna get this over with soon anyways. I¡¯m here to meet with the new registered Dungeon Keeper¡­ DK for short¡­ ...... Aaaahhhh!!¡± ¡­¡­ Oh boy~~ This cannot be good~~ They screamed out of embarassment as if my very eye contact had caused them verbal harassment! XQ: ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t start giving short-formed terms for initials ok?! I won¡¯t forgive you for calling DK as ¡­ You know what I¡¯m saying right? I''m warning you, if youdo that I''ll kill you!!¡± ¡°Hey¡­ I haven¡¯t said anything¡­ Why would I call DK ¡­.¡± XQ: ¡°I¡¯ll kill you if you even say it you got that??! ¡­ Anyways I want to get this over with and go back to my own Dungeon.¡± ¡°What?! This is not your Dungeon?!¡± XQ: ¡°Of course not! My Dungeon is no way as messed up as this one is¡­ If you¡¯re the DK here, good luck to you¡­¡± ¡°Wait a minute, things are getting weird here¡­ You¡¯re a DK and you¡¯ve come over here to meet another DK? ¡­ Eh~~~? ......... NO~~~~!!!Noway!! You knew this was gonna happen and you wait until I¡¯m screaming like a girl then you decide to save my sorry¡­??! Argghhh!!!¡± I was lying down but now I sat up when I heard that. Is this a joke or something? XQ: ¡°You¡¯re fine being a girl anyways¡­ Not that I care¡­ I think I did you a favor already¡­ Who knows how long you¡¯re gonna have to run before finally die together with that foul mouth of yours, eaten by worms?¡± ¡°¡­¡± (Grrr¡­) This guy, girl, whatever is starting to get on my nerves¡­ XQ: ¡°You¡¯re lucky I¡¯m talking to you okay? Anyways¡­ I¡¯m here to find the DK here and convey the message of the Boss. Since you¡¯re the only one around, I¡¯ll assume that it¡¯s you!¡± ¡°¡­ What message?¡± (You¡¯re quite eager to find the easy way out, huh?! Just saying whatever to whoever?) XQ: ¡°¡­¡­ Fine, I know that the new DK is you, okay? Now, here comes the hard part¡­ (Ok, you can do it¡­) Here goes¡­ Here are his actual words. ¡®Explain the situation to the newly recruited member. Then, assist him to devise a plan to handle the situation.¡¯ ¡± Nothing seemed to be making sense now. ¡°¡­¡­ Ok¡­ I check-in first day and I have to deal with¡­ how should I put it, this??!¡± XQ: ¡°Hey, don¡¯t try to insult the Boss¡¯ wisdom ok? He thinks you can do it, so what could go wrong?¡± A few massages on my throbbing temples later¡­ ¡°So let¡¯s say I¡¯m the DK for this dungeon. What are DK¡¯s supposed to do?¡± ¡°Huh? You don¡¯t know? Take care of their dungeon, of course! Just do your best to make things better or at least maintain it as it is. We act as butlers for the Boss¡­ Or like a Branch Manager for a company¡¯s CEO¡­ Anything that happens in the dungeon is your responsibility! Your dungeon falls, you¡¯re to blame and you go down with it¡­ Of course if your dungeon is well managed, then you¡¯re the one who will benefit from it! The Boss is quite generous with awarding people who shows good talent, does their work welland taking good responsibility!¡± ¡°¡­¡­ So what is this incident that I¡¯m supposed to deal with?¡± XQ: ¡°You know the silkworms on the ground? They¡¯re abnormal¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, surprise~ me!! ¡­¡­ You mean the silkworms in the trees are normal? So the ones on the ground are some sort of Residence Evil or Walking Dead, huh?¡± (Jokingly¡­) XQ: ¡°Hmmm¡­ You can say that¡­ They are somewhat like zombies, that¡¯s for sure¡­¡± ¡°¡­ I was joking, you know¡­ So they are zombie worms? ¡­¡­ You¡¯re serious!? Oh Lord!! XQ: ¡°They had been infected by a parasite, which take over their minds gradually. They need to feed on mana to help them grow, that¡¯s why they¡¯ll attack humans with large pools of mana. The larger the pool of mana, the more likely they¡¯ll detect when approaching and the more aggressive they¡¯ll become.¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I have a large pool of mana? That¡¯s the only good news I¡¯ve heard so far. Is the parasite infectious?¡± XQ: ¡°Nope, it is only infectious between silkworms. Humans and other animals are not affected. Any other questions? ¡­¡­ Okay¡­ So now, we need to device a plan and then fight them.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure we need help on this. In case the Boss didn¡¯t know, WE¡¯REJUST A BUNCH OF10 YEAROLDS!!!¡± To emphasize how stressed I feel, I cupped my hands in front of my mouth and shouted out loud to let this Boss know a piece of my mind of how absurd this plan of his will work out. ¡°Hey, stop!¡± XQ looked at me alarmed, rushed over to where I was sitting, squatted down beside me and put a hand over my mouth with another hand on the back of my neck. For a moment, I was surprised since this happened in an instant. I was stunned, I didn¡¯t notice my hands are now in a sort of ¡®I surrender¡¯ posture. And then I turned a bit and for the first time, looked into her eyes¡­. And then I couldn¡¯t stop staring... It was a pair of large, beautiful, dark brown eyes, glistening and looking as serious as can be. Then I caught glimpse of her hair that was rolled into a messy bun, which looked nice really¡­ It was black at a distance, but up close, with the sunlight in her hair, I saw that it was really dark brown. Then did I confirm that it was a girl¡­ Acute Asian girl with a nose as cute as a button and a pair of healthy pink lips. She must have noticed that I was staring then¡­ That¡¯s when she realized that she had just touched me, she started to look uncomfortable... Then she let go and backed-up a bit and stood up to take a few steps back. It was a bit embarrassing at first, since we were just talking about some really heavy topics and I was stressed, but suddenly the pressure had lifted¡­ Is it just me or did the air surrounding us started to glow in a pink arc?? XQ was the first to break the silence. ¡°Stop it, you¡¯ll attract too much attention from the infected worms around here. ¡­¡­ It¡¯s not safe to stay here long. First, I¡¯ll train you to control mana from leaking and then we¡¯ll try to reach your office in this level. From there we can speak with the other fellow DK¡¯s. Come on, stand up now. And relax and close your eyes. ¡± XQ reached out a hand to help me up. I looked for a moment and then I reached out to her. She helped me up and then she started tutoring me on mana manipulation. XQ: ¡°First things first. I need to teach you how to control your mana. Mana condensation is the first technique learned by magic users and the most important step to start using magic! Learning this techniquewill enable you to absorb enough mana or ''fuel'' to channel mana to your arms and cast spells!You need to learn how to hold your mana in and not let them diffuse so easily out. Having a large mana pool but unable to withhold the mana is equal to wasting it. You can imagine your mana pool to be like a balloon, since your mana will leak out unintentionally. Now, you need to imagine yourself sort of breath in the mana in the air. How do I put this¡­ Imagine surrounding mana like water vapor and your balloon can hold it in better if it is condensed. Another important thing is to clear your mind from any other thoughts other than the task at hand since loosing focus will cause this process to be difficult. This may be hard for most individuals but I believe a person like you who¡¯s chosen by the Boss can do it!¡± After a frustrating 20 mins¡­ ¡°Is it just me or is this is really hard? I don¡¯t feel any different.¡± XQ wore a puzzled expression. ¡°This is strange¡­ Did you clear your thoughts?¡± ¡°No¡­ I don¡¯t think I can¡­ Not after that frightening incident. And there are a lot of questions about this world that I haven¡¯t asked¡­ Who am I? Why am I chosen? What kind of Boss would let his freshie take up something like this on his first day? Something just felt not right¡­¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­ You¡¯re a DK that¡¯s for sure. We are the few chosen ones to take charge of the Dungeons. We all went through a very difficult test that pushes us to the limit. According to the Boss you are the first person totake the Mentality test upon entering and was also the first one to pass it. And from the reaction of the infected worms to you, you have a large pool of mana but you don¡¯t know how to suppress it. That was also probably why you are able to withstand that attack. Normal adventurers would have been sucked dry of their mana and lost their will to fight on the spot¡­ Then the parasites will start to absorb the life energy from them until they die. So you should be quite gifted¡­ You should be able to learn to condense your mana after some practice.¡± Why do I not have any memory of passing any test? ¡°¡­ Does the attacks of the Zombugs have anything to do with my situation now?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ Why?¡± ¡°Those worms fed on my mana right? That may have affected my mind and made me lose focus. And I suspect that there are wounds in my mana body inflicted by the parasites in the worms¡­ They shouldn¡¯t be able to suck mana so efficiently if they cannot tear down the protection on it and inflicted a few wounds¡­ By the way, I wanted to ask this for a while now. Does this world allow us to use Appraisal or some function to check our current status? That will help a lot.¡± XQ: ¡°Yeah¡­ About that¡­ I asked the same question to the Boss¡­ This was the reply¡­ ¡®Why let people depend on something so convenient and let them lose their sense of creativity? Appraisal and even system notification for newbies is just like giving a smartphone to a toddler. They¡¯ll want to use it to play games or surf the Internet so you use it more and more often, yet they don¡¯t know why they¡¯re given it. Up to a certain point, they cannot control the urge to use it like they cannot live without it and that¡¯s not necessarily for contacting people like the sole purpose of the phone is made for! Why, because they¡¯re plain lazy to find out by themselves, that¡¯s why! Adventurers should be given the chance toexperiment, learn, make assumptions and come up with that data from observation on the results themselves. That¡¯s the fun of adventure you know!¡¯ ¡± ¡°¡­¡­ I¡¯m speechless¡­ I¡¯m probably heavily wounded now you know! And I don¡¯t know that for sure¡­ I¡¯m trying out now! ¡®Appraisal!¡¯ ¡­¡­ ¡®Check stats!¡¯ ¡­¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Nothing¡­! A whole 10 other trials later using commands, all the time imagining a status page will appear. ¡°Arrgghhh~~! Nothing¡¯s working! This is depressing¡­ Argggh!!¡± XQ: ¡°Don¡¯t be a baby¡­ This is all new to me too! Just accept it and move on! If you can¡¯t use magic for now, then just use your weapon! You should have one provided by Boss right?¡± ¡°I suppose so! Even if I have a cool weapon¡­ I don¡¯t really want to¡­ ¡­¡­. Huh??!¡± I let out a shout that shocked XQ again. (That almost got me a second moe moment, now that I think back¡­ But at that moment I didn¡¯t even think about it¡­) I started checking my clothes on the front and the back like I did earlier for a rape check¡­ Then came an alarming realization after a moment of stillness¡­ XQ looked at me worryingly. "What''s wrong??" ¡°My knife, my only weapon¡­ It¡¯s gone!!¡± 4 - Search and confrontation ¡°What?!! You lost it?!!¡± Xiao Qing asked me with mouth wide open with disbelief, her brows locked tight. She looked even more annoyedwith me than beforenow. ¡°¡­¡­ Yes¡­ I can¡¯t find it on me anywhere!¡± I started to rummageinto my pouch to see whether I''daccidentally putit in thereand forgot. XQ: ¡°Seriously? You¡¯re in a Dungeon, you cannot store mana and you lost your weapon??! Are you just plain stupid or what? I¡¯m not sarcastic, I¡¯m just saying things as it is!¡± However much I hate to admit, I can¡¯t help but know deep down, I¡¯m screwed. I¡¯m in deep **** and I¡¯m probably never going to make it alive in here. I¡¯m ready to cry, except deep down I know crying doesn¡¯t help. ¡°I think I must have lost it in the forest just now~~¡± XQ: ¡°Now what? The headquarters of this dungeon are way over there, opposite the jungle! This is the only clearing with no trees! Boss, you owe me big! How am I supposed to bring you over there?¡± Think, think, think¡­ No matter how hard I think, I cannot find a better solution. ¡°I am going to find my weapon first. I¡¯m going back¡­¡± XQ: ¡°You can¡¯t go back¡­! There¡¯s no way you can make it fast enough without those infected worms catch you! What¡¯s more, there will be more of them!¡± ¡°¡­¡­ I know that¡­ But I can¡¯t stay here and do nothing¡­ That¡¯s my weapon, I¡¯m going to find it¡­¡± I started to keep my things back into the pouch, close it tightly and put it on my back. XQ: ¡°No plan? Just go down and wing it?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be careful. The first time it happened, it took me by surprise. It won¡¯t happen again¡­¡± I started to climb down towards the floor. I can hear the voice of XQ saying things to try to make me change my mind, but I did not look back. It¡¯s do or die from now on! I saw that there are no worms nearby, thus I carefully walk down the path I came from, trying to recall the way back to the ambush happened. Whenever I see a worm from afar, I¡¯ll try to circle around it to prevent the parasite from detecting me. I noticed that the worms do not like places with strong sunlight. Strangely enough, I could not find the knife I dropped. Suddenly I heard a large ¡°thud¡± from the right and I saw a large silvery white worm had fallen onto the forest ground not far from me. Did it fall from the tree by accident? Or could it be a trap? Out of instinct from fear of possible danger, I quickly ran behind some bushes to keep myself hidden. I kept an eye around me, especially on the fallen worm. I saw it struggle for a moment and went onto its feet. As if unaffected by the fall, it tried to crawl back its way back to the tree. Observing it for about half a minute now, here are no weird movements whatsoever. The worm is already halfway up the tree. I saw that it has begun to make progress. Then I saw something that make me watch in disbelief. The worms that are in the trees look very agitated by the arrival of the one that is climbing up¡­ They watched it finally about to reach the lowest branch, then a few of them went to it and started flailing their heads and start to strike the poor thing that had just climbed its way up, trying to knock it off¡­ I think I understand how scared they are off the dangers of it bringing the parasites up to them¡­ However, watching this poor thing being forced off its home make my blood run cold and boil at the same time. I never thought I¡¯ll see the day of worms acting like humans in an apocalypse, thinking about themselves. I start to think for a moment about all those days back I¡¯ve been bullied or turned down in one way or other in my own life. Humans also cannot easily accept those who are different than them. They like to choose friends by judging on their family background, their financial background, their looks, their performance in academics, their charisma, their social updates, etc. Then, there are those who are poor in one or more of those areas. They are not really at fault for most of it¡­ But then when their bad points are slightly more obvious than their good, they get neglected or turned down. Sometimes, all they need is a helping hand in times of need, a listening ear or a smile to show that they¡¯re cared, but how many of those can we find? I don¡¯t say I hate the people who had intentionally or unintentionally hurt me before that much anymore. I can only try not to think about them. The world is like a jungle, survival of the fittest after all. However, I am somewhat disappointed at myself for not being as capable as others. I¡¯m just an average person, a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. The things I love, I¡¯m not the best. Things that I don¡¯t care seemed to important to others and they can do those well and get a lot of friends. There are a lot of things that I cannot do, understand or do well yet. Sometime I¡¯m just like a worm¡­ No, I¡¯m worse than that¡­ I¡¯m a lazy bum who doesn¡¯t care about anything...Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. I see the worm that got me all empathetic about trying to withstand all the attacks. I am now almost in tears. Then, the final strike forced the worm to topple off the branch again. I can¡¯t let it fall again, not this time¡­ I rushed out of the bushes and ran as fast as I could towards it. I saw it falling in a straight path halfway back onto the forest floor. And in the nick of time, I reached the spot below it just in time to catch it in my arms. It was quite an impact since the worm is as tall as I am and I felt a tug onto my open arms that drove me onto my knees. I felt the softness and coolness of the skin of the creature. To my surprise, the creature is not as heavy as I imagined. I remember the ones that I¡¯ve pulled off my body and I must say I don¡¯t really dislike touching them if they are not attacking me. I quickly looked at the silvery-white bolster like creature. The silkworm turned back its head and looked back at me. Then I heard a voice speak directly into my head! [Who are you? ¡­¡­ Why did you catch me?] I don¡¯t know whether I¡¯ve misheard or I¡¯m hallucinating. I looked at the creature in disbelief. A few moments later, I replied, ¡°Hi¡­ I don¡¯t know who I am¡­ I can¡¯t let you fall onto the ground a second time.¡± A moment of silence¡­ No response¡­ I must be really tired, my brain is playing tricks on me¡­ Then it spoke again. [Thank you. But I¡¯ll be fine. Put me down. I need to climb up again, back to my family.] I looked at it with disbelief¡­ It was the silkworm speaking. ¡°You don¡¯t know that they are afraid of you bringing up the parasite? Those on the ground that I¡¯ve met have all been infected and acted violently.¡± [I know. That¡¯s why I need to go back up there quickly. I need to show them I¡¯m nothing like those violent ones.] ¡°Not yet, but you may start to act like that soon. I don¡¯t know how the parasites spread, but I think that those who have fallen are doomed.¡± [Then let them judge for themselves. I¡¯m nothing like those who are infected. I¡¯ll climb up as many times as I need until they accept me.] I was shocked, I should say that I¡¯m amazed by the attitude the silkworm in my arms showed. I was almost moved to tears¡­ ¡­¡­ Fine I shed tears alright¡­ I can¡¯t believe a worm is so much stronger than I am. [Is it raining? I really should get back up there soon.] ¡°Nope¡­ hahaha¡­ I¡¯m proud of you. I¡¯ll put you back onto the tree. All the best to you!¡± I started to walk across, then I suddenly felt the slight movement around me¡­ Oh no¡­ Not again¡­ I¡¯m surrounded by the infected worms again¡­ This time, there are more of them than the last time. What do I do? I¡¯m going to die for sure this time. Then I saw the silkworm in my arms. Obviously it was really scared too, it started to struggle to try to get away. There¡¯s no way it can reach the tree on its own. I¡¯ll have to save it. ¡°I¡¯m going to run. When we reach the tree, climb as fast as you can up the tree, understand?¡± The silkworm seemed to understand and stopped flailing. A moment of silence¡­ Then the race with death began. I jolted towards the tree as fast as I could, holding tight the worm I¡¯m saving. I saw an infected worm blocking my path and rushing towards me¡­ Oh boy¡­ Please work¡­ I was just about to jump when I¡¯m about to clash with the worm¡­ The worm seemed to have reared its body up¡­ I don¡¯t think I can jump above it¡­ At that instant, I decide to duck to the right instead¡­ Clear! I ran past the worm which had made a noise as its body slapped onto the ground in front of it. I took a run towards the tree with at least 7 worms chasing behind me¡­ Luckily they are about 20 steps behind from where I am now¡­ At the foot of the tree, I changed the silkworm in my arms to face the tree, holding slightly below the head. Quickly, Ibent my knees ready to jump. ¡°Hold on!¡± I told the worm. Then I jumped as high as I could. At the submit of the jump I place the silkworm onto the tree trunk. When I let go and landed, the silkworm was holding onto the tree trunk. ¡°Yes!¡± I quickly turned around and saw the infected beasts approaching me fast. I decided to run left of the tree I¡¯m facing¡­ I ran as fast as I could. I ran for a long while and then decided to look back to see if there are any chasing worms. Luckily they soon gave up and started to slow down¡­ Apparently they cannot go full speed for a long time. This is the last time I want to be chased by worms that can run almost as fast as I can. I looked out for any more worms that might be surrounding me¡­ And there were none, yeah! I looked on the tree trunk and saw the silkworm on the tree trunk making progress¡­ I could have shouted for joy that the mission was accomplished¡­ I decided to look for my lost knife next. Looking around for the spot where I fell was difficult¡­ I didn¡¯t think that it will be that easy to find, but my patience is running low and my anxiety is building¡­ Then I saw XQ not far from where I was standing, waving towards me¡­ She must have followed me¡­ She¡¯s not near any infected worms, good¡­ I waved back and smiled. I can survive here no problem¡­ And then, I looked back towards the tree where the silkworm I saved was¡­ It has already reached the lowest branch¡­ But here comes the hard part¡­ The other family members are merciless against him¡­ around 3 heads could be see taking turn slapping on him¡­ Then it happened. I see the poor silkworm lose its footing up to the 4th pair of legs¡­ Any more and it will fall¡­ I looked downwards and my jaw dropped as fear tapped on me like a mean neighbor. Oh my God, the infected worms are near the tree!! There¡¯s no way he¡¯ll fall and not be infected by them! I looked towards XQ who saw what I was looking and her face turned pale as she realized what I was about to do¡­ And she was right! I¡¯m going back to save it! XQ: ¡°NO~~!!! You¡¯ll die too!¡± ¡°¡­ I¡¯m sorry!¡± I turned and I ran, ignoring the pleas of XQ, just in time to see the silkworm withstand the last few strikes¡­ Then, I saw it free-fall towards certain death. The infected worms sensed my presence approaching and turned their heads towards my direction¡­ Then, they started running towards me like hungry wolves¡­ I closed my eyes to eliminate my sight of these vicious creatures which were my worst fear since I came here¡­ Oh God¡­ I think this is it huh¡­ There¡¯s no way I can save it¡­ But at least I can die trying¡­ At least this time, I will face my fears and save myself, somehow I believed. For the first time in a long time, I prayed out loud, "God, help me!" SuddenlyI feel the ground around me shake violently. I slightly opened my eyes and the next thing I saw was a cloud of earth and dust came flying into my face, making me close my eyes. This made me hold a hand tocover myeyes but I kept on running. Then I feltmy chestcollided with something firm and bouncy, causing me to lose balance andfall backwards onto the ground. My eyes was open for one second and I all I saw was the view of trees quickly followed by the sky through the leaves. And then I hit my head on the ground, sending pain and tremors to my head, followed by the sense of consciousness quickly fading. Just before I blacked out,I heard aseries of sick sounds, like that of sandbags were hit¡­ *thud* *thud thud* *thud* *thud* *thud* *thud* *thud* *THUUDD!!!* 5 - Mixed Feelings but No Regret When I open my eyes, I saw light shining down¡­ My head is still blur, I must have passed out for a moment¡­ Then I remembered I had collided with something elastic and fell down backwards even before I opened my eyes. I must have hit my head. I half expected to find dozen of bugs piled on top of me, but next second, I found out that there¡¯s nothing weighing on my body¡­ My arms and legs are free, I can move them about¡­ Feeling a bit dizzy, I sat up in a state of confusion. To my surprise, I see the face of a beautiful blonde lady looking at me, looking worried. ¡°Am I dead already?¡± I blurted out without control. The lady looked at me and smiled as she replied ¡°Welcome to Heaven¡­ On Earth!!¡± ¡°Heaven¡­ ¡­¡­ What??! I¡¯m not dead?!¡± ¡°No~~ You big silly~~! We saved you!¡± ¡°What??! How can that beAA~~~H?!! Watch out! There¡¯s a giantbeetle coming out from the ground behind you! Run!!It might attack you!!¡± I screamed out loud as soon I saw a large head of a gigantic insect with a pair of large, mean-looking, death-scythe like pincers looking at us from a large hole behind the lady. I tried to push her aside and stand between her and the large bug, for fear that it will attack us¡­ ¡°Oh, you mean him?¡± To my surprise, instead of stepping back from the hole,the lady casually went over to the edge of the hole and wentdown onto her knees. ¡°No, no, no!! Don¡¯t do anything dangerous!¡± Then, I saw the lady put her hand into the hole to pat the monstrously big bugon the head. I felt my blood run cold at the sight. What, is she a daredevil or what? Yet, instead of having an angry bug trying to tear her apart, it just quietly stayed still and seemed to enjoy the patting. ¡°He¡¯s my partner! Sandy, you scared him! ¡­¡­ No it''s not you, people just don''t know how to appreciate how splendid you look... Good~~ boy! Don¡¯t worry, newbie, he won¡¯t bite just anyone~~~ Exceptwhen he thinks of themas food or when he''s angry! He''s okay~~~ I rode him here¡­¡± I stared with disbelief¡­ This lady seemed to be explaining with a straight relaxed face. Either she¡¯s especially good at lying (big fat insane lies), or she¡¯s telling the truth. There¡¯s no saying what insane creature or monster will pop up again in this world¡­ I got up and took a look inside the hole, and then I saw it¡­ A saddle strapped onto the back of the giant insect. It made the creature look like a giant motorbike with jaws. The lady beamed happily. ¡°He¡¯s not a beetle~~ He''s an antlion! Majestic creature, huh? He¡¯s only this big from the magic absorbed from his environment in its pit! He grew up in a dungeon with magic crystals infused rocks that is like a sand box to him and had all the giant ants he needed to eat all day! Isn¡¯t he cute? He''s fast underground too! Isn''t he cool??¡± ¡­¡­ This is crazy!!! The monster jaws are big enough to wrap around my waist. I¡¯ve heard about antlions being masters of their domain, killers within their arena. I had no words for this situation in which the lady spoke of the giant bug like a girl praises her pony...I¡¯m just glad that it doesn¡¯t seem to see me as food¡­ ¡°I¡¯m really confused now¡­ What was I doing here again? ¡­¡­ Oh, right! I was about to be taken down by the Zombugs! What happened to them?¡± ¡°Oh, they are taken care of already! See? Hey, guys!¡± The lady pointed with her finger beyond the hole and I looked at that direction. At the spot where the chasers had been were the figure of a boy and a teenager who were having a serious conversation, who turned around to see the lady and started to walk over. I must say they were as different as day and night¡­ The boy has ginger curly hair that looked as if someone set his head on fire. He wore a sleeveless red singlet which showed his lean arm muscles. He also had on a pair of black shorts that showed strong leg muscles. In his hands held a pair of red tonfas. He was approaching us while cracking his neck and twirling one arm as if finishing a warm up exercise. On the other hand, the teenager was tall and stoutly built, almost like a giant beside the boy. His head is covered in a fur cap with ear-warmers. He was wearing a white fur coat which was loosely worn, showing a light blue wool shirt. The pants is a slightly darker shade of blue and on his feet was a pair of fur boots. He looked as if he had come back from the mountains hiking expedition. What caught my eyes was this long sledge hammer held in his arms resting on his shoulder. They reached a few steps before the pit created by the lady¡¯s antlion. I saw that they are good looking people. They looked at me without much expression, although the redhead gave a feeling of frustration and the big guy seemed cold. ¡°¡­.. Are they dead??¡± To my surprise, the two just looked at each other, made a chuckle and a small laughat each other and then, they simultaneously high-fived. Only afterthey walked around the pit to my leftdid I see what¡¯s behind them. I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes¡­!! I saw that half of the bugs are lying on the spot, curled up tightly. And the half of them had run a far way back and they are still running away.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Those bugs are better left alive, they¡¯re important to this dungeon after all. There are other ways to deal with them. These guys are experts of thermal control. Brenton had used heat waves to drive some of them away and ¡®Little John¡¯ Bj?rn here just hitthe remaining oneswith a freezing move!¡± She explained pointing to the redhead and the big guy respectively. I am just about to sigh with relief when I remember something important! Another sense of dread swept over me and I started to panick, almost tripping into the hole in front of me. ¡°My silkworm buddy!! Where is it??!¡± The redhead replied, ¡°Relax! My palhas your buddy! (A few minutes together and they¡¯re buddies huh¡­)¡± The next thing I know, I saw the redhead cup his hands and started to chirp like a bird. For a second I thought he was toying with me and I stared at him with disbelief. The suddenly from my far left came an orange-furred beast with a large tail, approaching fast on all fours. My first impression was it was a fox, because he was about the size of a large dog. Then, I realized that I¡¯m wrong¡­ It was the biggest red squirrel I¡¯ve ever seen! The beast reached the redhead and stood on its hind paws, making it as tall as the boy. The redhead returned its happily petting its head. ¡°Good boy~~~! Now, let the worm down, Scamp!¡± The giant squirrel lowered its head, put down its tail and to my amazement, there was my silvery-white friend! It was hanging in a U-shape onto the squirrel¡¯s back like a drape and was hidden in its fine mat of a tail before this! I rushed over and I could see the squirrel flinch but quickly calmed down at Brenton¡¯s hand that reassured him I mean it no harm. I came beside it and I started stroke my buddy. It felt my strokes and lifted its head to see me. It did not seem happy or sad, just calmly started to get off the squirrels back onto my arms. The cooling sensation of the silkworm gave me a calm feeling from the heated situation that happened just a while ago. I closed my eyes, gave it a big hug while letting my face that is now wet with tears touch its body. Then, I looked at the others that were watching me and gave them my thoughts. ¡°Thank you all very much! I really thought the both of us were gonna die¡­ But I can¡¯t just leave him so I¡¯m ever thankful that you guys came to help me! I don¡¯t know how I can ever repay you!¡± [No biggie!!] A cheery voice came from the squirrel and I looked over to it! ¡°Wow, he can hear the voices of the Elemental Creatures. That means he¡¯s one of us right?¡± This is the first time I heard the deep raspy voice of Bj?rn. He doesn¡¯t speak much unless it¡¯s something important huh? That¡¯s so like me, I think. Brenton looks at the squirrel and he said the thoughts he had that are meant for me, ¡°By the way, what you did back there was what I¡¯d call a fool! I compliment you for caring for others but first you need to make sure you don¡¯t endanger yourself¡­ Though I don¡¯t blame you for what happened back there, if Scamp is in trouble I¡¯ll go and save it anyway. But, you only met it for a few moments and you¡¯re willing to risk your life for it? What were you thinking?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know... I just felt bonded to it you know¡­ I know I cannot leave it to die!¡± This is the only time that I remember myself not being able to make judgments based onbenefits and risks. For once, I expected the outcome of my actions to be disastrous. Not like this will be something I¡¯ll regret of doing. For the first time had I prayed in a long time, ¡°God!! Please help me!!!¡± For some reason, I believed that it will be okay, even in this time of hopelessness¡­ I really felt happy and relieved that at last my horrible day gave a turn for the better. The lady came over to me and patted my head roughly, laughing and playing with my hair. The others just stood there and gave a light smile. Then, I saw XQ finally reaching us from where she was. She didn¡¯t seem too rushed but she had a mixed expression of both relief, frustration and happy. ¡°So you guys finally came huh? I don¡¯t know whether to thank you or scold you guys for coming late. New guy, these 3 are fellow Dungeon Keepers. They are Justina, Brenton and Bj?rn.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to scold us¡­ This jungle is large and we came from another entrance. Little John came first but was lost when I came¡­ And I couldn¡¯t ride Scamps, you know he can¡¯t carry me, he is lighter than he looks¡­ So we had to run all the way here.¡± Brenton gave his explanation while adjusting himself to give Scamp a piggy-back ride. The squirrel had climbed and perched onto his back, holding on his shoulders with its front paws, hind legs resting on his arms and is resting its head in his rough nest of blazing hair. They looked like a pair of siblings, especially with the elder brother talking on behalf of his younger brother. Bj?rn just looked away as he didn¡¯t want to admit that he had been lost but he had no excuse to say. ¡°Then what about you, Justina Flash?¡± XQ turned her head over to the blonde lass. ¡°Well, I was here early¡­ But I had to run a few errands for the Boss. You know, he wanted to observe the weapon that was given to the boy¡­ He said that there was something different than what was designed by him. So he asked me to do what I do best!¡± Now this lady is sheepishly behind me with arms cradling my head and putting her chin on the top of my head. In short, she¡¯s doing the same thing as the squirrel is doing on my head. Hmmm?? What does she know about my knife? XQ: ¡°What?!! You stole it from him?! You are leaving him defenseless to fight against those infected ones you know??! ¡­¡­ Don¡¯t use Baby Doll Eyes on me!! It only works for Scamp cause it¡¯s natural for him! You are just imitating him to get out of trouble! You could have killed our newcomer!! The kid doesn¡¯t know how to use spells yet! The infected bugs had caused disturbance on his control over mana! He couldn''t even mask his presence!! If he was killed it''s all your fault!!¡± XQ got really mad and gave the lady behind me a good scolding while I couldn¡¯t react but open up my eyes in shock! What?!! What does this mean? Was it her who had my only weapon? When did it happen?! Justina: ¡°Qing Qing, relax~~ Everything was under control¡­ I came back as fast as I could to look over him! I was back waiting at the place where I half buried the infected one that had sprouted and I assumed that I can just put the weapon back there on the floor. I saw the commotion from there and rushed here as fast as I could riding on Sandy, didn¡¯t we Sandy~~?? Oh! Here¡¯s your weapon, boy!¡± Blondie explained quickly¡­ Then, suddenly I saw a familiarly shaped object dangling in front of my eyes! It¡¯s my weapon! Thank God it¡¯s back! ¡­¡­ I find myself speechless! Like XQ said, if things went out of hand it could have caused me to have a one way trip to the depths and there¡¯s no way I can come back the way I was. My buddy didn¡¯t seem to know what everything was about the situation and just looked at me while I tried to process everything that had just happened¡­ Brenton was the first one to break the awkward silence. ¡°Too bad we can¡¯t see him perform as a fighter, huh? We didn¡¯t get to check his combat abilities¡­¡± ¡°Well at least we know he¡¯s one of us, right? He seemed to be able to talk to magical creatures and he cares for them.¡± Justina took hold of this chance to try to compliment me¡­ The others smiled or just nodded to show their approval. ¡°I guess it¡¯s official then! The orientation programme for our newcomer is a success!!¡± Justina shouted with glee! What??! This was an orientation programme?!! ......I think I just blacked out for a minute. How could Ihave known?I think it''s because I didn¡¯t get to join the orientation week in my university because of some matters¡­ This is karma huh? What goes around comes around¡­ For now I can only make a half smile with three large sweat drops on my head¡­ I¡¯m part of this company of weirdos who called themselves Dungeon Keepers now huh? Is it too late to regret now?..... Nope, I''m just glad that my buddy silkworm and I were saved... Then why do I feel like I''ve just been pranked?? 6 - Parting ways ¡°What??! It¡¯s normal to have parasites on silkworms??!¡± I couldn¡¯t hold back my surprise when I heard this from Xiao Qing, while I tied my knife around my waist like before. XQ: ¡°Zombification amongst bugs are actually quite natural, even in our normal world, you know? Silkworms are prone to be infected by the Cordyceps, a parasitic fungus. Cordyceps germinate through airborne spores. They enter from any hole on the worm and grow there¡­ The silkworm only needed to inhale their spores, then they¡¯re lodged in and the ¡®infection¡¯ is done. After a few days, they are attacked internally by the growing fungi. Once it reaches the head, they¡¯re actions are then directed by the cordyceps. After a few weeks, they¡¯re mush¡­ They become food for the Cordyceps. The one that made you trip over, that¡¯s the end of the bug¡¯s life and the start of the growth of the Cordyceps plant to form the stalk that you called ¡®horn¡¯¡­ However, it¡¯s not fully developed yet so no spores would be spread for the time being. Only when it¡¯s fully developed, then it will start to spread spores. So, it¡¯s unlikely that your buddy will be infected, despite being on the ground a few times and being near those infected ones.¡± XQ sighed involuntarily, seeming that she was recalling all the memories before she continued, ¡°By the way, those silkworms that are controlled by the Cordyceps mainly acts according to the favor of the Cordycep, the parasite. This particular species of cordyceps we¡¯re dealing with will grow faster when it finds external sources with good mana supply and feeds on it. When they control the silkworms, they just go after whatever animals they can find, but they prefer attacking humans with a great mana supply. You just need to watch out for those silkworms that are already controlled by them. They have the ability to release a type of toxin that causes mana disruption, making its attacks to fall under a category which we commonly used to call ¡®Silence¡¯, making them arch-enemies of magic users. This allows them to be able to feed without having to deal with spells that may cause them trouble or danger them during feeding. Think of a leech or mosquito and you¡¯ll understand the behavior of this certain species. Depending on how many timesthe victim had attacked and the time it was in contact, the time of effect will differ. For you, itshould begone within half an hour from the time of the attack. There are no side effects so there''s no need to worry.¡± XQ¡¯s sullen face lit up suddenly, then she said, ¡°There are some good news despite all this. I told youthat Cordyceps are very specific in finding their host right? So humans and other animals don¡¯t have to worry about being infected unless it¡¯s animals of similar species. Moreover, we know their weakness! They are afraid of Fire attacks because they¡¯re kind of behave like plants, so they¡¯ll run from any heat source. On the other hand, both species are known to go into a hibernation state at cold climates so they can tricked to be immobilized by cold attacks.¡± XQalsoexplained to me in detail of the behavior of normalsilkworms flicking those that had fallen onto the ground back down. ¡°The silkworms in trees had learned from past experience the best way to stay clear of the Cordyceps spores is to remain in the trees. Although there are times when the spores are carried by the wind upwards, it is still considered rare and the transmission had been greatly controlled by the natural currents in this cave. You know that cold air descends right? This cave is located in the middle of a mountain and the air in this cave is usually the cold air blown from the top of the hill carried downhill. Also there are the times of rain and snow so the number of Cordyceps and infected silkworms are greatly controlled. The activity here is much slower. Due to that and in time the silkworms adapted to be much long lived. You may ask how does the trees here feed this much silkworms in here despite so little sunlight...That''s the amazing part of this dungeon... The trees here had been livingand producing leaves and fruitsjust fine from the underground water that carries some energy from the magical stones found underground... ¡± She went on and on about all the fascinating parts of the trees... From what I observed, sheseemed easily carried away by plantlife huh...She must loveplants, A LOT!! ¡°¡­¡­ Boy, I wish I paid more attention during Biology class in high school¡­ Why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier?¡± XQ: ¡°¡­¡­ Does that make any difference that I tell you now? You¡¯d probably feel more frustrated then¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡­ It won¡¯t change much, but it may change a bit from the way I acted!! If you told me earlier, I wouldn¡¯t have thought that it¡¯s like those Zombie movies! Or in history! The parasite may bea disease can be spread like plague, perhaps carried by ticks that can hop from infected silkworms to normal ones!¡± XQ: ¡°¡­¡­ If I told you that, you¡¯ll still run to help your buddy from falling right? So you still need to face those infected ones¡­ What difference does that make?¡± Hate to admit that, but I realized that she¡¯s right¡­ No way my mind can work right under all that fear and pressure just now. I wanted to retort but I held back because saying anything else would be useless now... After a few moments of silence¡­ XQ: ¡°So¡­ When are you going to let that silkworm climb back into the tree?¡± ¡°Do I have to?? But she was bullied by the others before¡­ She fell at least three timesfrom the tree¡­¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. [7 times¡­] My buddy stated matter of factly, ever so calmly. ¡°7 TIMES??! Please, don¡¯t let her go back into the tree¡­ I¡¯ll take good care of her¡­¡± XQ: ¡°How are you going to feed her? I¡¯m not good at math, but silkworms eat mulberry leaves¡­ a lot~~~ ¡± I must say I haven¡¯t thought about this at all¡­ ¡°I¡­¡­ I¡¯ll collect them everyday! I¡¯ll make sure she¡¯s always fed and never starve.¡± ¡°Okay, do it now!¡± Brenton who was playing with Scamp pricked up his ears¡­ ¡°This will be interesting to watch¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Damn you Brenton......!! ¡°Face it¡­ I won¡¯t say it¡¯s impossible, but it¡¯s too difficult for you now!¡± Brenton seemed to not realise that he is being a pain in ass... Should I say he is scooping and blowing burning cinders onto my head?? I wish I could debate but at the current state, but he''s right... There¡¯s no way I can scale up that tree¡­ Then, suddenly I had an idea! Who says I have to be the one to climb the tree? I went to Brenton and looked straight into his eyes. Brenton was shocked at that, he had on an expression that suggested he must be thinking ''What the hell does he want? A fight?''! ¡°Please! Lend me Scamps! I¡¯ll repay you in time!¡± Brenton immediately replied quickly, ¡°No way! Do you know how far we have to travel to get here? And what¡¯s more, we have to do it everyday for the rest of her life? Hell~ no!!¡± Darn! I wished he would be more indirect or at least look like he was giving second thoughts... ¡°Please!! Do you know what kind of life my buddy had been through? Disowned by his family, just because he had fallen once? Ahhhh!!! See even once from this low hurts! Uhhhh¡­.¡± To prove how terrible it must have been, I let myself fall down onto the hard ground onto my backside¡­¡­ Then I painfully got up onto my feet. I did see Brenton flinch when he saw me fall¡­ Just the right reaction what I wanted... ¡°Then the second¡­ Uhhhhh¡­.. third¡­.. Uhhhh¡­¡­ fourth¡­¡­¡± Brenton finally opened his mouth.... I hoped that he would give in,but instead what came out was: ¡°Stop it¡­ It doesn¡¯t work like that in real life! Don¡¯t you see? If you help her now, you¡¯ll cause all the 7 times she had fallen to be wasted!! There¡¯s no such thing as divine intervention in real life! Even when you find one that has fallen like that, you¡¯re already this upset. Then, what about the others that you¡¯ve not seen? ¡­¡­ I know it¡¯s hard but you have to accept that it¡¯s part of life!! And life goes on whether you like it or not!!Did you even ask your buddy here what she wants?!¡± After hearing all that, I¡¯m now quite devastated¡­ The first impression was ¡®What a selfish brat! Why don¡¯t you can help him when you have the power?! At least hear me out and surely we can compromise to something that will benefit my buddy!¡¯... However, when I slowly cooled down and digested his word, I¡¯ll have to admit that what he said was all the hard truth...So, I swallowed all my rage and I tried to be as calm as I can when I asked my buddy. ¡°Hey, buddy¡­¡­ I think you¡¯ve gone through enough¡­ I want to help you as much as I can¡­ If you say it, I¡¯ll take care of you for the rest of your life¡­ As long as you say that you need me, I¡¯ll do whatever I can to make your life better...¡± My buddy looked at me and said calmly¡­ [Thank you for caring me so much¡­ But I want to go back to where I belong¡­ I need to do this, even if it is the biggest challenge¡­ Sure, there are a lot of uncertainties, but until I try I¡¯ll never know when there¡¯ll be a chance for me to convince them¡­ I can only hope for the best¡­] I can feel my tears well up in my eyes¡­ Dammit! Even I know it¡¯s for the best, how can I say something like that and then take it back¡­¡­? My buddy looked towards the others and lastly looked at me¡­ [Thank you for helping me twice. You all have given me hope that the world still has some warmth in it. I¡¯ll do my best to live on, don¡¯t worry about me!] I couldn¡¯t take it anymore¡­ I sobbed and gave it a long hug¡­ Call me a freak but I¡¯m seriously emotionally attached to this little white one right here¡­ The guys patted my shoulders and the girls gave me a hug. It made the pain I feel inside reside...Although it''s just a tiny little bit... I want to protect this little one here, but I can¡¯t do anything¡­ I even wanted to name it, but I figured it would make parting that much difficult. ¡°I tell you what¡­ I¡¯ll send her to a different tree with a different group of silkworms. I¡¯ll get Scamps to drop her off so fast they¡¯d never feel the difference.¡± Brenton offered me the next best thing he could offer in service to my pleas. At some point, I nodded and I had to let my buddy go¡­ I put her on top of Scamp¡¯s back and made sure sheheld on tight. I gave herone last long look, but only at the silvery-white body without eye contact again, in fear that I¡¯d change my mind again. ¡°I guess it¡¯s goodbye¡­ ...... You know... Even if I¡¯ve just met you¡­ I feel like we¡¯ve been friends forever¡­ All the best out there¡­¡± Mysilkworm buddy... seemed to listen deeply in silence¡­ And then¡­ I heard a familiar voice. It could be just my imagination, but it was not as calm as before and shehad an almost teary tone¡­ [Thank you for making me feel like I¡¯m special! ¡­¡­ I¡¯m buta normal silkworm, a nobody......But everything I had experienced today made me feel like I¡¯m the luckiest silkworm in the world. ...... I just hope that we''ll meet each otheragain in future¡­¡­ Let¡¯s go, Scamp! ] Then, Scamp took off with my buddy like the wind¡­ Theyfaded into the trees and then there was silence¡­ The jungle still has some sounds but to me it was silent¡­ I stared at thedistance sadly for quite a while tearily¡­ After some time, I finally decided not to cry¡­ That moment, I felt an inner fire within me that was kindled! I promised myself that I¡¯m going to change the ways things are in here! My buddy was lucky this time but some other time, she or her kind would not be so lucky¡­ Something has to be done to give everyone a chance to live. Even if I can¡¯t make everyone happy, I¡¯ll do something today to make the future me proud. Suddenly, the silence was broken when I heard something! The gentle, firm voice from my weapon spoke clearly again in my head, ¡°There is more than one way to solve things than violence. Make love not war! Fight for the good of this world and defend the world from destruction!¡± Then something incredible happened! The knife on my waist began to shine! It began to glow with an arc of magic light that makes everyone around me look with wonder! What is going on?!! 7 - Surprise, surprise!! My fellow DK¡¯s and I were standing in awe at the shining weapon in front of me when suddenly, out from the magic stone burst forth a single orb of blue light, shining brightly and floated above the weapon in front of me. I had taken the weapon out of its sheath and the whole blade was glowing¡­ The orb gradually expanded and suddenly collapsed upon itself, leaving a circle of light with a single pattern floating on it, almost like a hologram. It was a slightly tilted, curvy wave shape. Is it a rune or something? After more than 10 seconds, the orb suddenly showed an image of a sky-blue winged creature. The creature looked like a spirit, had 3 pairs of wings that looked like hands with pointy fingers. The color of blue was darker on top of its head with 2 stripes from the back of its head to the end of its tail. There is also darker coloration in form of crescentsin the middle of the hands were the fingers connected to the hands and tips of the fingers. It floated and swam about with slightly waving motion like floating or hovering. Justina: ¡°Wow, that¡¯s so pretty!!¡± XQ: ¡°It looks like an blue angel with 6 wings¡­ Is it a seraph?¡± Brenton: ¡°No, it has nubs that looks like horns and also the wings of a wyvern, except it¡¯s more fin like! Its most probably a baby water dragon... Maybe it''s the legendary Azure Dragon!¡± ¡°Glaucus atlanticus!¡± An unfamiliar voice of a man came into my ears. I looked up at the voice from above us I looked up and to my surprise I saw a large gold and metallic purple spider hanging froma thread near us. And the palm sized spider just joined in the conversation! ¡°Yikes! The spider talked!¡± I jumped back shocked! Justina: ¡°Oh, that¡¯s one of our Boss¡¯s minions! He is a live spiderling that acts as Bosses scouts.See, hehasa tiny wireless video camera attached onto its head that sends live video back to the Boss¡¯s office. He doesn''t know how to speak much, he is still a kid.He is obedient only to Boss and he will listen to any command given by him.He is also planted with a microphone and a speaker so Bosscan communicate live with us. He was the one I showed your bladed weapon to. Hi Boss!¡± As Justina waved to the spider,I tried to absorb everything as fast as I could... From awkward silence I tried to play cool with the Boss. ¡°Boss, isit? Hi...What did you say just now? I don''t understand it... Is it some kind of exclamation term like ¡®Holy Molly!¡¯ or something like that? Is it some other language I don''t know? Or is it some sort of spell incantation?¡± The Boss spoke through the minion spider, explaining with an excited tone: ¡°No, that¡¯s the name of a real creature found in our world. Very interesting creature¡­ It is called the Glaucus atlanticus, also known as the blue dragon, it comes from the sea slug or nudibranch family. It is the natural predator of the deadliest jellyfish, the Portuguese Man of War! It is totally immune to the stings of the deadly toxins and actually eats the jellyfish, stings and all, absorbing some of the toxins and storing them in its fingers, making the weapon its own! In the world of magic context, it¡¯s like a Blue Mage or Dragon Slayer Mage! Most fascinating¡­ It¡¯s like a counter designed by a Higher Being for that seemingly-impossible-to-defeat jellyfish, like David is to Goliath!¡± Wow! Really? I really need to read more or watch more Animal Planet! I didn¡¯t know such a creature existed! The Boss continued speaking through hiseight-legged minion. "Although it looks like that, I must say there is a strong Elemental magic that can be felt from your weapon that was stored! I think it is an Elemental and it is sealed inside the magic crystal! I knew there was something special about it the minute I laid eyes on it but couldn¡¯t figure out what powers it had¡­ Where did you get the magic crystal?" ¡°I don¡¯t know! I only remember waking up in the cave before and seeing the knife with the magic crystal in my pouch-bag for the first time... I don''t have any memory of what happened before that! ¡± Just as I was speaking, the image of the elemental disappeared and the orb showed the wavy glyph that was there previously¡­ Suddenly, Bj?rn who rarely spoke shouted out with an excited tone! ¡°The image of the orb just now looked familiar¡­ Is that an eye?! An eye of a cephalopod! A squid, no, a cuttlefish! I know them because I had my boys catch them! ¡­¡­ Is it someone¡¯s Familiar? Is it watching us?! Or is someone watching us??!¡± Holy crap! Is this some Lord of the Ring story? Don¡¯t tell me that this is like the Eye of Sauron and I¡¯m going to have to destroy my weapon?! XQ: ¡°I don¡¯t think I can feel any evil intent from the weapon or the image just now¡­ I¡¯d say it kind of felt indifferent, kind of neutral¡­ We may be watched, that¡¯s for sure¡­ But the person or creature behind it seemed to be just curious¡­ Perhaps they are the one who put that magic stone on that weapon!¡± ¡°What else do you know about your weapon?¡± I told everything I know about the weapon to the Boss and also my friends, including the voices I heard. When I finished, everyone seemed to be deep in thought. Indeed, this magic crystal on my weapon is shrouded in mystery¡­ Suddenly the hologram faded into the magic orb and returned into the weapon. Then the shining blue light stopped. Everything was back to normal. The Boss broke the silence. ¡°Hey kid! Test your weapon with your mana! I¡¯m curious what element are you most compatible with? You might able to unleash the power stored within the crystal and use it, since the weapon belonged to you.¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Oh ok¡­ I think I can feel my mana flowing in me already¡­¡± I rested the weapon with the blade pointingto the front. I started to pour my mana into the blade, slowly increasing the flow gradually. Suddenly, I felt a strong suction of energy from my body through my arms! The weapon is taking in my mana and seemed to started feeding on its own! I closed my eyes and let out a few gasps at the feeling. It wasn¡¯t too uncomfortable, since it felt almost like feeding a pet out of my hand! Then I see the air around the blade start to flow, bend and wrap around the blade. The whole weapon soon became blur and distorted¡­ Then suddenly, ¡°POOOOFFF!!¡± a large burst of white mist enveloped the party¡­ It wasn¡¯t very thick, but it was enough to surprise anyone who wasn¡¯t prepared at the moment. This skill is probably a skill of the Air element, using forced air movement from its surrounding environment, with a cold region forming at one end, perhaps the side with the magic crystal, and the other end, the blade end to have air vortices around it. These vortices can most probably be used to deflect attacks and create an opening. The cold air causes water vapor to condense and when the skill is released, the air vortices propels the cold air and water vapor to one direction. Since I was pointing the blade forward, the mist formed around my feet. When the mist cleared in around 3 seconds, everyone around me was looking amused¡­ My knife is considered a good startingweapon considering itsstrength and sharpness. It wasn¡¯t expected that the best it could do now is nothing more like a smoke bomb plus ninja weapon¡­ The only sure way to kill someone is to attack unsuspecting people or monsters under concealment and with element of surprise. When against strong enemies or a group, I can try to escape but it won¡¯t be long that I still have people or monsters chasing after me¡­However, it is likely to only fool the enemy once or twice.Then, that would be it¡­ If I need to overpower them, I still need to fight in close quarters. The only enemies I can beat are really only inexperienced fighters or an unarmed person. Most weapons have a longer range than mine and will reach me before I get to them up close. If I threw the knife, I would probably take them by surprise, but if they manage to evade it, I¡¯ll be unarmed¡­ Overall, it doesn¡¯t seem such a great weapon¡­ Suddenly I had an idea! I decided to wield the weapon in a different direction, with the magic stone facing the front. I pointed somewhere where none of my friends are standing and then I tried to focus in feeding mymana through the knife into the magic stone. I can feel more mana extracted this time and this time I tried to do it without other people knowing¡­ Then some magic words came to me like I was recalling something. I could muttered the words ¡°Ë®Ñ¹µ¯ (Water pressure bomb)¡±. Suddenly, I saw a transparent liquid flow out from the magic crystal. It''s an orb of water, swelling around the crystal, like a water droplet on a lily pad, slowly swelling likea water balloon. When it had swollen to the size of a large apple it stopped growing. Yet, the power kept feeding from me and I can tell thatthe pressure of the water in the orb is rising from the movement in water on the surface becoming more and more unstable. Then, I can feel the air around try to force it down and started spinning. The water orb started to form a dome of air. It¡¯s like a reverse bubble. Suddenly, I can feel the forces about to give in so I decided to throw it before it breaks free and soak everyone around me. I decided to throw it into the sky to see what happens. With a posture of flicking a badminton racket while wielding the knife with a slash from above downwards, I threw the bomb. The bomb flew about 2 seconds and then, ¡°POOOOO¡«¡«¡«SSSHHHH!!!¡±, the bomb burst and water splashed everywhere with the force of a large wave at the beach. The water reaching us is a fine mist that stings upon contact with the skin. From this, I suppose, that the bomb packed quite a massive punch, enough to knock someone down or even knock them out if hit the head on something hard. What¡¯s more, with the air heavy with water, I decided to repeat the first skill again. Sure enough a thicker mist, closer to a fog formed in front of me. The vortex rapidly disperses the water droplets and the cold region quickly causes condensation to occur. Now the area around me seemed to be covered a white haze thick enough to cause a big enough distraction and ensure a better chance to escape. This is like aninja skill from a famous Japanese anime! Wow, this could be good! I¡¯m quite happy with the results. ¡°So, how did I do?!¡± Boss: ¡°Looks like you are suitedto be a stealth type fighter. The blade itself is an Air-element blade. The magic crystal producedwhat seems to be a Water Elemental¡¯s attack but with a slight twist. Normally, water balls can''t withstand that much pressure. However, thismagic attack was done with rapidly rotating air to create a force to hold in the pressure before it was released, so perhaps it is a HybridElemental, with Water as the main elementand Air as the supporting element. If I were to name it, that would be a Storm Elemental Crystal." The Boss continued: "The Water Pressure Bomb attack takes about 10 seconds to charge and 2 seconds moreto release. You''ll need to train hard to shorten the time lapse or you''ll be open to attacks before you can fully charge it. Also, I suppose that Magic Skill caused your mana to be depleted by 60%. That''s a lot for a Beginner''s Skill and most people would have lost all their MP. You need to continue to train to increase your MP.Besides that, the use of cold environment added with the magic crystals cooling properties had enabled a Mist Bomb. If it were a hot environment, it will need much more cooling. You can ask Little John for tips to cool things rapidly. Over all, I would give you 50 points for effort and effectiveness. In a real battle, you are likely to get in trouble and find yourselffacing much danger." Boss'' spider minionlooked at my face and spotted my disappointment. He looked at the others who gave him a worried, a strongly suggestive ''give him a break'' look... He then slowly turned back to me."...... Ok fine, you did very well on a first attempt. Most people may struggle with mana controlbut you did it easily enough...I''m curious though...To make these skills activate so easily on the first try, how did you do it?¡± ¡°Well, I imagined not able to see someone who I think dearly of anytime soon. I pictured that our times of meeting is like morning mist and the parting is soon, like morning sun breaks the mist. The feeling I felt was almost like the raging turbulences deep down that I try to contain but I gradually can¡¯t hold it anymore. I wished that the sorrow should be discarded and broken free soon. I wish to embrace the times we spend together longer, I wish the morning mist will linger longer next time. I think I put all my emotions into that attack and released it in one go¡­ I feel better now¡­¡± Boss: ¡°¡­¡­ Not what I expected to hear, I must say¡­ Well whatever suits you, just keep it going and you¡¯ll be able to work well to defend a Dungeon when needed.¡± Justina: ¡°Ooooh~~~ Someone is lovesick~~ So~ cute~~ ¡®I wish to be with her¡«¡« I wish we have more time together~~ I miss her~~ I LO~~~~¡¯ ¡± ¡°So, when do I start to work in this dungeon?¡± I turned a deafear to Justina¡¯s teasing and asked the Boss. Boss: ¡°¡­¡­ This dungeon? Oh kid¡­ I suppose I should tell you now¡­ You¡¯ll not be working in this dungeon. In fact, no one will work here soon¡­ ...... The biggest reason is......This is not considered a real Dungeon.¡± ¡°What??! ¡­¡­¡± 8 - A thread of hope ¡°What do you mean this is not a real dungeon?! ¡­¡­ I don¡¯t get it¡­.. Don¡¯t I get to work here?! I thought Xiao Qing said that I¡¯m the new Dungeon Keeper here!¡± I protested, turning to give a wide-eyed look at XQ, wondering whether I had heard wrong. XQ looked sheepishly at me. ¡°About that, that was not exactly a lie. You see, that¡¯s part of the orientation programme¡­ We DK¡¯s from nearby Dungeons get to size the newbie up by showing them a scary dungeon, telling it its theirs and hope they¡¯ll try to stick to the end. That¡¯s why the Infected Ones are kind of overpowered for Beginners. However, as Senior DK¡¯s, we¡¯ll get to protect the newbie. That¡¯ll show our good sides and strengthen our bonds exponentially! This will only work if the newbie thinks that he is in deep stress and think that he is in charge.¡± ¡­¡­ Boss (through spider minion): ¡°The main idea is to get new DK¡¯s to be extremely scared of this dungeon. We observe how they react when they are scared to test their ability to work under pressure. We¡¯ll also grade them based on their skills to tackle sticky situations, under our supervision of course... So, it is necessary to tell you that this is your Dungeon to see how you deal with it. After that, we¡¯ll tell them the truth that this is not the dungeon they¡¯re supposed to be in charge of. Assigning them to work at any other Dungeons will seem like a better deal.¡± Brenton: ¡°We also want to maintain the number of beasts in the Dungeon. By telling it that this is yours, you are forced to retain from killing the creatures even if they are attacking you¡­ Most importantly, we also want to know whether they love wild magical creatures, even if they are hostile towards DK¡¯s at first. Most beasts in Dungeons aren¡¯t friendly with DK¡¯s first time after all. Some DK candidates cannot deal with wild animals; others hate certain beasts... ¡± ¡°¡­¡­ I get your intention to test me¡­ (Even if it felt like bullying¡­) But what do you mean this is not a real Dungeon?!¡± Justina chimed in, ¡°Like the Boss said, this is not a regular dungeon. This¡­ is only a Bonus Dungeon. It was designed to provide an easy way to find bountiful loot. It is planned to be open at specific times throughout the year, especially when the Dungeon is overpopulated or when the number of players drop. ¡°Loot? What kind of loot?¡± Boss: ¡°Oh, there are lots, mostly materials for clothes. As you know silkworms spin silk when they are ready for transformation to form pupae. They can be harvested to be sold to merchants and tailors to be used to make high quality clothes. The only catch is you need to try to sneak around the guards on the ground, the Infected Ones, and find a few silk cocoons. The silkworms here can grow this big because of magic from trees and they produce silk with higher luster and also better physical and magic defensive abilities.¡± XQ: ¡°Besides silk, this dungeon also provides good food material. Do you know that the silkworm pupae in the silk cocoons are high quality food with good medicinal properties and are extremely nutritious? Moreover, the Cordyceps in the Infected Ones are extra bonus material that can be dried, cooked and eaten to boost health points, resilience and regen stats for a long period of time!¡± Justina: ¡°Don¡¯t forget that silkworms are also quite easily captured and tamed as Pets. Their final stage of metamorphosis results in them changing into silkmoths. That¡¯s what makes them so much wanted for both their looks as well as they have good potential as nice pets and battle partners! Besides being cute and beautiful, they become much stronger and faster by gaining flying abilities. There are also some rare special silkworms with Air or Light Elemental bodies. Although it isn¡¯t easily spotted from normal ones since it rarely shows its skills unless greatly threatened. However, silkmoths die quickly after mating, so meeting one is extremely rare¡­ There¡¯s a myth that says silkmoths that do not mate will live longer though. Overall, keeping a silkworm as a pet is a bonus! It doesn¡¯t really need much care and usually doesn¡¯t cause any kind of trouble.¡± XQ: ¡°Well, I wouldn¡¯t say that... Keeping a silkworm as a Pet is not entirely problem free¡­ As you might have guessed, silkworm pets have one major disadvantage, that is the need to provide it with large amounts of food. The silkworms need to eat a lot of mulberry leaves before changing. They¡¯ll starve to death in a few days if not fed. Breeding them until they are fully mature before the dungeon is closed again is most probably impossible¡­¡± Boss: ¡°The act of taking them away from their natural habitats has its consequences though. Even if there are no food sources available, there are special places to keep them like a nursery or a hibernation chamber at a high price. Special pet food especially made for silkworms are available in stores but they worth a fortune. In short, you can say that this Bonus Dungeon is reserved for times of need, when the number of players stopped growing or start to dwindle! It is also a good way to get players spend money to buy necessary equipment! Nobody could possibly keep enough money for raising a silkworm pet, so that''s when real cash is involved. It is a way for the developers to get back what they had invested.¡± Justina: ¡°Since it is a Bonus Dungeon, when the time is up (usually two weeks), the main entrance becomes covered in thick snow as hard as ice, becoming invisible to Adventurers and prevents them from entering. We all managed to enter from the main entrance because we know where it is from the maps provided by Boss and Bj?rn had cleared it for us in advance.¡± Bj?rn: ¡°It is probably covered by snow again... No worries, I¡¯ll clear the entrance again when we can leave.¡± Boss: ¡°So, as you see,this dungeon is only used as a reserve. Also, to us Dungeon Keepers, it also had other purpose of existence.¡± ¡°What other uses?¡± The Boss replied in a somewhat heavier tone: ¡°If any DK¡¯s were lazy and didn¡¯t take good care of their Dungeon, they¡¯ll get sent here for a sentenced period of time. This place is suited for treating sloths because everything is so slow-paced that even the laziest of DK¡¯s will be bored to death. If any DK break any rules, they¡¯ll be arrested by other DK¡¯s and sent here to get the taste of being forcefully sapped by the Infected ones as a form of torture. That said it was never done before since no DK had broken the rules yet. That being said, I personally doubt that it will ever be used to punish DK''s but that¡¯s still early to say though. You never know what might happen in times to come... Especially in times of lawlessness as this... I hope not... ...... Anyways, this place is used mostly by us DK''s as an orientation program site!¡± ....... This is unbelievable! This place is kind of like a detention room for DK''s? From its description, itreminds meacold palace (À乬) in Chinese history during Ancient Imperial times, where concubines whohad lost the Emperor''s favor or had done things thatare deserving of punishment were banished. It represents a place of negligence, isolation and punishment¡­ Otherwise it is afree all-you-can-eat buffet opened once in a blue moon for adventurers¡­ It''s kind of gloomy and depressing to think that such a beautiful place as this is only usefullike a storeroom, or muchlike adeserted garden... ¡°Even so, why can¡¯t I take charge of this dungeon? And what do you mean to say it¡¯s not a real dungeon?¡± Boss: ¡°Well, you can, but it still won¡¯t be considered your main job¡­ Dungeon Keepers are usually assigned to regular dungeons. The reason it¡¯s not considered a real Dungeon is that it is very underdeveloped and located quite far from human towns. It¡¯s only good line of defenses at present are the ones you encountered. Those Infected Ones are actually the only guards of this dungeon that can make up a good fight¡­¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Brenton: ¡°No offense, but normally silkworms are just weaklings to defend any intruders of their own¡­ It¡¯s impossible to make up any sort of challenge¡­¡± ¡°What did you say?! All living things are made to survive, no matter how hard their surroundings can be, even if they are just bugs! The harder the environment is, the more they bounce back! They can fight, they just don¡¯t prefer to.¡± ¡°Hey, I believe so that small animals are capable of attacking too¡­ But just take a step back and think for a second¡­ Have you ever seen a silkworm fight another animal?¡± Brenton decided to scoop a hot coal onto my lap, again¡­ ¡­¡­Damn it!! I know he¡¯ll ¡­¡­ I hate to admit it but¡­¡­ He¡¯s right! Again! Big bully! ¡°¡­¡­ No¡­ I can¡¯t say I have¡­ But that doesn¡¯t mean they won¡¯t put up afight when needed, right?¡± Brenton scoffed ¡°¡­¡­ Wow! Do you hear yourself? That¡¯s really stretching it, don¡¯t you think? I give up¡­ Why don¡¯t you guys talk to him and tell him bugs are weak?¡± Justina: ¡°I won¡¯t say all bugs are weak¡­ My buddy here is a ferocious killer, no less¡­ But he¡¯s a carnivore¡­ Every herbivorous bug can fend themselves in some way or other¡­ That is, except for silkworms¡­ For your information, silkworms are one of the most successfully domesticated animals and they are as harmless as flies to humans!¡± Brenton: ¡°Ermm¡­ Sorry to budge in again but they¡¯re even more harmless than flies, flies can cause more damage by carrying germs. On top of that, they can see all around and can fly fast. At least they can annoy the hell out of people if people want to kill them¡­ Silkworms can¡¯t even run fast¡­ They have no jaws, no claws, no poisonous hair, no spikes, no stings¡­ They won¡¯t last a second if faced with human adventurers¡­ They¡¯ll be squished within seconds. It¡¯s best they stay hidden and out of reach in the trees.¡± ¡­¡­ I¡¯m lost for words¡­ It¡¯s true¡­ Silkworms are weak¡­ I may have really been stretching it. XQ whispered to me ¡°Come on¡­ You don¡¯t want to stay here¡­ There are many other good Dungeons that suit you better¡­ The nearest one to here is a lake with all types of water birds that are beautiful and magnificient¡­¡± ¡°I can¡¯t¡­ I made a promise to myself that I¡¯ll help my buddy and her kind. ¡± ¡°That¡¯s way out of your capabilities¡­ It¡¯s not anyone¡¯s fault¡­ It¡¯s just nature¡­ You just have to accept it¡­ It¡¯s no one fault that the strings of fate had been tied.¡± ¡°Wait a minute!! That¡¯s it! They can produce silk string right? I know that they are not as strong as spider silk but they can be used as wrapping things up right?¡± Brenton looked like he¡¯s taken the last straw¡­ ¡°You just don¡¯t know when to give up, do you? That¡¯s it, I¡¯m out of here.¡± He just jogged off away from our group, probably to find Scamp, his buddy squirrel. I can tell that he thinks that I¡¯m crazy¡­ However, I continued excitedly, without being affected by his rudeness. ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s possible, Boss? I¡¯m not just making up things or saying nonsense. Your minions are masters of silk string spinning! You must know a lot about string as form of defense!¡± Boss: ¡°Sigh¡­ Yes¡­ Silkworms and spiders are both are able to produce silk string¡­¡± Boss pauses for a moment before he continued his sharing. "However, silkworms neveruse its silk in fighting enemies. Unlike the spider that can produce silk to spin webs for catching prey, the silkworm will usually only use its silk when it is time to metamorphose as a barrier to keep enemies out during the period it is unable to defend themselves. There are still many major differences between spiders and silkworms¡­ Spiders line their silk with glue that can remain sticky for a long time to catch prey whereas silkworm silk are only sticky upon leaving their silk glands. Besides, spiders are equipped with not only silk, they also have venomous fangs with toxins to immobilize and break down prey. Also, spiders are designedto be the ultimate predators, they are built extremelydexterous and agile to hunt down prey¡­ It also has long legs to wrap silk around prey, that really seals the deal¡­ Also, their spinnerets are located at their abdomen, meaning they can leap from high places and still dangle by the thread by its back feet. Silkworms are just too slow and too ¡°herbivorous¡± to cause any threat to others. They can¡¯t even shoot their silk like some spiders¡­ ¡± Yes, I know a thing or two about silkworms and spiders, but thanks for reminding me. Boss: "Spiders are commonly thought to be weaklings in fantasy worlds. When I came in, Ishowed the managementwhat a misconception that was! Spiders are master killers and if all animals were the same size, spiders would have been the top of any food chain with no fail! Haha...!! Even the Lord of the Rings movie got it wrong!One single dose of toxin cocktail with neurotoxins and tissue destroying poisonfrom its venomous bite from a common garden spider a tenth of a grown man''s size would have killed anyone it had bitten! One injection from its twin fangsinto Frodo''s bloodstream should have ended his life immediately, no second chances. Not to mention it''s sheer size. If it were accurate, Frodo should have just died a horrible death instantly in that gigantic spider''s lair... Have your ever seen a spider bite a midget and that midgetcomes back to life? No!! He would have looked worse than the victims in theAnaconda movie! It''s funny that this misconception will lead many adventurers into their own doom!" Wow!! That''s right, I never thought that spiders could be so difficult to deal with if they were gigantic! "..... Wow! Does that mean Boss'' Dungeon is one of the most difficult to challenge?" Justina: "That''s right!Boss is the strongestDK around this region... He is specialises ininformation gathering, analysis of data and setting up traps with the help of his spider minions. He is ranked top because of his intelligenceand goodintuition to make the best plan out of available information." Boss: "Just observe a spider and how it catches prey and you will learn a few crucial tactics to overcome your enemy and win a battle. A Dungeon Keeper canmake your arenabe an extension of your body like a weapon! Be like lightning, swiftly strike and finish them off! " Hmmm... Yes... His description on the spider''s tactics are very accurate. If I were to conclude my comparison these two creatures, I would say these two creatures would represent two different elements. No doubt, spiders are like lightning, with its rapid movement fall upon the prey before it can act, immobilizing and then causing massive damage. Silkworms are just air, not even like earth with sturdier defensive material, just stagnant air, maybe like vapor¡­ The only parts that move slightly fast are its jaws when eating¡­ The differences are so big, they can never stand on equal ground. Is this it? Do I have to give up? Is this situation hopeless? No, I promised! I believe there is still hope¡­ Even by a single thread, I will continue to cling on! ¡°Give me a few days! I¡¯ll try to think about something. No, I will come up with a plan that makes this dungeon qualified to be taken care of! I promise!¡± Ssssssigh¡­ It wasn¡¯t me whosighed... For some reason, Iwasreally pumped! No, thosethe sighs escaping from the mouths of my fellow DK¡¯s. I think in some way, I had let them down. But, I am keeping my word and I¡¯m going to make this dungeon significant! ¡°Boss, can you let me work in this Dungeon? Please~~?¡± The minion spider looked at me blankly. It didn¡¯t move for quite a while¡­ Finally, the Boss answered: ¡°Fine! I¡¯ll give you a week to come up with something that can make this dungeon more challenging! By the end of the period, it will be open to parties that reach here and it should be able to withstand their attacks up to a certain level.¡± ¡°Ok, cool!¡± ¡°However, I¡¯ll not let you have this chance so easily! Do you know how long I¡¯ve workedto analyse you and to find you a suitable dungeon? You should have been assigned to the beautiful Lake Dungeon which is actually quite close to here. Such a shame, there are many magnificent birds and fishes to take care of. If you choose to work here, I would have management problems... (I should have quickly ticked one major task off my list with hundreds of things to do, this is troublesome...) Therefore, there¡¯ll be a punishment if you were to fail, since I predict there will be too many casualties from the silkworms. I will personally see to the punishment and choose a least preferable dungeon for you to work in. This may be the last choice most people would want to work in, however there are still options that you will not like so much, such as the gloomy swamp or poison marsh area. Meanwhile, you should carry out some tasks in the Lake Dungeonstarting tomorrow! Do you understand?¡± He¡¯s right¡­ These places don¡¯t sound nice, I shuddered from the thought. It could be a place infested with giant mosquitos and such¡­ This is a tough bet, with large consequences¡­ This may be harder than I thought! Then he continued to lecture me on all the things that a DKneed to do...My head is quite about too full for the day andbefore I knew it, I fellasleep... And then, I woke up on my bed at home...