《Brass dungeon》 chapter 1 "Yo, Grant." "Yo, Mike, have you seen Monty? He left the hotel with me, but he should¡¯ve been here by now." "Yeah, he¡¯s at a gift shop looking for something to buy for his sister." "Ready to go back home? Paris is fine and all, but I miss my own bed," Grant asks. "Yeah, same. But they have some damned good wine here¡ªtoo bad I couldn''t bring one back home." We sat in the terminal, chatting for a bit. "So where¡¯s the rest of the class? It''s getting close to our departure time." "Dude, we are an hour early. They¡¯ll be here in like half an hour or so." I groan, having already been here an hour just roaming the giant airport. I remember a bar just down the hall. "We might as well go and get our last legal beer while we wait." Now it''s Mike''s turn to groan. "Dude, it¡¯s like 6 a.m. It can''t be good to be drinking this early." I give Mike a stupid grin. "Come on, we are only going to be young once. Soon, we¡¯ll be looking for jobs or going to college. Best we enjoy the time we still have left. So, are you coming, or am I going to have to drink alone?" "Fine, I''ll come with, but at least pick a spot near a TV. I wanna watch the news." We sat in a bar watching a soccer match. As we sat there, looking at the French news broadcast, Mike saw Monty heading to the departure gate and called him over to sit with us. Monty sat down and joined in on our banter. Slowly, we saw more and more of our classmates heading toward the gate. "Grant," Monty asked, "do you have any plans for after graduation?" "Yes, I¡¯ll take a gap year and help my dad at the workshop to learn the family trade." Mike spoke up. "It''s almost time. We should go to the gate." We headed to the gate, and as we arrived, the teacher checked us off the list. As we sat on a bench, we watched the last few stragglers file in and waited to be let onto the airplane back home. Half-asleep, I sat there until the gate attendant told us we could start boarding.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. We started to board the plane, and I took the window seat, planning to sleep most of the flight back home and not get up much before that point. Mike came and sat next to me, saying he wasn¡¯t looking forward to sitting for 13 hours. I gave him a nod of agreement as I fastened my seatbelt, turned off my mobile devices, and only half-listened to the safety instructions of the flight staff. As soon as the seatbelt light turned off, I unfastened it, put in my earplugs, and soon after, I dozed off. When Grant awoke, everything was¡­ off. He lay on a cold stone floor, surrounded by massive stone blocks. In the center of the room, a glowing orange orb floated, radiating a soft, pulsing light. Before he could react, a translucent blue screen appeared in front of him.
Name: Grant Larsen Race: Human Titles: Dungeon-Summoned Attributes:
  • Vitality: 194
  • Stamina: 228
  • Mana: 6
  • Strength: 67
  • Agility: 89
  • Intelligence: 23
Abilities:
  • Minor Luck Enhancement
  • Fast Recovery
  • Fire Resistance
Skills: None
Grant scoffed. "Oh, come on, I¡¯m not that dumb," he muttered at the screen, feigning offense. As he sat up, he noticed Monty out cold on the floor. I stood up, my legs feeling a bit numb, and headed over to try to wake him up. He might know where we are. But as he opened his eyes, he looked at me in confusion¡ªclearly as lost as I was. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly got startled by something I couldn¡¯t see. "Can you see it too?" he asked, pointing at something in front of him. I looked where he was pointing. "No¡­ are you okay? Do you smell toast?" Then it clicked¡ªhe must be seeing the blue screen, too. "Do you mean the blue thing?" I asked. "Yeah, I saw it when I woke up. Something wrong with it? Does it say you have chlamydia?" "Oh, fuck you, Grant." Monty shoves me away. "Where are we? The last thing I remember is falling asleep on the plane." Before Grant could answer, the orb starts to glow brighter and a new orange screen pops up.
Welcome to the brass dungeon!
chapter 2
Welcome to the Brass Dungeon!
I look at the new screen in front of me. As it disappears, another takes its place.
"You have been selected to become this dungeon''s hero. You and your fellow summons will fight the hordes of monsters and carve a place for yourselves among the ever-changing halls of the dungeon. Now, how do you complete your quest and reach the freedom of the new world you find yourself in? It''s simple¡ªall you have to do is reach the lowest floor of the dungeon. So far, only a few have achieved this, and even fewer have decided to leave. You have questions, and I will grant you three answers, after which your grand quest will begin."
I look at Monty, who is staring in front of him in confusion. "Did it also call you a hero?" Monty nods, not being able to find the words. "I guess I''ll ask the first question. What do you mean we were summoned?"
"This dungeon is connected to your realm, and using this connection, it summons people from your dimension. Heroes like yourself are summoned to prevent catastrophic events from taking place. However, this dungeon uses this feature to fill itself with delvers who, unlike the locals, are actually getting past the first floor."
Monty, having thought about a question, speaks up. "What happened to the rest of our class?"
"Your class and everyone else on the plane have been brought here after it suffered a catastrophic engine failure above the Pacific Ocean. They, however, are still in the transition phase and are in a magically induced coma to spare them the discomfort of the transition. You two, on the other hand, have been very receptive to the transition and have been awakened earlier than the rest to begin your quest as soon as possible."
I look at Monty.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. "Do you have another question for it? I can''t come up with anything." Monty stands and asks the orb, "What do you mean you''re connected with our realm?" The screen changes again and starts to explain what it means to be connected to their realm.
"In order to explain, I will give you a bit more info. Each dungeon of this realm is connected to a different realm, where they copy items, buildings, and weapons to fill themselves with loot unseen in this world. Most dungeons are connected to magical worlds, but I am connected to your world¡ªa technological world so alien to the inhabitants of this realm that most don''t dare to enter. But, sadly, your world lacks the classical monsters of magic worlds, so I had to pull from myth and legend." With your questions depleted, your adventure will begin!
A large glowing formation lights up around the edges of the room, transporting both of us to a new location. As the light fades, we find ourselves in a small room made of large dark bricks with only a door. As I open the door to the dungeon halls, I feel hundreds of spent brass ammo casings beneath my feet. As far as I can see, the floor is basically made of the brass casings, and in the distance, the unmistakable sound of gunfire. Monty grabs my shoulder. ¡°We should go left. Let''s stay as far away from any harm until we can defend ourselves.¡± I give him a nod of agreement, and we take the left corridor. We start talking while we search for something to defend ourselves with. "So, Grant, did you get anything useful from the blue screen?" I think about my abilities: fire resistance might be useful in some scenarios but completely useless in others. Fast recovery was a bit more vague¡ªit might mean recovery from injuries or fatigue. Either way, it will probably help, but I bet that minor luck enhancement will be a great ability to have. "Yeah, I got an ability that enhances luck. I hope it helps me find a good weapon soon. Now, did you get something interesting?" ¡°I got two abilities and a skill. I think the scouting ability will be good, and my stealth will only enhance it, but I''m not very sure what my skill, steady hand, will help with unless I find a gun¡ªor a bow, maybe?¡± Monty stops talking and holds his arm out, telling me to stop and not make a sound. We hear a noise, like someone kicking in a garage door. There, around the corner, is an ugly short humanoid with green skin and barely any clothes on. I whisper, ¡°Is that a goblin? God, it''s ugly. It also doesn''t seem very friendly." Monty begins to sneak up on the goblin. Not wanting to touch it with his hands, he kicks the legs out from under the goblin and begins to stomp on it. I rush over and deliver a swift kick to the head of the goblin, killing it. Monty stands there for a second. ¡°I got experience in stealth?¡± Monty says, but I''m already lifting the garage door the goblin was kicking. Inside, there is a car¡ªor what will be a car if someone finishes assembling it¡ªa workbench with various tools and several boxes stacked in the corner. ¡°I''ll take the workbench. Will you search the boxes?¡± Monty agrees, and I turn the garage lights on and close the door behind us. As I search the workbench, I find some tools: a hammer, some screwdrivers, various loose nails and screws, and a pocket knife. The knife might be good for Monty with his stealth. I''ll give it to him when I''m done searching. Underneath the workbench, there are some woodworking tools and some old metal toolboxes. Behind them, I find a crowbar. Will it be a good weapon? No. It''s heavy, it''s short, and I''m likely to injure myself if I swing it against something solid. But it''s basically a solid bar of metal¡ªit won''t break anytime soon, and one hit from it can cause enough damage to those goblins that it will most likely kill them. As I am contemplating the crowbar, Monty sets a box on the hood of the car. Inside, I can hear glass hitting glass. He opens the box and pulls out a large bottle of red wine, a look of pure glee on his face. chapter 3 ¡°Wine is nice and all, dude, but did you find something we can use? Like a weapon? Maybe a backpack? That would be nice. Now, don''t get me wrong¡ªyou take what you want, but right now, wine is not high on my list of survival goods.¡± Monty looks at me, his smile unfaltering, as he kicks a duffle bag my way. ¡°Alright, that''s a start. Here, this might help you.¡± I hand him the pocket knife I found. ¡°The workbench has a hammer if you want it, but for the rest, there¡¯s not much left of use. I¡¯ll help you search the boxes.¡± Monty puts the wine back. ¡°Alright, there¡¯s a large metal trunk at the bottom, so let''s just work from the top. I have a good feeling about that trunk.¡± As we start opening the boxes on top of the trunk, we don¡¯t find much good¡ªsome old toys, CD collections, old porn mags, a VHS player, and a box full of baseball cards. The only useful thing we find is a small multi-tool. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s see what¡¯s in the trunk.¡± As Monty opens it, he¡¯s surprised by what he finds. The trunk is filled with military surplus gear¡ªcanteens, combat boots, a backpack, and a combat knife. I spot the combat knife. ¡°Well, that pocket knife got replaced real fast. So, we¡¯re taking a canteen each and a pair of combat boots each. The backpack and knife are yours.¡± I take the combat boots and canteen, tying them to the outside of my duffle bag, while Monty puts the knife sheath on his belt and stuffs the rest of the trunk¡¯s contents into his backpack¡ªalong with two bottles of wine. ¡°Don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything left in here. I just want to test something.¡± Status? No. Overlay? No. Screen? Not it either. System?
Name: Grant Larsen Race: Human Titles: Dungeon-Summoned Hero Attributes:
  • Vitality: 194
  • Stamina: 228
  • Mana: 6
  • Strength: 67
  • Agility: 89
  • Intelligence: 23
Abilities:Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
  • Minor Luck Enhancement
  • Fast Recovery
  • Fire Resistance
Skills: None Claim garage? Y/N
What? No, I don¡¯t want this place. So that¡¯s what it meant by carving a place for ourselves? We can actually claim these summoned buildings? Maybe it¡¯s always just a single room. Anyway, if I¡¯m going to claim something, it has to have a stronger door than this. ¡°Alright, so you can summon your screen by thinking ¡®system¡¯ and claim a location by summoning it inside a building like the garage.¡± Monty tries it and lets out an amused hum. ¡°We should get out of here. There¡¯s nothing left for us. We might be able to find somewhere to rest and get some food.¡± While we walk down the dark corridors of the dungeon, we spot three goblins further up the hall. They seem to be looking for something. I whisper to Monty, ¡°How are we going to handle this? There¡¯s one with a spear and two with clubs. I¡¯m pretty sure I can take on the two with clubs, but the one with the spear looks like a nasty fighter. I bet he¡¯ll let the club-wielding goblins rush ahead to keep himself out of danger. I can lure them past the corridor, where you can hide and ambush the one with the spear.¡± Monty thinks for a moment and asks, ¡°What if it does rush at you? They don¡¯t look smart enough to come up with a strategy. We could also try to wait them out, let them leave, and continue without being seen.¡± We could do that, but we might run into them later when we don¡¯t expect it. I answer, ¡°No, it¡¯s best to take them out now while we have the chance. Can¡¯t risk them getting the drop on us later.¡± I stand and move to the split in the corridors, with Monty to my right in the side corridor. I move back a couple of feet before tapping my crowbar against the stone wall. The metallic ring catches the attention of the goblins, and¡ª They do what I was hoping for. The two club-wielding goblins rush toward me, running straight past Monty in the side corridor. The first to reach me gets a heavy kick to the chest, sending him stumbling back. The second reaches me, and I hit him in the shoulder. I hear the crack of his bones. I finish him off with a hard swing to the head. I go back to the first goblin who tried to rush me. It¡¯s still on the ground, struggling to breathe. I might have broken some of its ribs with that earlier kick, but that doesn¡¯t matter as I bring the crowbar down on its head.
Skill acquired: Powered Strike
I look at the screen in amusement before realizing my plan didn¡¯t go entirely as expected¡ªthe spear goblin hasn¡¯t moved an inch. It looks at me almost mockingly. Then I hear something behind me. A large green man is mid-downward swing. I see him, but not in time¡ªI try to dodge, but his club slams into my arm, and I fall to the floor. Monty wants to help me, but I¡¯m not out yet. I use my new skill and empower a kick to the orc¡¯s knee. Not my best idea. The knee bends the wrong way, and the orc starts to fall¡ªright on top of me. I lift my crowbar¡¯s other end just in time to impale the falling orc. Monty, still in the side corridor, stops before exposing himself to the spear goblin, who is now approaching to finish me off. But as it reaches the side corridor, Monty grabs just below the spearhead and plunges his knife into the goblin¡¯s chest. After the spear goblin collapses, Monty rushes over to lift the orc off of me. ¡°Dude, we did it! We won.¡± I smile a little, but my arm is killing me. I try to move it and still can¡ªluckily, it didn¡¯t break, but it was not far off. ¡°Fuck yeah, we did.¡± I stand, covered in orc blood, and pull the crowbar out of the orc with my non-dominant arm. ¡°But next time, I will have to be more aware of my surroundings.¡± chapter 4 "Let''s check the corpses; they might have something we can use." I take a look at the orc. Around his hip, he has a pouch. I take it and find a dead rat inside¡ªmust have been his snack pouch. I struggle to turn him over, but when I do, I find something interesting. There is a bullet tucked in his waistband. I pull it out and find it''s a 20mm bullet, then stuff it into my duffle bag. "Monty, you find something?" I ask while making my way over to him. He shakes his head. "No, these guys don''t have much to search. I found a pouch on him, but the only thing in it were some animal teeth." As Monty turns to me, he asks me to lift my sleeve. The area where I got hit has turned purple. "Are you sure it¡¯s not broken? It looks bad. It''s probably best if you don¡¯t move it too much." He takes off his hoodie and ties the sleeves around my neck and under my injured arm, making a simple arm sling. "Thanks. Now let¡¯s get going before the smell attracts something else." We move between the halls, searching for another summoned entrance to get more loot and maybe a place to claim. I stop when I think I see something out of the corner of my eye¡ªsomeone walking past a corridor. I tap Monty on the shoulder and point him in the direction of what I saw. He nods and follows me. I take a glance around the corner and spot five people shoveling up brass casings and putting them into bags. Two of them seem to be guarding the other three, but they don¡¯t look like they were summoned by the dungeon. One has a staff and robes¡ªmaybe a mage¡ªand the other is in a full suit of knight¡¯s armor. I turn to Monty as he says, "I don''t recognize the language. I think they might be locals." I nod. He¡¯s probably right. "We should just leave. They seem to be only here for the brass." So we head back up the corridor, turn right, and randomly pick another path while searching for loot. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Eventually, we find another door. It looks like a small convenience store from the outside. As we approach, the sliding door doesn¡¯t open. The lights are also off. We try to force the door open, but it won¡¯t budge, so I use my crowbar to pry it open just enough for us to force it the rest of the way. The inside of the store is a mess¡ªempty shelves pushed over, rotting vegetables scattered across the floor, and above all, complete darkness. We search for the light switch, and when we find it, it doesn¡¯t work. The circuit breaker must be out. We head to the backroom to restore power. Inside, it''s pitch black. We wait for a moment, listening. When it stays silent, we hug the wall, feeling around for the circuit breaker. My hand touches a metal plate, and I start feeling for a handle. Finding it, I carefully open the panel, search for the tripped breaker, and flip it on. The lights flicker to life. Finally, the store has power again, and we can begin searching. I look around the backroom for anything useful¡ªthere are some boxes on the shelves, a small kitchenette, and some employee lockers. I glance at my blood-stained shirt. Might as well look for something new. I break the padlock on the first locker while Monty begins searching the boxes. Inside, there¡¯s only a handbag. I still check inside¡ªlipstick, a dirty tissue, and a pack of cigarettes with a lighter. I don¡¯t smoke, but the lighter might come in handy in another dark room. "Monty, do you smoke?" Monty looks up from the box he¡¯s opening. "No, but keep them. We might find someone who wants to trade for them." I stuff the cigarettes into my duffle bag and break open the second locker. Inside is a shirt and a hoodie with the store logo on it. I take off my makeshift sling and bloody t-shirt, put on the store shirt, then fashion the store hoodie into my new sling. I walk over to Monty and hand him his hoodie back. "Anything good in the boxes?" Monty hands me a can of beef stew. "Yeah. This one has canned stew, the previous one had canned corn, and there''s one more box stuck under the fallen shelves. I''ll lift the shelf, and you pull the box out." I agree, and as Monty lifts the shelf, I grab the box with my good hand and place it on a table. Monty puts the shelf back down and comes over as I open the box. Inside are bags of chips¡ªnot exactly survival food, but we might as well enjoy them. I sit down, open a bag, and start eating. "You know, I¡¯ve had this weird feeling. When we killed that first goblin, I didn¡¯t feel much of anything. It almost feels like they¡¯re not truly¡­ real. And I feel bad¡ªnot about killing it, but about not feeling much after." Monty sits across from me and takes a chip. "I mean, it feels surreal. Like a bad dream, but you know you''re dreaming and can''t wake up? If that makes any sense. And if you feel bad about it, just remember¡ªit¡¯s them or us. You saw how they rushed at you, trying to kill you without a second thought. It was self-defense, really." Monty stands up. "Now, let¡¯s go loot the storefront. There might be something left." I follow him to the storefront, which now has working lights. There doesn¡¯t seem to be much left, but I might as well search before we start packing everything up. As I look around, I notice some magazines¡ªbasically untouched¡ªand some empty fridges. I spot a pushed-over shelf and decide to check beneath it, finding a couple of cheap store-brand cola bottles. A few bottles of water would have been nice, but you take what you can get. I head over to Monty and ask if he found anything. He comes out from behind the cash register and drops several items on the counter¡ªtwo more lighters, a pen, a box of .32 ACP rounds, and a Walther PPK. My eyes widen as I see the gun. "Holy shit, dude, that¡¯s great! We have a real weapon." Monty, however, doesn¡¯t seem very impressed. He lifts the pistol, pointing it down, and the slide just falls off. "The spring is missing. Won¡¯t do much without it." chapter 5 I look at the gun. If it''s only a missing spring, we might find a similar one somewhere. "It''s only the spring; we can find one somewhere else. Now, let''s pack the canned food and leave. This place is empty." We move to the backroom and begin packing the canned food. We both take ten cans of beef stew and corn alongside the extra gear. Our packs are becoming heavy but still manageable. As I lift the duffle bag over my shoulder, I tell Monty, "I think it''s time to go to a more densely populated part of the dungeon. There¡¯s bound to be something better there, maybe even a place to claim¡ªsomething with a strong door, preferably." Monty isn''t surprised. He¡¯d also like a place to drop these cans off and asks, "How are we going to find a higher-level area? It''s not like we have a map." "We don''t need a map," I tell him. "Just follow the noise of gunfire. If someone with a gun is there, there must be something good. They¡¯ve been here at least a while and found where they could get a working gun¡ªor enough broken ones to make one." Monty thinks for a minute. "Okay, you''re right. We can''t keep going like this. We need a proper place to rest. But are we prepared for a high-level area? We only have food and melee weapons. If people need to use guns there, what are we going to do?" "While we make our way there, we¡¯ll train your scout ability and try to sneak through while searching for weapons¡ªand a possible place to claim." I explain my plan, and Monty eventually agrees. "Alright, let''s head out. Best if we find a safe place sooner rather than later." Monty begins to leave the store, and I follow as he scouts the way toward the origin of the firefight.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. On the way, we come across two more summoned buildings. The first looks like a regular house door, but the moment we open it, the stench overwhelms us. Inside, it looks like a hoarder¡¯s house, and the sounds from within tell me goblins have made it their home. We close the door without even stepping inside and move on. The second one is clean but weirder. The door looks like the backdoor of an ambulance. It¡¯s locked, so I pry it open with my crowbar. Inside, there¡¯s a lot of specialized medical equipment. As I search the shelves, I find some stuff I don''t recognize¡ªmidazolam and etomidate¡ªand two I do recognize: ketamine and fentanyl. The first I remember from the news¡ªsomething about it being horse medicine, but that was a lie. The other, I thought, was just some street drug. I ask Monty if he found any syringes while I wrap the glass bottles in paper towels to keep them from breaking. Monty, now in the passenger seat searching the glovebox, answers, "I think I saw them in the top drawer of the cabinet at the... front left side? Why do you need syringes?" "I found fentanyl." Monty turns. "You found fucking fentanyl?! The fuck are you going to do with that?" "I don¡¯t know, but it might be useful," I say defensively. Monty, after his outburst, says, "Most of what''s left isn''t too useful for us. I did find a good first aid kit with most of what we could use and a bottle of antibiotics. You never know¡ªwe might need it." "Alright then. Ready to go? I¡¯d like to find a safe place soon." We exit the ambulance and continue following the gunfire. But we don¡¯t have to walk far as the sound grows louder. Peeking around the corner, we see a woman with an AR-type rifle shooting into what looks like a police station entrance. As her magazine runs out, she makes a run for it¡ªaway from us¡ªwhile maybe thirty goblins chase after her. I want to help, but we¡¯d probably just get in her way. Moving away from the police station, we come across a giant double door¡ªone that looks like it came from a church. "Hey, having a church as our hideout would be pretty cool." Monty agrees. "It does look like one of those doors from a church we saw in France. It¡¯s gotta be big inside, right? But there might not be much comfort¡ªunless you like sleeping on church pews." "Well, we might as well take a look inside. It seems quiet enough." chapter 6 As we enter the church, it feels strangely empty. The only thing that stands out is the door on the other side of the room. "What type of church has nothing in it? Where are the statues, the large colorful windows? What is this, the Vatican''s holy bunker? This is boring as hell¡ªlet''s leave." I turn around and pull the door handle. Then, I turn back to Monty. "The door''s locked. We might be fucked." Monty just stands there, staring at the other door. "It''s going to be a boss fight, isn''t it?" "Alright, let''s get it over with. It doesn''t matter much anymore." I walk forward into the empty round room. As I reach the center, the door on the other side flings open, and in steps a minotaur. I put my duffle bag down and push it toward Monty. "I''ll try to keep it busy, and you can figure out a way to kill it." I pull my arm out of its makeshift sling¡ªit''s healed enough to use with only some discomfort. I take my crowbar in my dominant hand and focus on buying us time. The minotaur, a beast standing twice my height, moves with terrifying speed. I focus on dodging as it charges at me. I jump out of the way as it rushes past, stopping only to turn and charge again. When I get the chance, I strike at its knee, hoping to slow it down. The hit does little¡ªit only enrages the creature. It swings a massive arm at me, and though the impact isn¡¯t hard, it sends me flying across the room. I land on my injured arm, pain exploding through me. Monty is still searching the bags for something. I lose focus for just a second, and the minotaur is already in an overhead swing. I barely scramble out of the way as its giant club smashes into the floor. As it struggles to pull its club free, I seize the moment and deliver a powerful strike to its oversized fingers, aiming to break them. But the minotaur jerks its hand away, and instead, I only manage to shatter its nail. It lets go of the club and roars in fury, shaking the room. That was a mistake. The club was more of a burden than an asset. Now, unarmed, the minotaur attacks wildly¡ªpunches, kicks, and charging strikes with its horns. I dodge as best as I can, but one hit lands squarely, knocking the air from my lungs and sending me stumbling. I see Monty charging toward the minotaur. I can''t let it notice him. Forcing myself to stand, I rush forward, taking the minotaur by surprise as I smash my crowbar down on its head. Monty reaches it and stabs down into its back. Whatever he did, the minotaur barely reacts. It swings at me again. I try to dodge, but my ankle twists, and I take the full hit. My shoulder dislocates on impact, and my arm burns with pain. I collapse, unable to stand. But then, the minotaur wobbles. It sways, swinging at nothing, its furious breathing becoming shallow.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Monty rushes to my side, helping me up and dragging me toward the entrance. I ask, "What did you do to it? Did you poison it?" Monty gives a sheepish grin. "Well, that¡¯s what happens when you stab a minotaur with two full syringes of fentanyl mixed with ketamine. It does not look pleasant." "Yeah, no shit. Two full syringes of fentanyl isn¡¯t a small amount. Isn¡¯t that enough to make a man overdose?" Monty looks me dead in the eye. "What else was I supposed to do? The gun is busted, and my knife ain''t gonna do shit against that. Let''s just wait for it to overdose and leave this damned room." Monty is right¡ªthere was little else he could do. "Yeah, you''re right, but that is one hell of a way to go out. We should put it out of its misery." I hand him my crowbar. "Use the straight end and go for the eye. The faster it''s dead, the better. And don¡¯t let it hit you¡ªit doesn¡¯t feel good." I try to laugh at my own joke, but my lungs feel like they¡¯re on fire, and it turns into a cough. Monty approaches the minotaur and drives the crowbar into its eye. But it¡¯s not enough. The minotaur thrashes, and before Monty can finish the job, the drugged-out beast lands a solid hit. Monty stumbles back, gasping for air. Still, he forces himself up and charges again. The minotaur, struggling to stand, is failing under the lethal dose coursing through its body. Monty takes a running start and kicks the crowbar deeper into its skull, finally killing it. As the minotaur goes limp, Monty makes his way back over to me and sits down next to me. "There really should be a sign above the door to a boss room. Like, come on, how could we have known what this place was?" I nod in agreement. "There really was no warning. Who would look at a large, ominous door and think, ¡®Yeah, there¡¯s something bad behind that¡¯? I¡¯ll tell you who¡ªcowards. They wouldn¡¯t blindly step into a room they don¡¯t know. Does that make them smarter than us? Yes. We should probably think before we act, especially here." Monty laughs at the sheer absurdity of the situation. I lay there, exhausted, before asking, "Did you get something from this fight? Like a skill or something?" He stares into space for a moment¡ªprobably checking his system. I decide to do the same.
Name: Grant Larsen Race: Human Titles: Dungeon-Summoned Hero Attributes: Status Ailments / Debuffs: Abilities: Skills:
I look over my status¡ªit¡¯s bad, but not fatal. I¡¯ll be better in a couple of days. Monty finishes checking his and looks at me. "Been better. I¡¯ve got some bruised ribs. Do you need help with that?" He points at my dislocated arm. I ask, "Have you ever done it before?" He shakes his head. "No, but I¡¯ve had it done to me several times. I know how to do it in theory." He tells me to relax as he lifts my arm to a 90-degree angle, then slowly rotates it. A sharp jolt of pain shoots through me as my shoulder pops back into place. The pain vanishes almost instantly, leaving only a slight numbness. "Thanks, that feels much better. Now, let''s see what''s behind the minotaur''s door." chapter 7 As I make my way to the door the minotaur emerged from, Monty follows close behind. Inside, we find a single chest and a stairway leading deeper into the dungeon. The moment we step through the doorway, a system alert appears: Congratulations! You are the first delvers to defeat the minotaur without a firearm. This achievement warrants a reward! In the chest before you are two rare-quality class scrolls. When you spin the wheel to receive your class, you are guaranteed a rare or higher designation. I glance at Monty and say, "I don''t know if it''s worth the pain, but it''s something at least." I open the chest, taking one scroll and handing the other to Monty. Peeling the wax seal off, I unroll the parchment¡ªand suddenly, I¡¯m transported to a white void, standing before a massive spinning wheel. The wheel is divided into colored sections: blue, purple, orange, and white, each inscribed with class names. I scan the ones within reach¡ªGrenadier, Combat Medic, Merchant¡­ Tank Hunter? I step forward and give the wheel a spin. It whirls so fast I lose track of the individual labels. After a long, agonizing fifteen minutes, it finally slows and lands on a blank white section. Before I can start cursing at the system, the wheel vanishes, replaced by two smaller wheels and a new message: You have landed on a combination wedge. Spin both wheels to create your unique class. I stare at the message. "So I get a unique class¡­ I don''t know if that''s good or not. ''Unique'' doesn''t necessarily mean ''good.'' Now I have the chance to be a¡­" I look at the bottommost options on each wheel. "Machine Gun Botanist? What good is that going to do?" I take a deep breath. "Alright, no point stressing over ''what-ifs.'' I get what I get." I spin both wheels. Again, fifteen long minutes pass before they stop, the needles settling on a blue and a purple wedge. Congratulations! The classes Scavenger and Survivalist have merged to form: Scavenger Pioneer This class combines the resourcefulness of the Scavenger with the survival instincts and combat prowess of the Survivalist. You can efficiently gather and locate valuable items while enhancing your ability to endure harsh conditions. Cooldown: 24 hours. A new message appears: Full system access granted.Stolen story; please report. Checking my status, I notice the descriptions are now more detailed. I can even see my exact health and stamina.
Status Name: Grant Larsen Race: Human Title: Dungeon-Summoned Hero Class: Scavenger Pioneer (Lv. 1) Attributes: Status Ailments/Debuffs: Abilities: Skills:
Curious about my new abilities, I focus on Scavenger¡¯s Intuition, and for the first time, the system responds: Scavenger¡¯s Intuition (Lv. 1): Leads you to the most valuable location within 100 feet, or, when used in a location, points toward the most valuable object. Cooldown: 4 hours. So the system answers questions now? Alright. What about Item Weight Reduction? Item Weight Reduction (Lv. 1): Reduces the weight of carried items by 10%. Might as well check out Weapon Handling while I¡¯m at it. Weapon Handling (Lv. 1): A jack-of-all-trades skill. You can wield all weapons at an adept level. Gains experience from every weapon used, but requires twice the experience to level up. With all my new abilities reviewed, I close the system. The white room fades to black, and I find myself back in the dungeon. Monty, now sitting on the chest, smirks. "Took your time. Did you get something good? I got a rare class¡ªGunslinger." "Yeah, I got a unique class: Scavenger Pioneer. It focuses on survival and scavenging." Monty nods. "Sounds useful. You ready to head to the second floor?" "Not yet. Give me the medkit¡ªI need to wrap my ankle." Monty hands me the kit, and I take out a compression bandage, securing my ankle for better support. "Alright, now I''m ready." The stairs aren¡¯t long, but they¡¯re annoying to walk down with an injured ankle. As we reach the second floor, I immediately notice a difference¡ªthe ceiling here is much higher. I stop Monty. "Hang on, I want to try something." I activate Scavenger¡¯s Intuition, and the ability pulls me down a corridor. After some walking, we find a house embedded in the dungeon walls¡ªunlike the previous floor, where we only saw doors, this time the entire front of the building is visible. We cautiously enter. The interior is eerily normal. No monsters. No traps. Nothing out of place. "Why did my ability lead us here?" I wonder aloud as we check the last room. It¡¯s empty. I turn to Monty. "If we barricade the door, this place could be a decent place to rest for now." chapter 8 With the door now blocked by a heavy wooden dresser, we go and sit in the kitchen. I look through the kitchen cabinets and find some of the items you would expect: pasta, some canned goods. I grab two plastic bags from under the sink and fill them with ice from the fridge. I hand Monty one for his ribs and place the second one on my ankle. As we sit with ice on our wounds, Monty stands and gets two glasses. As he sets them down, he takes the bottle of wine he found on our first day here and pours us both a glass. I tell him, ¡°We have been here for nearly two days. I¡¯m running on fumes here. The only thing I am still going to do now is eat and sleep.¡± Monty gives me a nod. He is also exhausted. As I look in the fridge, it''s surprisingly full of fruit, meat, and vegetables. It''s enough for a couple of days, at least enough time for us to heal a bit. I tell Monty, ¡°There is some fruit we can eat, or if you have the energy, you can cook something up. I am just taking some fruit.¡± He answers, ¡°Hand me an apple, a green one.¡± I hand him his apple and sit to eat the orange and an apple I took. I finish the glass of wine and tell him, ¡°I''ll take the guest bedroom,¡± and begin to take the stairs up. The guest bedroom has a bed that''s calling my name. I fall on the bed, and it''s lights out as I fall asleep the moment I''m on the bed. Some hours later, I wake up on the guest bed. I go back downstairs to start looting the house properly. I start in the living room. There are some blankets and pillows. We can''t do much with those, so I move to the small office room. It seems an engineer used to live here, as the small office is filled with diagrams and small prototypes of projects. One catches my eye, as it has a compression spring. I can find a use for that. With the office looted, I put the prototype on the coffee table in the living room. I then look through the supply closet. There are some cleaning supplies, a case of cheap store-brand cola bottles, and a box of toilet paper. I will take some with me. As I take the box off the shelf, I notice a wall safe behind it. I look the safe over. It''s not a high-security safe, but it will take some time to pry it open with only a crowbar, and it will make a lot of noise. I''ll wait for Monty to wake up before I break it open. I put the box of toilet paper and the cola on the coffee table to sort out later.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I head to the garage, and there I find something interesting. Next to some golf clubs, there is a canvas bag that is long and flat, so I am not sure what is in it. I take it to the pile on the coffee table and return to the garage to grab some tools I will need for later. I start to feel hungry again and head back to the kitchen to make something good. We won''t be here long. There is no reason not to use the perishable ingredients that are here. I make a quick breakfast with some bacon and toast. Monty comes downstairs and sits at the table, and I give him some bacon. He asks me, ¡°Why is there a toolbox on the counter? Are you claiming this place?¡± ¡°No, it''s for a little project. Also, there is a wall safe in the supply closet. I think we should break it open just before we leave. It might draw unwanted attention.¡± I quickly go to the living room and grab the canvas bag and tell Monty, ¡°I haven''t opened it yet, but it''s decently heavy, so I hope for something good.¡± As I unzip the bag, I can''t help but smile as I see what is inside. Inside the bag is a compound bow. I know it''s useless to Monty, as I''m fairly sure he can''t shoot a bow, but with my new skill, I can use it well enough. This will give us a little bit of an upgrade. I pick up the bow to get a feel for the weight. I am about to pull back the string without an arrow, but my weapon-handling skill tells me not to. I put the bow down and tell Monty, ¡°Now we only need to get you an upgrade.¡± I go and get the prototype¡­ toy? I am not sure what it is, but it has something I need. I start to disassemble it and take the compression spring. Currently, it''s way too strong for what I need it for, but first, I need to cut it to a desirable length with a wire cutter. As the spring is now the right length, I heat the end of the spring to be able to reset the end so it has a larger surface to push against the part. I then put the entire spring over the stove, and when it''s hot enough, I use two pliers to stretch the spring to reduce its strength, then I let it cool down. I ask Monty to hand me the Walther PPK. As I put the new recoil spring in and put the slide back on it, the only thing that needs to be done is to lock it in place. Luckily for a Walther PPK, it''s simple¡ªyou just have to let the trigger guard spring back into place. But not so luckily for us, the trigger guard seems stuck in the open position. I stand and say, ¡°I think I saw some WD-40 in the garage. I''ll go get it.¡± I go to the garage and look at the shelf and find the spray can. I find it behind a box of rat poison. I take it and spray where the trigger guard connects to the grip, and with some force, the trigger guard is able to snap back into place. The slide can no longer be removed without pulling down the trigger guard. chapter 9 I hold the gun in my hand and rack the slide as I pull it back. It works smoothly and without issue. I don''t know how long the spring will last, but it will work well enough until we find something better. I go back to the kitchen, where Monty has started making lunch. He throws some onions in a pot with some olive oil. I ask what he is making, and he answers, ¡°I''m trying to recreate the goulash my grandma used to make, and if I remember the recipe right, it will taste great.¡± I nod and go upstairs. I have already looted the downstairs area, but now I can loot the bedrooms and the attic. I start with the guest bedroom, and unsurprisingly, there is not much there. The only useful thing I find is a couple of hiking socks. I head to the main bedroom. There, in a small box in the sock drawer, I find a diamond engagement ring. I put it in my pocket, as nobody will miss it here. I continue to look through the main bedroom, finding a pack of common painkillers, an unopened disposable camera, and finally, a decent flashlight. I take these items and put them in the hallway. The last place of interest is the attic. I pull down the attic hatch and climb up the ladder. The attic is covered in fiberglass insulation, so I have to be careful not to touch any. I grab a box that says "camping supplies," but the only thing inside is an old tent with all the poles missing. I push it aside and pull another box to me. In this one is a bunch of old cookware. There is one thing that catches my attention¡ªan antique copper kettle. I take it for no other reason than that I think it''s neat. I head back down from the attic and sit at the top of the stairs as I look over my status: Name: Grant Larsen Race: Human Titles: Dungeon-Summoned Hero Class: Scavenger Pioneer Lv1 Attributes: Vitality: 217/217 Stamina: 243/253 Mana: 6/6 Strength: 72 Agility: 93 Intelligence: 23 Status Ailments / Debuffs: Abilities:This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Skills: It looks like I gained a level for First Aid while taking care of mine and Monty¡¯s wounds. It also seems Fast Recovery has taken care of my twisted ankle, and the internal bleeding only left a large red mark on my arm. I think I have to drain the blood to prevent an infection. I head back downstairs and sit at the table as the food is nearly done cooking. Monty is also waiting for it to finish and is just sitting there, listening to a cassette radio. I take out the pistol and hand it to him. ¡°Here, it should work now, but first, we probably have to find a lone monster to test it on.¡± As he holds the now-functioning pistol, he can''t help but smile. It''s small, it''s prone to jamming, and it has low ammo capacity, but having a shitty gun is better than no gun. He puts it away in his pocket. He then stands and gets me a bowl of goulash and says, ¡°For now, it''s more than enough. We''re on the second floor now. We''re bound to find better stuff here.¡± I begin eating the goulash. It is actually pretty good. I ask him how his ribs are. ¡°They still hurt, but it feels better with the ice. How''s your lung doing?¡± I answer, ¡°It''s getting better. The system said it became a lesser bruised lung, so I think it''s healing. But I think I might have to use a syringe to drain the blood from the internal bleeding in my arm.¡± I show him the red mark on my arm as I tell him that, but he looks at me confused and asks, ¡°How are you healing so fast?¡± Now it''s my turn to look at him in confusion, and I tell him, ¡°My skill of Fast Recovery heals me fast. Didn''t I tell you this? I''ve had it since we got here.¡± Now that we have the time to talk, I ask him what his class gave him. He stops eating and tells me, ¡°I got a skill that helps me reload faster, one that improves my eyesight, and the last one is an ability called Focus. It improves my hand-eye coordination and helps me think clearer in stressful situations.¡± I tell him, ¡°It''s good you have a gun now. I don''t know how much they would help you with a knife.¡± I start eating again and think about the safe. Is it even worth the trouble it might bring by making that much noise? Even in the dungeon, where you hear gunshots at all hours of the day? I decide to use my Scavenger''s Intuition ability, and if it leads me anywhere but the safe, it''s not going to be worth it. So I activate my ability, and it leads me to the safe. So there really is something good in there that will help. I tell Monty, ¡°Tomorrow, we will be leaving after breaking open the safe.¡± He nods and says, ¡°Yeah, it was good to rest for a bit, but we need to keep moving and finding better gear.¡± And so, for the rest of the day, we sat around and read a book, as the TV in the living room does not have any channels. The only thing I did in the afternoon was eat. chapter 10 The next morning, I start packing my duffle bag with the stuff I''m going to take with me. I go downstairs and put my bag in the kitchen, where Monty is already eating cereal. I also pour myself a bowl and ask him, ¡°Are you ready to break open that safe?¡± He nods and answers, ¡°Yeah, I only need to do one thing before that, though. I''m going to take a shower.¡± I let him take a quick shower while I search for some tools to help me break it open. The safe itself is just a cheap steel safe with a number lock. I go to the garage and search for a hammer and a chisel. I find the hammer on the workbench, but I can''t find a chisel, so I take a piece of rebar and turn it into a chisel with an angle grinder and a bench grinder. It won¡¯t be a good chisel, but it will be enough to make a gap near the safe. I go back to the supply closet and begin hammering the DIY chisel into the slit near the combination lock. After a couple of minutes of hammering and a couple more minutes trying to get the chisel back out, I have made a large enough gap near the safe door to put the prying part of my crowbar into. But before I can, Monty is back out of the shower and asks, ¡°Do you need some help with that?¡± I think and say, ¡°No, I''m good. It''s a rather cheap safe, it will break easily enough.¡± Monty nods and heads to the kitchen to pack the cans of food in his bag. I put my crowbar in the gap I made and begin pushing. I can hear the door creak under the stress I''m putting on it. After a few minutes of pushing and pulling, the door is now beginning to bend outward. I clear some of the harder cleaning supplies, as what I am going to do might hurt otherwise. I put myself in a position where I can pull on the crowbar and hold it near my chest. In a quick movement, I launch myself back while holding onto the crowbar. My back hits the wall, but there''s a loud metallic sound. Either I broke the safe open, or I broke my crowbar in half¡ªand I doubt it''s the latter. I look at the crowbar in my hand. It''s nearly fine, only a bit more scratched up. I stand and look inside the safe, and I find something rather nice. I don¡¯t know what type of revolver it is, but it¡¯s old. I stand there, holding the revolver, and try to remember anything about it. I try, but I can''t. I just stand there with the revolver and say, "What are you?"
Colt Single Action Army (Replica) Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.This revolver is chambered in .357 Magnum instead of the original .45 Colt. It is a 1998 replica of the original from 1873.
I look at the screen and remember the last skill I got¡ªIdentify. I hadn''t thought about it after I got it and forgot about it. I look through the safe and find two boxes of ammo. As I open one, I find it half-empty; the other one is still sealed, so there are about 75 rounds. The only other things in the safe are some documents¡ªnothing interesting. I look at the revolver, happy that I did not leave the safe unopened. Suddenly, there is a crash near the front door. Monty comes running but stops in the living room, and I hear a new voice: ¡°Get on the ground!¡± Monty gets on the ground, and I guess whoever is here has a weapon. I try to load the revolver quietly while the man shouts at Monty. "Where do you keep your loot!?" he yells. Monty tries to stay calm, but his voice gets stuck in his throat as the man gets angrier and points his rifle at him. I peek out with the now-reloaded revolver and fire two shots at center mass. The first bullet hits low and goes through his hip. The second bullet goes high and hits him in the neck. I watch as the man falls forward. I run to Monty to help him up and quickly take the man''s bag and rifle before running to the kitchen to grab my duffle bag and the compound bow. I tell Monty, "We have to leave now! We don''t know if someone or something is coming after hearing the gunshots!" Monty just stands there. I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s having a panic attack or is in shock or something. Fuck, I¡¯m nearly having a panic attack. I run back into the kitchen, grab his bag, and shove it into his arms. He just stares blankly in front of him. I grab his head and force him to look at me. ¡°Monty, look at me. Monty, I''m here, snap out of it. We have to get out of here.¡± I see his eyes start to focus again, and he begins to put his backpack on. I push the rifle into his hands and peek out the door. I can hear something coming from the left, so we go to the right. We keep running and turn into the first corridor we find, then keep running. When we decide we are far enough away, I use Scavenger''s Intuition to find a safe place to hide. It starts leading me down more corridors, and as we round a corner, we see what looks like a library. We enter the library, and the outside does not show its true size. Inside, it¡¯s large and has very bad lines of sight¡ªan enemy would have a hard time finding us here. We search for a place, maybe an employee breakroom. We search the ground floor and find the bathroom and the storage room, so we head to the second floor. There, we find some computer rooms and some sort of study room. The study room has several heavy wooden desks, so we push them against the door. I slump into an office chair, all my energy gone as the adrenaline fades. What I''ve done comes back to me. "I killed someone. I killed him¡­ oh fuck, I killed someone. Oh shit, oh no." I let my head fall into my hands. "I did the right thing. He would have killed Monty. I did nothing wrong. I was defending my friend. He was a threat, and he had to die." chapter 11 We move the heavy desk away from the door, having heard something on the first floor. As we look over the railing of the second floor, we see twenty or so lizardmen. These things look stronger than goblins and even have three archers and bronze weapons. I tell Monty, ¡°It''s best if we take the archers out as soon as possible. I''ll shoot the one on the left and the middle¡ªyou take the right one.¡± Monty thinks about it and tells me his plan. ¡°I think it''s best if you take out all three archers with your bow. There¡¯s only one stairway up to us. I¡¯ll go there and shoot them when they come rushing up the stairs to fight you. It might even save us some ammo if they line up on the stairs.¡± I nod¡ªhis plan is better thought out than mine. So we go with his plan. I hide behind the stone railing and draw my bow. I stand and release an arrow, hitting the left archer in the side. The arrow goes through both lungs, and it falls to the ground, letting out gasping noises. The other lizardmen stare at their fallen archer¡ªthat¡¯s when I release my second arrow, which hits the right lizardman in the upper chest, just below the throat. Now they¡¯ve noticed me, but I¡¯ve already drawn my third arrow. Before I can fire, the middle archer releases his arrow¡ªI flinch, missing my shot as his broadhead arrow leaves a deep cut on my cheek. I drop my bow, and at that moment, I hear Monty open fire with his rifle on full auto. I quickly draw my revolver and shoot the last archer before he can target Monty. It takes three shots to bring him down¡ªmy first shot misses, the second hits his leg, and the last goes through his lung. I rush to help Monty, but the lizardmen on the stairs are already dead. Only a few are still alive, but they¡¯ll bleed out soon. I head down the stairs and retrieve my arrows, plus the ones from the archers. I now have 63 arrows¡ªmore than I have room for in my duffle bag. On my way back up, I pick up one of the lizardmen¡¯s bronze weapons and use Identify.
Bronze Khopesh A medium-sized khopesh. The khopesh is an Egyptian sickle-shaped weapon, believed to be the next step up from a battle axe.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
It¡¯s decent enough, so I take one but leave the rest. I ask Monty if he wants one, and he answers, ¡°No, I already have something better for close combat.¡± We take our stuff and start moving through the corridors again. I feel the wound on my face and say, ¡°This thing won¡¯t close on its own. It needs to be sewn up. Did the medkit have a needle and thread?¡± Monty looks through the medkit tied to his bag and answers, ¡°Yes, there is, but I don¡¯t think I can help you with this one.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. It¡¯s best if I do it myself. I have the skill, and I doubt having it will suddenly let you sew it up.¡± Monty nods, and we keep searching. With Scavenger¡¯s Intuition still on cooldown, it¡¯s harder to find a place to hide out, so I stuff some sterile cotton into the wound and tape a piece of gauze over the two-inch-long cut. As we roam, we hear a noise¡ªit sounds like an argument. Following the voices, we find three people¡ªa man and a woman, who seem ready to tear each other apart, while a girl who can¡¯t be older than thirteen hides behind the woman. I pull my revolver, and Monty draws his pistol, as we see the man point his gun at the woman. I sneak up behind him, press my gun to his head, and say, ¡°Don¡¯t make a sudden move. Drop your weapon.¡± The man freezes, his face red with anger. He speaks between clenched teeth. ¡°This has nothing to do with you. Leave before I¡ª¡± He¡¯s cut off as Monty suddenly stabs his combat knife through the side of the man¡¯s skull. The sudden act of violence surprises me. I look at Monty¡ªhis face contorted in pure disgust at the man in front of him. Noticing my look, Monty says, ¡°He was reaching for this.¡± He crouches down and grabs a pineapple grenade¡ªsomething I couldn¡¯t see from my angle. I give him a nod and turn to the woman and the kid. ¡°Take whatever he had, but I need to ask¡ªdo you know how to sew up a wound?¡± The woman gives me a distrustful look and says, ¡°I have Level Six Medical Skill.¡± I nod at her. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s good. But would you come with us to a safer place to sew it up?¡± She looks unsure and glances at the gun on the floor. I kick the gun toward her and tell her, ¡°Look, ma¡¯am, I don¡¯t need you to sew it up, but I¡¯d rather not do it myself. If having a gun makes you feel better, go for it¡ªI don¡¯t care. I¡¯m just asking for help.¡± She stares at the gun, then pulls out her own and tells me, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll help you. But if you try something, I¡¯ll take you down with me.¡± I nod at her and activate my skill to locate the next summoned location. She watches me weirdly as I lead her somewhere. ¡°The dungeon should be completely random. There should be no way to know where a summoned location is,¡± she mutters. She follows me cautiously, her hand on her gun, until we approach an entrance. It seems to be a secondhand store, and once inside, it¡¯s confirmed¡ªthe shelves are lined with random crap you¡¯d find in your grandparents¡¯ house. We do a quick sweep of the storefront and the back room, where they restore old furniture. chapter 12 I sit down on an old couch, and the woman approaches me. "How did you know where to go?" she asks. "The dungeon is a mess of empty corridors, and you just led us straight to a summoned building. That shouldn¡¯t be possible. Every couple of hours, the dungeon shifts the locations of buildings." She stands there, waiting for an answer. I tell her, "That''s a rather personal question. But I don¡¯t really care. It¡¯s an ability that lets me sense a building every four hours." It doesn¡¯t matter to me that she knows¡ªit¡¯s a useful ability, but nothing extraordinary. If I¡¯m more than a hundred feet away, it just tells me there¡¯s nothing there. Though, now that I think about it, every time I¡¯ve used it, I¡¯ve found something. Maybe my Luck Enhancement is causing more random buildings to appear around me. I¡¯ll keep that part to myself. She seems dissatisfied with my answer but lets it go. "Alright then, show me the wound you want sewn up." I peel the gauze from my face, revealing the cut. She winces at the sight of it¡ªprobably because it¡¯s still packed with cotton. She¡¯s right¡ªit doesn¡¯t feel great either. I ask Monty for the medkit, and he walks over, handing it to her. I then search through my bag and ask if she can do anything with the vials from the ambulance, but she declines. "I don¡¯t know the right doses," she says. "If I get it wrong, I could kill you. You¡¯ll have to bear through the pain." I nod, already expecting that answer. She opens a sterile packet to start the suture and grabs tweezers, carefully removing the cotton I stuffed in the wound. Then she rinses it with clean water from my canteen. With the wound clean, she opens a plastic tube of antiseptic liquid and pours it over my face. It stings, but at least the area is properly disinfected. Then comes the stitching. I clutch the armrest of the couch as I feel the needle pierce my skin, thread pulling tight as she loops through one side of the wound and out the other. She ties a double knot and moves on to the next. It takes eight stitches and half an hour to close the wound. I thank her, and she leaves to search the building. While she¡¯s busy, I take the opportunity to go through the bag of the man who tried to rob us. Inside, I find:This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Junkie. At the bottom of the bag, I find random items¡ªa fuel gauge, PVC tubing, duct tape, copper wiring, and a desk fan. I frown. Why would someone need a fuel gauge in the dungeon? Was he trying to fix a car? I shake my head and stuff everything back into the bag. Right now, I have more pressing matters.
I glance at Monty, who¡¯s looking through a box of bad ¡®80s action movies. ¡°Hey Monty, you alright?¡± He turns toward me, looking confused. "Yeah? Why, is something wrong?" I hesitate for a second before saying, "Monty, you killed that guy pretty violently. Did you know him or something?" Monty sighs and stands up. "That man was a criminal. I saw him on the news. He did something that¡ª" He pauses, his expression darkening. "Even thinking about it now makes me feel sick." He clenches his fists before continuing. "Then I see that same man harassing a woman and a kid, and knowing what he did, I couldn''t let that happen to this girl too." I piece together what he''s saying¡ªand if that guy did what I think he did, I¡¯m not going to push Monty on it any further. I¡¯m about to speak, but Monty cuts me off. "I don¡¯t feel bad for killing him. He was a worse monster than the actual monsters we¡¯ve seen here, and I won¡¯t feel sorry for him." I grab his shoulder and tell him, "I don¡¯t care that you killed him. You already had a good reason before you even told me this. I just wanted to know if you were alright. But if you¡¯re good, then I have no problem with it. Just¡ªnext time, give me a heads-up. That scared the shit out of me." Monty looks at me, then nods. "You''re right. We have to work together and not keep secrets. Grant, I think¡ª" He stops mid-sentence, looking at me like he¡¯s about to drop a bombshell. I stare at him, suspicious. ¡®The fuck is he about to say?¡¯ He stays quiet a little longer. Then he finally speaks. "Your sister is hot." I blink. "Yeah? Well, fuck you too. I can''t even tell your sister and her dog apart." Monty bursts out laughing, and I can¡¯t keep a straight face for long either. The stress of the last few days melts away as we sit there, joking around and talking about what to do next.
¡°I think it¡¯s time to start searching for a permanent base,¡± Monty says. ¡°We need somewhere to put our stuff. I can¡¯t keep carrying this much gear.¡± I nod. ¡°It would be nice to have a real place to rest and stock up. But we don¡¯t know how it works¡ªif we claim a place, will we have to come back up to this floor every time?¡± Monty thinks about it, then says, ¡°We could ask her if she knows how they work.¡± We both glance at the woman, who¡¯s helping the kid find a new jacket. I shrug. ¡°Can¡¯t hurt to ask.¡± I stand and head over to her. Before I can even say anything, she looks at me and starts talking. "When you claim a summoned building, it becomes bound to you. Once it''s bound, you can summon it. But think carefully about when you summon your base¡ªit will attract every monster in the area." I stare at her for a second. "Wait¡ªyou heard everything we said?" She rolls her eyes. "You two should really be quieter. How long have you even been here? That¡¯s something we learned in the first week. how long has it been since you two got summond?" I turn to Monty. He holds up four fingers. I frown, then turn back to her. "We¡¯ve been here for¡­ four or five days? So we¡¯re still pretty new to the dungeon." She gives me a look like that explains everything. chapter 13 She looks at Monty and me and says, ¡°Now it makes sense¡ªyou two are new to all this. Let me give you some advice. If you see or hear people, make sure it¡¯s not a trap. Some groups set them up just to kill you and take your gear. If you ever come across one of these groups and they haven¡¯t seen you yet, just kill them. Don¡¯t try to negotiate. They only want your gear.¡± I listen to her, but it¡¯s something I expected. Still, I thank her anyway. Before she leaves, she gives us one last piece of advice. ¡°Try and find a good spot for your base as soon as possible. Being a vagabond might sound cool, but when you need a place to rest, you can¡¯t count on the dungeon to help you. If you find a decent place, take it¡ªthe more secure, the better.¡± With that, she and the girl leave the second-hand store. I turn to Monty and say, ¡°We should leave as well. I doubt this place has much use.¡± He stands, puts on his backpack, and replies, ¡°Yeah, the only good thing I found were some instructional books.¡± He takes one out and hands it to me. "First Aid for Beginners." ¡°There were also some on general maintenance and cooking,¡± he adds. I put the book in the robber¡¯s backpack and thank him. We leave the store. The woman and kid have already disappeared into some corridor, and I take the left path. As we move forward, the corridors become more dangerous, forcing Monty to really put his scouting abilities to use. We come across many monsters¡ªlarge hordes of goblins, groups of those lizardmen, orcs, and... boars? What are wild boars doing in the dungeon? What do they even eat down here? We let the wild animals move along, and I use my scavenger¡¯s intuition to guide us to the next summoned building. We arrive at a veterinary clinic, but this one is different from the previous buildings. It has makeshift barricades and wooden tribal decorations. We watch as the orcs who occupy the clinic stand guard at the entrance. Every so often, the left orc guard leaves to check the surrounding corridors for enemies. He finds nothing. I turn to Monty. ¡°When he comes near, I¡¯ll grab him and keep his mouth shut while you stab him.¡± Monty nods, and we prepare for when the orc rounds the corner.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The orc moves from corridor to corridor, searching for anything unusual. As he peers into a hallway he expects to be empty, he finds two humans waiting. The taller one punches him in the face, and he feels his jaw break¡ªthe strike must have been enhanced by a skill. Before he can cry out, the two humans drag him into the corridor. He crashes onto his stomach and feels one of them climb onto his back, wrapping their arms around his neck, squeezing¡ªcutting off his air. He can¡¯t call for help. But the human made a mistake, thinking he could pin an orc to the ground. The orc slowly stands, his head turning red as he struggles to breathe. He tries to shake the human off his back. In his growing panic, he forgets about the second human¡ªuntil he feels a knife sink into his lung. Then again. And again. The orc collapses. Even as he takes his final breath, the one on his back doesn¡¯t let go. I finally release my grip as I feel his heart stop beating. I turn to Monty. ¡°Fuck, that thing was strong. It nearly threw me off there.¡± Monty snickers. ¡°Well, it did look fun¡ªkind of like a rodeo, except instead of a bull, it was a green bodybuilder.¡± I smirk, pick up my bow from where we stashed our stuff to keep it from getting damaged in the fight, and nock an arrow. I take aim at the second guard orc, who is now looking around for his missing partner. As he turns his back to me, I release. The arrow hits him in the back of the head. He thrashes for a moment but dies quietly. We move to the entrance of the veterinary clinic. Monty readies his rifle. While we¡¯ll try to stay quiet as long as possible, we know it¡¯ll end in us gunning down the orcs. As we move through the waiting room, I put an arrow through the heart of an orc standing behind the reception desk. We head down the hall to the surgery room, where we find two orcs butchering a hog. Monty uses his stealth skill to approach the closest orc and stabs it between the ribs. The other orc notices¡ªbut not soon enough. An arrow buries itself above his eye. We look at the meat on the table. It¡¯s good meat. They knew how to butcher it well. Before we leave, we decide to cook some. We head to the kennels, where animals used to be kept. Inside, we find a huge orc. This one is different from the others. It carries a sledgehammer and a Russian ballistic shield. I tell Monty, ¡°Try not to shoot the shield too much. It¡¯ll just waste ammo. Go for the legs and arms. If you get a shot, kill it. I¡¯ll try to make an opening.¡± I grip my crowbar in one hand and my pistol in the other. I move closer to the orc, who finally rises from its scrap-wood throne. The shield covers most of its body except for the legs. I approach, trying to provoke a swing, but instead, it bashes me with the shield. I stumble back, and the orc takes a swing with its sledgehammer. Bad move. The attack leaves its shield just low enough for Monty to get a clean shot. I watch the orc collapse, a fresh hole in its head. I turn to Monty, touching where the orc slammed the shield into my face. Most of the impact hit was kevlar, but I think he clipped me with the metal near the handle¡ªI can feel the bruise forming. I ask, ¡°You think this¡¯ll leave a mark?¡± as the area around my eye starts turning purple. Monty grimaces, but before he can answer, a notification interrupts us.
Congratulations. You defeated the orc side boss. Loot the chest and claim your prize.
chapter 14 I move closer to the chest and open it. Inside, I find a coin that looks like a normal coin. This can''t be it... That thing¡¯s gear was better than what we got from the chest. That can''t be right. I use Identify on the coin. Upgrade Token This token lets you upgrade one item. This upgrade could mean improving its quality, obtaining a newer version, or adding an effect to the item. I look at the coin. It might be good, but I can''t really come up with anything to use it on right now. I put it in my pocket and tell Monty, ¡°It lets us upgrade an item, but I think we should wait until we have a secure base to use it.¡± I move closer to the dead orc and grab the shield. It¡¯s heavy¡ªprobably around fifty pounds¡ªbut as I put it on my back, I feel it suddenly get lighter. Item Weight Reduction Lv2 Weight reduction: 20% I guess carrying around more than a hundred pounds of equipment pushed the ability over the edge. Now it feels like roughly eighty-five pounds¡ªstill heavy, but doable. Monty looks at me, struggling not to laugh, as I now resemble a pack mule¡ªmy duffle bag at my side, a backpack over my chest, and the shield on my back. We move through the veterinary clinic and stop at the surgery room to take the meat we want. Monty grabs a rack of ribs, and I go for sirloin. The meat is well-butchered, so I guess these orcs knew what they were doing. We head to the breakroom, where the orcs had built a grill using bricks and an oil barrel. The bars on top aren¡¯t from the barrel¡ªthey¡¯re bent rebar. We throw our chosen meat on the makeshift grill, and soon the smell fills the room, making our mouths water. Sadly, we have no herbs, spices, or marinade, but it¡¯s still a great meal. We start to leave the clinic to search for more summoned buildings. We find a few, but most are lackluster. We spend three days going from building to building, trying to find a good place to claim. Then, we find something interesting. A concrete structure protrudes from the dungeon wall, extending further in. We look around and spot a dozen goblins near two large, rusted blast doors. I ask, ¡°Is that a bunker?¡± Monty nods and looks at the sign nearby. Half of it is rusted off, but the rest is in English. Likely an American bunker. Monty turns to me. ¡°We need to claim this place. Even if the doors are rusty, they¡¯re three feet thick. If we can close them, nothing is getting inside.¡± He digs through his backpack and pulls out a pineapple grenade. Before I can object, he pulls the pin and throws it at the goblins. The goblins stare at the grenade at their feet, thinking it¡¯s a rock. They start turning toward where it came from¡ª Then it explodes. The fragments shred several goblins, wounding the rest. In the end, only one remains standing, but I quickly put it down with a shot from my revolver. I glare at Monty. Before I can call him a dumbass, we hear more footsteps from within the bunker. The first goblins reach us. I shoot three in rapid succession while Monty sets his rifle to semi-auto. The goblins keep coming. After three more shots, I have to reload. We slowly push the goblins back into the bunker as Monty opens fire. They seem to be pouring in from the door to the left of the elevator. The bunker is dark, only illuminated by red emergency lighting. We reach the elevator¡ªit doesn¡¯t work. We have to take the stairs down. The staircase is a mess¡ªtrash, empty food containers, cans, broken weapons, and bones of animals litter the steps. A few goblins attack in groups, but luckily, we have a flashlight to help us see.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. We reach the bottom and find a door barely hanging on its last hinge. Inside, the bunker reminds me of the hoarder house we found on the first floor. Except this time, we go inside. We enter the bunker¡¯s atrium. Trash is piled high¡ªexcept for at the far end, where a large goblin lounges on a ratty couch. He sits up, throws the beer can he was drinking onto the trash pile, and stands. In a raspy voice, he says, ¡°You''re not the only ones with¡ª¡± He never finishes his sentence. Both Monty and I unload our pistols into the oddly large goblin. He drops dead, half-holding a disgusting-looking shotgun. We begin searching the bunker. I find the generator¡ªstill intact but buried under trash. I clear the debris and try to start it. I press the ON button, but nothing happens. Monty watches as I kick the generator and try again. This time, it rumbles to life. The regular lighting flickers on. We head back to the atrium. It turns out this is only the bunker¡¯s first floor. Above us, another level looks down onto the atrium. I turn to Monty and say, ¡°I don¡¯t care how much we have to clean¡ªwe¡¯re claiming this place.¡± Monty nods as I open my status.
Name: Grant Larsen Race: Human Titles: Dungeon-Summoned Hero Class: Scavenger Pioneer Lv1 Attributes:
  • Vitality: 217/217
  • Stamina: 243/253
  • Mana: 6/6
  • Strength: 72
  • Agility: 93
  • Intelligence: 23
Status Ailments / Debuffs:
  • Bruised lung (lesser): -10 stamina
  • Cracked bone (right arm): Slight mobility decrease
Abilities:
  • Minor Luck Enhancement
  • Fast Recovery Lv2
  • Fire Resistance Lv1
  • First Aid Lv2
  • Scavenger¡¯s Intuition Lv1
  • Item Weight Reduction Lv2
Skills:
  • Powered Strike Lv1
  • Weapon Handling Lv2
  • Identify Lv1
Claim bunker? Y/N
I select YES. As I do, a mountain of trash collapses, revealing an old computer. A blinking red light catches my attention. "is this part of claiming a place?" i think to myself. I move closer, and the screen displays information about the bunker¡¯s facilities.
Entry floor
  • loading area
  • elevator (damaged)
  • guard room (damaged)
Main Floor:
  • Kitchen (damaged)
  • Restroom (damaged)
  • Lounge (damaged)
  • Generator Room
  • Atrium
  • Recycler
  • Room 1 (empty)
  • Room 2 (empty)
  • Room 3 (empty)
First Floor:
  • Bedroom 1
  • Bedroom 2 (damaged)
  • Bedroom 3 (damaged)
  • Bedroom 4 (damaged)
  • Bedroom 5
  • Bedroom 6
  • Shower Room (Male) (damaged)
  • Shower Room (Female) (damaged)
  • Officer Quarters 1 (damaged)
  • Officer Quarters 2
  • Officer Quarters 3
  • Officer Quarters 4 (damaged)
  • Commander¡¯s Quarters
Sub Level:
  • Storage (sealed)
  • Armory (damaged)
  • Freezer (damaged)
  • Fridge (sealed)
chapter 15 I use the mouse to click on the guard room to see if it will give me more info.
Guard Room
  • Door Controls (damaged)
  • Security Terminal (damaged)
  • CCTV (damaged)
  • Intercom (damaged)
¡°Those goblins really trashed the place.¡± I move and click on the door controls.
Door Controls
  • Upgrade
  • Repair
I guess I have to fix the controls before I can upgrade them. I move the cursor and click on "Repair," which gives me a list of necessary items.
Repair Door Controls
  • Copper wires
  • Electric motor (small)
  • Hydraulic hose line
  • Switch (small)
I look over the necessary items and realize I have most of them except the hydraulic hose line. I begin preparing to fix the control panel, so I open it up for a good look inside. Some cables have been chewed through by a rat, and the small motor powering the cooling fan has short-circuited and burned slightly. I take the fan from my backpack and think, I guess that guy needed a part from it as well. I still don¡¯t feel right about killing him, but what¡¯s done is done. He would have killed us if he had the chance. The fan comes apart easily enough, the cheap plastic breaking around the screws as I pry it open with little effort. I extract the small motor and use it to replace the burnt fan motor. It''s a little bigger, so I use some duct tape to secure it where the old one used to be. Following the wires back, I find them soldered to a small frequency regulator. I don¡¯t have a soldering iron, so I have to improvise. I take a small screwdriver from the generator room and heat its tip until I can use it to melt the tin holding the wire in place. After removing the damaged wires, I use new ones to reconnect the fan. Without tin, I can''t solder them back, so I twist them around the connector and use tape to prevent short circuits. Next, I search for the switch that needs replacing. There are nearly 50 switches for various functions, but most look undamaged. The ones that are broken don¡¯t matter much¡ªthings like the warning door-opening announcement or the blinking yellow lights. I let those be and keep looking until I find the switch that opens the doors. It¡¯s a key-operated switch, broken because the key snapped off inside. Luckily, its only function is to activate the "Open" and "Close" door buttons, so I don¡¯t actually need the switch to repair it. I unscrew it, use the screwdriver to melt the solder on the wires, and then twist them together with pliers while the tin is still molten. Now, the only thing left is a replacement hydraulic hose. I check around the door to estimate its length¡ªit doesn¡¯t need to be too long, so I just need to find one. The best place to look is the half-disassembled military truck in the bunker. Crawling underneath, I find several hydraulic lines connected to the brakes. They seem to be about the right size.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. The hose fits almost perfectly. The connection near the hydraulic piston is solid, but the other end leaks slightly. Using a heavy chain and my crowbar, I make a temporary chain wrench to tighten it. With the repairs done, I head deeper into the bunker to find Monty. I enter the atrium and see him with a shovel, filling a large trash can with the mess the goblins left behind. I ask, ¡°What are you going to do with that?¡± Monty looks up. ¡°I¡¯m dumping it in the recycler. It¡¯s been running nonstop, turning trash back into usable materials.¡± Curious, I go to see this recycler for myself. It¡¯s the first clean room in the bunker¡ªMonty must have started here. I watch as the large machine crushes the trash he throws in, and after about ten minutes, a few metal bars and rolls of plastic emerge from the other end. Right now, metal bars aren¡¯t that useful, but I might be able to turn one of the empty rooms into a workshop to make parts. After staring at the machine for a while, I remember why I needed Monty¡¯s help. I turn to him. ¡°Hey, could you help me? I need you to wait at the bottom of the stairs. When I shout, turn on the power in the generator room.¡± He agrees. I go to the top of the stairs and call out for him to turn it on. Then, I head back to the guard room and wait for the control panel to come back to life. I stand there, waiting. Maybe Monty doesn¡¯t know where the breaker for the guard room is. Just as I step out of the room, the lights flicker on. I quickly head back in to check my repairs¡ªbut something else is waiting for me, floating above the control panel.
Verifying repairs... Complete. Please wait for the repairs to finish. 0% complete Estimated time: 20 minutes
I look at the screen and think, Did I just need the components, and the base system would fix it itself?
Please wait for the repairs to finish. 5% complete Estimated time: 9 minutes
No, it would have told me when I had all the components, right?
12% complete Estimated time: 40 minutes
Monty comes upstairs, wondering why I didn¡¯t answer him. He looks over my shoulder at the floating message. ¡°Did it work?¡± he asks. ¡°I think so,¡± I reply, ¡°but now we have to wait for this to finish.¡± Monty nods, waiting with me as the loading bar progresses.
83% complete Estimated time: 19 seconds
91% complete Estimated time: 14 minutes
99% complete Estimated time: 6 years 99% complete Estimated time: 3... 2... 1... Repair complete.
We watch in shock as the console repairs itself before our eyes. The hole where I removed the broken switch seals shut. The tape I used disappears, replaced by proper repairs. When it¡¯s done, the entire panel looks brand new¡ªno goblin graffiti, no scratches or dents. It even looks polished. chapter 16 I press the close-door button, and the large, rusty doors screech as they move, but eventually, they shut. Now the bunker is truly secure. We can finally start turning this place into a real base. But before that, I turn to Monty. "Did you also claim this place, or can only one person do that?" Monty just stands there, his eyes unfocusing. A moment later, I receive a message from the system: Monty Davis requests to reside in your base. Do you allow Monty Davis to become a resident of your base? Y/N I click Yes, and Monty smiles. "Well, I guess I do now." As we head back downstairs, Monty tries to use the computer, but when he attempts to click on the rooms to initiate an upgrade, a message pops up: Access denied. Only the base owner can initiate upgrades. Residents can only initiate repairs. Monty frowns at the screen. "Well, that sucks. Can I be a co-owner or something?" I shrug. "I''d make you one if I knew how. Just tell me what you wanted to upgrade." Monty sighs, stepping back. "Nothing specific¡ªI just wanted to see the options." I take the mouse and click on the Generator Room. Generator Room I click Upgrade, and a single option appears: Upgrade to Utility Room Required: I scan the list. We already have most of these thanks to the recycler. The only things we need are any type of air and water filters. I start rummaging through the trashed kitchen, searching for a water filter. As I sift through the mess, I start shoveling the garbage into two trash cans, which Monty takes to empty. After a while, I find what I¡¯m looking for¡ªa water pitcher with a built-in filter. The plastic pitcher itself is broken, probably stepped on by a goblin. The filter has some writing on it, but it¡¯s in German. Still, I figure it should be good enough. While cleaning the kitchen, we find a few other miscellaneous items: a Stanley mixer, a broken microwave, a large job-site vacuum, a box full of fidget spinners, an old tube TV, a box of MREs (only three missing¡ªguess even goblins don¡¯t like them), and a tuba. I leave these items in the kitchen and take the filter to the generator room. As I exit, Monty is waiting for me. He smirks. "It¡¯s time." He holds out his fist and closes his eyes. I sigh, mirroring the gesture. We play Rock, Paper, Scissors. I open my eyes. Rock. Monty has paper. "Ha, fuck! Best two out of three!" I shout. Monty grins. "Nope. You lost. You do it. I¡¯m not touching it."Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Grumbling, I make my way to the generator room. The dead goblin leader has been rotting for less than five hours, but he already reeks and is covered in god knows what. I grab his shotgun and toss it onto the couch he used to sit on. I¡¯ll clean the shotgun later, but the couch? Straight into the recycler. It¡¯s a shame¡ªit was a nice antique once. I don¡¯t even bother looting him. I don¡¯t want to. I throw all his belongings into the recycler before dragging his corpse up the stairs toward the bunker doors. One by one, I haul the bodies of the goblins we killed on the stairs, stacking them next to their boss. When I¡¯m finally done, there¡¯s a pile of 37 goblins outside the bunker and a strong desire to take a long shower. I return to the Guard Room and open the bunker doors. I drag the corpses into the Dungeon Corridor, making sure they¡¯re completely out of the bunker. With any luck, the next dungeon shift will erase them. Once I¡¯m back inside, I close the bunker doors again and head downstairs. Monty is still cleaning the atrium, but I call out to him, "Wouldn¡¯t it be better to clean the second floor first? We can just throw the trash over the railing and pick it up with the atrium trash." Monty nods. "Yeah, that might be better. I don¡¯t want to clean this place just to mess it up again by knocking something over up there. But I think it¡¯s best if you start cleaning up there while I handle down here. Just try not to throw trash on me." I chuckle at the thought but won¡¯t do it¡­ on purpose. I head upstairs and begin shoveling trash from the catwalk over the railing while Monty shovels it into a trash can, dumping it into the recycler. Along the way, I find several useful items in the trash heap: some 2x4s and plywood, an old acetylene torch, a few working light bulbs, and an old camera. With the catwalk clear, I move on to the bedrooms. The first one is barely messy¡ªjust a few cans on the floor. I clean it up in minutes. The next three rooms, however, are absolute disasters. Piles of trash from floor to ceiling. It takes me two hours to clear them. The beds are too filthy to salvage, so I toss them into the atrium for recycling. Inside the rooms, I find some useful things: a decent speaker, a few bags of soil, and a pipe wrench. The soil bags stand out¡ªeach one weighs 50 pounds, and there are 13 of them. Were they planning to start a farm down here? I put the bags on the catwalk and move on to the last two rooms. The second-to-last is dirty but nothing too bad¡ªjust some spilled bottles. The last one, though, is basically untouched, everything covered in a thick layer of dust. I wipe it down quickly and move on. Shower rooms. The male shower is trashed¡ªgarbage covering the floor, some of the showerheads bent or broken. Most of the privacy stalls remain intact, though. I grab a trash can and start clearing it out. As I finish, I spot Monty using some tools to dismantle the disgusting couch. Moving on to the female shower room, I find it even worse than the male one. The privacy stalls have been ripped out, every shower destroyed, and someone even took a hammer to the wall tiles. I try to salvage whatever I can, but I only find enough undamaged material to fix about three showers. Then I realize¡­ there¡¯s no reason to fix them. I call out over the catwalk railing. "Yo, Monty, should i fix the female shower room?" Monty disappears into the recycler room and returns a few moments later. He walks upstairs and peeks into the female shower room before shaking his head. "It¡¯s not worth fixing, even if there were women here. Better just keep it for spare parts." I nod, and together, we move on to the officers'' quarters. The first room is full of empty bottles, cans, and broken items. The next two are mostly untouched, covered in dust. The last one, however, is the worst room we¡¯ve seen yet. The stench hits us as soon as we open the door¡ªnauseating, overwhelming. We have no choice but to clean it. Two hours of suffering later, we find the source: a dead goblin buried under a pile of trash. Thankfully, it died on the bed, and most of its decaying body was caught by the garbage beneath it. Monty holds a trash bag open while I scoop the remains inside, along with a stash of old magazines from under the bed. I tie the bag shut and hurry to throw it outside. As I step out of the bunker, I freeze. A group of monsters I haven¡¯t seen before¡ªmossy green, wolf-like creatures¡ªare gorging themselves on the goblin corpses. They see me but only growl as I chuck the trash bag in the opposite direction. Then I rush back inside and seal the doors. Back inside, Monty is finishing the last of the trash. With the room finally clear, the stench has faded¡ªonly a lingering foulness remains. Now, the only room left to clean is the Commander¡¯s Quarters. chapter 17 We open the commander¡¯s quarters and find it filled with various boxes and shelves, all packed with items¡ªmost of them useless. "I think the goblin leader used this as his treasure room," I say. Monty grabs something from a shelf and tosses it at me. I catch it, and he says, "I wouldn¡¯t call this a treasure room, but there will probably be something in here we can use." I look down at what he threw and find a Furby staring right back at me. Without hesitation, I head to the door and throw it down into the atrium before returning to search through the goblins'' so-called treasure room. Inside, we find various broken firearms, clothes, backpacks, and a saber. After looking through a couple of boxes, we finally find something useful¡ªa couple of boxes of 5.56 ammo. We keep searching and uncover some electronics, like a VHS player and a cassette player. In a wardrobe, we find weapons identical to those carried by the lizardmen. "I guess they don¡¯t like each other," I say, "but it''s good for us¡ªbronze is useful for making machine parts." At the back of the room, we find several compressed gas tanks¡ªone propane, two acetylene, and two oxygen. Monty scoffs. "These goblins will really take anything, even if they don¡¯t know what it is." He pauses, glancing at something in his hand. "Between the trash down in the atrium, I found a ten-ounce bar of silver, and here they are thinking some gas tanks are better than precious metals." I turn to him. "In all fairness, what would they do with silver down here? It¡¯s not like there¡¯s a store where they can buy stuff." Silver, in here, is really just a brick of metal¡ªtoo soft for making weapons. But then again, if I found a bar of silver, I¡¯d probably take it too. We set aside the useful items and leave the rest for when we unseal the storage room. As we exit the makeshift trophy room, Monty grabs the goblin leader¡¯s mattress and throws it down into the atrium. "I¡¯ll take the second officer¡¯s quarters, and you can take the third," he says. I nod and go downstairs to retrieve my bags from the generator room. The trash pile is even taller now that we¡¯ve cleared the second floor, making it harder to wade through. I grab my duffle bag and backpack, take them upstairs, and start putting away the few things I¡¯ve collected. The rest of the items are for both of us, so I place my bags next to the bed and head to Monty¡¯s room.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Inside, I see he¡¯s done the same¡ªplacing his few belongings around the room. I spot a wristwatch on the desk, a bottle of wine from the garage, and a couple of books from the house we rested in. Monty himself is lying on the bed. "These beds are surprisingly comfortable," he says. "But when we go exploring, I¡¯m taking some more pillows. Now, are you ready to clean up the atrium?" I nod. "Yeah. The sooner it¡¯s in the recycler, the better. I don¡¯t think I could stand sleeping with that smell." Monty stands, and we both head downstairs to the atrium, where we start shoveling trash into cans. Every now and then, we find something that might be worth disassembling by hand instead of just throwing it in the recycler. While we work, Monty asks, "Do you think we¡¯ll see the others again? The dungeon told us it would wake them up when they¡¯re ready, but we don¡¯t know if they¡¯re already out there or still in a coma." I keep shoveling. "I doubt we¡¯ll see them anytime soon. The dungeon is always changing, so I guess it¡¯s up to it if we come across them. I do miss Mike, but I think if anyone from our class will be fine, it¡¯ll be him." Monty chuckles. "Yeah." He goes quiet for a second before laughing. "Imagine Mia¡¯s face the first time she has to sleep on the floor. I think she¡¯d actually make it to the dungeon¡¯s core just to complain about it." I laugh at the thought, but deep down, I hope the others are okay. I turn to Monty. "Should we stay on this floor for a while? We might get lucky and find someone from our class." Monty keeps shoveling. "We could wait as long as necessary. There doesn¡¯t seem to be a penalty for staying on the same floor¡ªat least, that¡¯s the impression I got when we met the woman and kid. The guy I killed died five or six years ago on Earth, so we could wait for a while." I nod. "So, we¡¯ll stay on this floor for a few months. But for now, let¡¯s take a break and eat something." I grab a can of beef stew and corn from my bag and head to the kitchen. I find a cooking pot, pour the stew in, then open the canned corn, drain the liquid, and add it to the mix. I let it heat up on the stove before bringing it to Monty. I hand him a small mixing bowl and pour his portion in. He gives me a weird look. "I couldn¡¯t find the plates," I explain. Monty nods, not questioning it further as he takes a fork and starts eating. Once we¡¯re finished, Monty asks, "How long will it take to clean the last part of the atrium?" "Not that long," I say. "Maybe an hour or two if we take our time." Monty, however, has other plans. He starts working hard, determined to finish faster. Forty minutes later, the atrium is finally trash-free. The floor is still sticky and stained, but at least the smell is fading as the air filtration system does its job. Monty turns to me. "Grant, how bad is the sublevel? I haven¡¯t been down there yet." "It¡¯s not that bad," I tell him. "The two sealed rooms are just blocked by some fallen shelves. I think the goblins took most of the food up here. The sublevel has a small amount of standing water¡ªI think the drain is clogged." Monty frowns. "How did it flood?" "The freezer door is damaged," I explain. "It won¡¯t stay closed and probably built up a lot of ice. When the generator turned off, it must have all melted." Monty sighs. "Well, guess that¡¯s our next project." I nod, already dreading it. chapter 18 We head down to the sublevel and look through the water, hoping to find the drain. After a while, we can''t find it, even though the water is rather clear. We start to look beneath the metal shelves, searching for the drain, and eventually, we find it beneath a collapsed shelf. We move it to see if we can remove whatever is blocking it. I take off the metal drain cover and reach my arm into the drain pipe. As I go near elbow-deep into the drain, I can feel whatever caused the blockage. The first thing I feel is something rubbery. I pull it out, and it¡¯s a green rubber glove covered in some black goop with hair and chunks of waste¡ªprobably the stuff that rotted when the freezer lost power. I look at the disgusting glove and decide to rinse it off in the standing water. Once all the goop and chunks are out of it, I put it on to try and dig out the rest of the waste blocking the drain. Now with the glove on, I begin to pull out handfuls of whatever is in the drain. After a while, I feel something hard and pull it out¡ªit¡¯s the skeleton of what might have been the largest rat I would have ever seen if it were still alive. I throw it all into the bucket and plunge my arm back into the drain. However, when I pulled up the rat skeleton, a lot of the blockage came up with it. When I scoop out another handful of filth, the weight of the water becomes too much, and it flushes the rest of the filth down to wherever it leads. Now with the sublevel draining, we sit on the stairs to see if it will fully empty or if we have to try again with something else. After twenty minutes of waiting, the sublevel is completely drained. We head upstairs, and I take a shower before going to bed, as I¡¯m fully exhausted. Monty, however, seems to want to empty the recycler before he goes to sleep. After I get out of the shower, I see Monty approach me with a large smile on his face as he hands me an air filter. "Where did you find this?" I ask him. He begins telling me, ¡°So I tried to use that vacuum you had in the kitchen. It doesn¡¯t work. I open it, and everything seems normal except that there is another latch I can open. When I do, these two fell out. It¡¯s for when you¡¯re vacuuming the dust while using an angle grinder on brick, I think. But it¡¯s still an air filter. With this, we can upgrade the generator room.¡± I look at the air filter in my hand and tell Monty, "Go and get some copper and aluminum from the recycling room." As I head to my room, I grab the PVC pipes from my bag and bring them to the generator room, where Monty meets me. As soon as everything is gathered, we get a notification:
Upgrade the generator room to a utility room? Y/N
I click Yes, and another screen takes its place:
Upgrade in progress Estimated time: 8 hours
I turn to Monty, who looks at the screen excitedly and says, "Well, if it''s going to take a while, we might as well go to sleep. When we wake up, we can take a look at the changes."The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I agree and head to my room for the night. As I step inside, it feels good to have my own place¡ªsomewhere we can drop our stuff off without needing to be scared of getting robbed or ambushed. I put my soaked clothes over the desk chair to dry and climb into bed. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I fall asleep. The next morning, when I wake up, I put on my clothes and go downstairs to find Monty already waiting for me. He asks if I haven¡¯t noticed it yet. I look him up and down¡ªhe¡¯s wearing the same clothes from yesterday, he still has his hair, and everything else seems the same. I look around, and all the lights are working. We cleaned the entire atrium together yesterday, so what¡¯s different? I take a deep breath to think, but the moment I do, I realize what he means¡ªthe smell is gone. The smell that lingered after we removed the trash is finally gone. I open the door to the new utility room, where I find two new machines next to the generator. The first seems to be a large water filter, and the other is an industrial air purifier that connects to the ventilation ducts. We go to the kitchen to celebrate our first achievement in our new base. I bring out the case of cola cans from my bag, and Monty prepares some cans of canned spaghetti. It¡¯s not much, but in a situation like this, you celebrate the victories you can. Monty tells me, ¡°We need to start exploring the dungeon if we really want to improve this place.¡± I agree and ask him if he¡¯s ready to begin exploring again, to which he answers yes. So we begin to empty out our bags of useless items. Mostly, we leave the canned food here, along with items of no particular use, like the strong painkiller needles and some materials. Instead, we bring extra ammo, two MREs each for emergencies, and our canteens filled with clean filtered water. After a couple of hours of organizing ourselves, we head to the security room to open the bunker door. We look at the CCTV screen¡ªout of the eight cameras, only two still work. But on those two, we don¡¯t see anything, so we open the door and step back into the dungeon. As we step outside, we realize we can¡¯t close the door from the outside. The only thing available is the intercom to alert someone inside that we want to come in. I tell Monty, ¡°Well, shit. Either we need to upgrade the intercom to a keypad, or someone needs to stay here.¡± Monty shakes his head. ¡°We can¡¯t upgrade the intercom¡ªit needs to be fixed first, and we don¡¯t have a digital camera.¡± I lay out our options. ¡°So either we leave the door open and risk something¡ªor someone¡ªgetting in, or one of us stays here to let the other in after they¡¯re done scavenging. And I¡¯m just saying, I don¡¯t like either option. I don¡¯t like the idea of someone being able to get in here to take our stuff, but I also don¡¯t like the idea of being alone out in the dungeon.¡± Monty picks up on the fact that I would be the one going into the dungeon alone. Before he can speak against it, he remembers that with my abilities, it would be stupid to make me stay behind while he scavenges. I could find six buildings a day, while he would be lucky to find one every couple of days. I then tell Monty that I will be going to explore while he stays here. But even if I find the parts to fix the intercom, that won¡¯t solve our problem¡ªwe would need to find someone we could trust to stay in the bunker to open the door. Monty looks at me and nods. ¡°You¡¯re right. It¡¯s best if I stay here and you go explore. But be careful. Don¡¯t rush into things¡ªif you see a large group of monsters, sneak away.¡± I promise I will, and he turns around to enter the bunker again. Before closing the door, he tells me to press the intercom button. I move to the intercom and press it. A loud buzzer goes off inside the bunker. Monty is in the guardroom, looking at the screen where he should be able to see me through the intercom camera. But he can only hear me. However, he can still see me on the CCTV camera. I wait outside while Monty checks the guardroom and then comes back. ¡°I can hear you through the intercom,¡± he tells me, ¡°and I¡¯ll open the door when you come back.¡± He holds out his hand, and I shake it. He makes me promise again to be careful out in the dungeon before heading back inside and closing the bunker door¡ªleaving me alone for the first time since we got here. chapter 19 I walk away from the bunker for some time before activating Scavenger''s Intuition to find the first summoned building. The ability begins giving me directions, and after a bit of walking, I come across a building. I look above the door, but as I can''t read Chinese, I have to guess that this building is an internet caf¨¦. Inside, there are rows of computers. I step inside and take a look at the computers, guessing that this place is not from my time due to all the CRT monitors. Thinking about what could be useful, I decide to start cracking open the computers. It''s only 20 in total, and from them, I take three motherboards, 10 computer fans, and every CPU in the caf¨¦. Heading toward the vending machine at the back, I use my crowbar to break it open. Inside, there are several cans of something. One has a red label with yellow letters. I take one, open it, and see that it seems normal enough to drink. Taking a sip, it tastes like tea. I grab five cans of it before checking the next one. This one is also red but has a smiling guy drawn on it. Opening the can, I take a sniff but don¡¯t really smell anything. I take a sip¡ªit''s milk. I take a closer look at the can and see that at the bottom, it says in English: "milk drink." I think I probably should have read that before drinking it. Still, canned milk might come in handy for cooking back at base, so I stuff a couple of cans into my duffle bag. After a quick look around, I check the office but only find Chinese books and documents, so I leave the caf¨¦ and wait for Scavenger''s Intuition to recharge. I walk away from the internet caf¨¦ and search for the next building. My ability leads me straight ahead, then through several winding corridors before I find myself in front of a brick building with something written above the door. This time, it''s a bit more readable than the Chinese letters from earlier: "Hamburg Berufsschule." I recognize "Hamburg"¡ªthat¡¯s in Germany¡ªbut what is a "Berufsschule"? I sound out the word a few times before determining it''s some kind of school. Stepping inside, I see that this place is huge. I can only see the ground and first floor from here, but the building goes higher than that. It has four floors, but I decide to start from the ground up. I look around and find both the wood and metal workshops. Starting with the wood workshop, I search for a hand sander to remove the goblin-shaped stain from the fourth officer¡¯s quarters floor, along with some varnish to refinish it. After a bit of searching, I find several useful items: a handsaw, a wood planer, and finally, a hand sander with several replacement sanding pads. I could have found it sooner if I could read what was written on the storage closets. At the back of the class, there¡¯s a padlocked door, which I break open. Inside, shelves hold woodworking chemicals. I look around and find a can of varnish. These tools aren¡¯t light, and the varnish makes my load even heavier.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. As I turn around, something catches my eye¡ªa security camera mounted above the door. Since we have several broken cameras back at base that need replacing, I grab a screwdriver from a tool closet and begin unscrewing it. As I disconnect the power cables, I learn the hard way why some screwdrivers have plastic insulation near the tip¡ªI get a shock. Luckily, these cameras run on low voltage, so it¡¯s more surprising than painful. With the camera now in my backpack alongside the computer parts, I head to the metal workshop. In the middle of the room, I spot the best thing I could have hoped for¡ªa trolley. On it sits a boiler, which I don¡¯t need, so I push it off. I load the trolley with a stick welding machine, several boxes of welding rods, and two gas regulators from nearby gas bottles¡ªessential for opening the sealed storage room back at base. I also take a hand drill with drill bits and a bench grinder before moving on. Next to the stairs, I notice an elevator and regret not checking what we need to fix the one back at base. I step inside and press the button for the first floor. When the doors open, I push the trolley out and find that this floor mainly consists of standard classrooms. I grab a projector to use in the lounge, the only worthwhile find here. Moving on to the second floor, I find a smaller backpack. Though it¡¯s smaller than my duffle and main backpack, staying organized is important, so I transfer the canned drinks from the caf¨¦ into it and strap it onto the trolley. Taking the elevator again, I reach the third floor and find the electrical workshop. Inside, I grab two small spools of wire, several circuit breakers, and some fuses, stuffing them into my now-filling electronics bag. The next interesting room I come across is a laboratory. Since I barely passed chemistry and only did so by cheating, I don¡¯t bother with the chemicals. However, I take a Bunsen burner for when we set up a proper workshop in one of the empty rooms back at base. The final noteworthy room is the biology lab, where I find a stuffed opossum. It¡¯s the only thing in the room that catches my eye, and without hesitation, I say, ¡°You¡¯re coming with me.¡± Smiling, I put it on the trolley, thinking about how much Monty will hate it. As I push the trolley out, I hear something faint. It sounds like someone rummaging through the laboratory. Letting go of the trolley, I draw my pistol. If I can, I¡¯d rather scare them off than start a fight, as I still have the fourth floor to loot. Peeking into the room, I spot a man searching through the cabinets, trying to get into the chemical storage closet. Unlike the last two men I encountered, this one looks less threatening, though he has a shotgun slung over his shoulder. I step into the room, pull the hammer of my revolver back¡ªmaking sure he hears it¡ªand order, ¡°Drop your weapon.¡± His hands shoot up as he answers nervously, ¡°Alright, alright, no need to do something we¡¯ll regret.¡± He lowers one arm, lets the shotgun drop to the floor, and kicks it away. I keep my aim steady and ask, ¡°What do you want from the closet?¡± Raising his hands again, he carefully lifts one sleeve, revealing a bandaged arm. ¡°I¡¯m just looking for disinfectant,¡± he replies. I take the crowbar off my belt and holster my revolver. ¡°Alright,¡± I say, ¡°I¡¯ll help open the door, but don¡¯t try anything. I¡¯m faster on the draw than you.¡± chapter 20 As I break the lock on the door, the man goes on and searches for a bottle of rubbing alcohol. As he finds a bottle, my first aid ability tells me that using it is not advised, but I keep it to myself. At least he doesn''t look like he will try anything as he unbandages his wound and begins to pour the alcohol over his clearly infected arm. The alcohol washes away the yellow, infected pus. The man takes a fresh bandage out of his backpack and wraps his arm, but even if I did not have my first aid ability, I could see the arm is beyond saving. I tell the guy, "Grab your gun and don''t make any sudden moves, or you won''t like the outcome." I lead him down the stairs and out of the building. As I watch him disappear into some corridors, I let myself relax again. Luckily, my outlaw act was good enough to make him think I had a combat-oriented class. While my class is good for self-defense and ambushing, someone with a combat class could easily win against me. I go back up to my trolley to finish looting the last floor¡ªthe top floor¡ªwhere I find the automatisation classroom. There are several machines I don''t have a clue about. I press a button, and a green ball drops, taken by a pneumatic claw that then gets dropped into a container with other green balls. It''s neat, but nothing really useful to me, so I move to the back of the large classroom. It seems they turned the entire attic into one workshop, but I do find something else of interest: a hydraulic setup. This thing was probably meant to teach how to work with hydraulics, but now it will become spare parts. I put the hydraulic cylinders on the trolley and take it back to the bottom floor, where I then go to the lunchroom. I find the kitchen and try the door to enter, but it''s locked. I look around and find a card reader on the wall. I decide to take it¡ªwe might be able to use it for the bunker door, and if not, it goes into the recycler. I go to the serving window, climb into the kitchen, and press a button to open the door. Inside the kitchen are many large canned goods. These would have been used to feed hundreds of people in the school over several days, so I begin loading up the trolley. First, there''s a six-pack of 3-liter cans of peeled tomatoes, then another six-pack of diced carrots. With two of those on the cart, I begin to look through the individual cans. The first can is pumpkin pur¨¦e¡ªI put a couple of cans on the trolley. The next two are both mushrooms¡ªthe first one is just regular canned mushrooms, so I take a couple of cans. The second type is garlic-marinated whole mushrooms¡ªI''ve never heard of that before, but I do like garlic, so onto the trolley it goes. I find several more, like canned peas¡ªI take a few. Then there''s canned chili (with beans)¡ªgood for a quick meal, I grab several. Canned chili (without beans)¡ªI take a few of these as well. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Sadly, the tortillas have started turning blue, so I leave them behind. However, there are several bags of all-purpose flour, so I''ll try to make some myself. Lastly, I take the bags of pasta and one large bag of dry rice. After thoroughly looting the kitchen, I leave the school. Once outside, I use Scavenger''s Intuition and go to the last place I will loot before heading back to base. While walking to the newly summoned building, I run into a large group of lizardmen rushing into a hail of gunfire. If I want to reach the summoned building, I will have to get through both the hail of bullets and the horde of lizards. I then make the decision to not even bother and go the other way, heading in the opposite direction of the summoned building. After walking for two hours, I find a quiet place and sit down on a can of tomatoes. I take an MRE out of my backpack and read what is inside: cheese vegetable omelet. That sounds good. I open it up. Inside, there''s a box with the omelet. The next item I pull out is French vanilla cappuccino instant powder. The next bag has dehydrated granola, milk, and blueberries¡ªthat sounds great. I thought MREs were bad. I unpack the last few items from the bag: crackers, apple butter, and salsa verde. Never heard of either, but it''s worth a try. There is also a small pack of candies. I open it and take a piece of gum, but before I take it, my first aid skill advises me to put it back. I do as it recommends. The last thing in the bag is a cinnamon scone and a spoon. I rip open the heating bag, open the omelet box, and find another bag inside. I place the omelet bag into the heating bag along with the salsa and the scone before pouring water into it and closing it up. While it heats up, I make the granola. I add the water to the bag, close it up, and give it a shake to mix it all together. I open it back up and use the spoon to eat. It''s not bad¡ªI might have added a bit too much water, but overall, pretty decent. I look at the still-steaming bag and decide to eat the crackers first. I open the vacuum-sealed package and immediately break the crackers, but they are still large enough to put the apple butter on. The apple butter is actually rather good, and the cracker is an okay addition. Next, I make the French coffee and take a sip. After the last two, it''s pretty disappointing¡ªjust kind of weak, I¡¯d say. But the taste isn¡¯t bad enough for me to throw it away. By now, the omelet has cooled down enough to eat. I take out the pack and open it. The omelet seems a bit weird¡ªlike it was made from gelatin¡ªbut otherwise, it seems okay. I use the spoon to break the egg up, and when it begins to look a bit more normal, I take a bite. The moment it touches my tongue, I spit it back out. "What the fuck was that? That''s not food¡ªit just isn''t." I take the bag and throw it against the wall opposite me. Big mistake. Now it¡¯s leaking, and the smell hits me¡ªfoul. I have to move away from it. A couple of feet further, I sit back down again and begrudgingly open the last two items. I put the salsa on the remaining cracker and eat it. It''s decent but not something I would choose to eat again. Lastly, the scone. I take a bite and immediately have to take a drink of the coffee to get it down. It¡¯s so thick, but not the worst scone I''ve had. Now thoroughly disappointed and disgusted, I wait half an hour for Scavenger''s Intuition to recharge and make my way to the next building. chapter 21 I activate Scavenger''s Intuition, and it pulls me to the left. I give the omelet one last dirty look before leaving it to whatever monster is brave enough to eat it. On my way to the next building, I spot something new¡ªsomething I haven¡¯t seen before. It¡¯s tall, emaciated, and its face is a deer skull. "What the fuck is that?" My Identity skill activates instantly.
Wendigo ¡ª Lv ??? Don''t forget to look up.
I stare at the screen. "Oh, that¡¯s not good." Usually, the system gives me basic information, but this feels different¡ªalmost like it¡¯s worried. I swipe the screen away and look back to where the Wendigo was¡ªbut it''s gone. I freeze, trying to process where it could have vanished, when I hear a deer bleating¡ªbut it¡¯s all wrong. The sound abruptly starts and stops, repeating over and over. I look around, trying to find the source. Then I look up. It¡¯s inches above me, still making that mocking noise. Hollow eyes stare into mine, and the stench of rotting flesh fills my nose. I feel something carving into my hand, but I don¡¯t dare look away. The knife-like claw moves up my arm, etching something into my skin. I think that if I don¡¯t look away, it won¡¯t move. Then, the carving stops. The Wendigo¡¯s maw snaps shut¡ªinches from my face¡ªbefore it pulls back into the darkness above, fading until only its bleached-white skull remains visible. Then¡ªit vanishes. I stand there, frozen, my breath ragged. Finally, I lift my arm. Carved into my bloody skin is the skull of a rabbit, stretching from my hand to my forearm. As the adrenaline wears off, the pain floods in, and my thoughts scramble. I draw my revolver, scanning my surroundings, but the Wendigo is gone. I Identify the wound, hoping for answers.
Mark of the Prey. Start running.
The system warns me again. No real information¡ªbut the name tells me enough. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. I¡¯m the prey. And it¡¯s hunting me. I shove my trolley forward, racing toward the summoned building. Rounding a corner, I push aside half-eaten corpses to clear my path. Fifteen minutes of running later, I reach the building. The sign above reads: FIELD STREET TOWER. I rush inside, head straight to the elevator, and hit Basement. The doors close, and I descend into darkness. I stash my trolley and backpacks, taking only my bow, arrows, revolver, extra ammo, and a bandage. Then I step back into the elevator and press for the top floor. The elevator is slow, giving me time to bandage my arm. I slump against the wall, exhaling shakily, letting my head rest against the mirror. I open my eyes¡ª And stare directly into the hollow eyeholes of the Wendigo. It¡¯s removed the panel above me, standing on the elevator roof. This time, I don¡¯t freeze. I slam my fist against the emergency stop button, forcing the doors open. I dive out, twisting mid-air, and fire a shot. The bullet rips through its antler, blasting it off. The Wendigo shrieks¡ªa distorted, bone-chilling cry¡ªbefore vanishing into the shaft¡¯s darkness. I lay there, heart pounding like it¡¯s about to explode. I force myself up¡ªit will come back. I need an open space. Somewhere it can¡¯t hide. I search the office, avoiding the stairs and elevator¡ªverticality is its strength. Then I find it¡ªa balcony. Using a picnic table, I jump, reaching for the balcony of the next floor. I pull myself up. Inside, the Wendigo is searching¡ªjust like I was¡ªtrying to find a way to reach me unseen. I crack the sliding door open, just enough to fire an arrow through. It hears me¡ªbut too late. The arrow flies straight into its neck, piercing rotting flesh. It lets out a gurgling, bleating scream, then rips open a vent and vanishes. Thick, dark blood drips onto the carpet. I sling my bow onto my back, draw my revolver, and sprint up the stairs while it¡¯s in the vents. The next floor is larger, with a food court¡ªbut that doesn¡¯t matter. I hear it. It¡¯s below me, crawling through the vents. I stop over a small air vent, revolver ready. The moment I see movement, I fire three rounds through the vent. The Wendigo screams¡ªnot in pain, but in rage. It thrashes violently, sending tremors through the floor. I see cracks forming¡ª Then¡ªsilence. Did it bleed out? Slowly, I approach the cracked floor. Suddenly¡ªBOOM. The Wendigo explodes through the floor, sending debris and dust flying. Dust blinds me, and it tackles me, slamming me onto the ground. My jaw snaps shut, and I bite through part of my lip. It lunges for my throat. I plant my feet against its chest, keeping it away, but I can¡¯t hold out for long. My arms flail, searching for anything. My bow and revolver are gone¡ªlost in the chaos. Then¡ªmy hand closes around something. It¡¯s heavy. Square. Metal and wood. I don¡¯t know what it is. I don¡¯t care. I activate Powered Strike and swing it with everything I have. The moment it connects, something breaks¡ªbone? Something inside the Wendigo. The impact sends it flying. I stagger to my feet, eyes still blurry from dust and blood. I see a dark shape moving. The Wendigo. It rises, just like me. I wipe the blood from my mouth. Round two. chapter 22 My grip tightens around the metal bench leg. The wendigo lets out a bleating hiss before once again trying to run off into the vents. I intercept it and swing the bench leg like a baseball bat at where I think its head is. I hit it, and a crack echoes through the air. I feel its clawed hand wrap around my unbandaged arm and yank me away from the vents. I stumble and fall as the wendigo throws me off balance. As I lay there, it crawls back into the vents. Now that it''s gone, I try to rub the dust out of my eyes. It doesn''t really work, so I stumble into the food court to find something to rinse my eyes with. As I look and feel around, I find a fridge. I open it and feel inside for a bottle of water. I grab a bottle, open it, and¡ªjust to be sure¡ªpour some into my mouth. It¡¯s good that I did, as it turns out to be iced tea, not water. I feel around in the fridge again, pushing aside bottles that don''t feel right until I find one that does. This time, when I pour some into my mouth, it is water. I promptly begin rinsing my eyes. As the dust washes away, my vision returns to normal. I find my revolver and bow and make my way to the next floor. Carefully, I ascend the stairs, searching for the monster. Upon entering the next floor, I hear it moving in the ventilation, but it''s going too fast for me to pinpoint its exact location. If it won¡¯t come out, I¡¯ll force it. I pull the fire alarm. Immediately, alarms begin blaring throughout the building. Then, with the bench leg in hand, I smash the fire sprinklers near the floor vents. Lastly, I rip up some carpet and smash the lighting. There, I meet a small problem¡ªLED lights won¡¯t cut it. I rip them out, revealing the cables behind them, and use those to ignite the carpet I tore up. It doesn¡¯t burn well, but the artificial fibers produce a lot of smoke. I start smashing in the ceiling vents and stuffing the burning carpet inside. But now there''s a problem I should have anticipated. After a while, the sprinklers stop spraying as the water tank runs dry. This causes the burning carpet in the vents to catch the cheap ceiling panels on fire. Before I know it, the entire floor is ablaze. I can''t stay here¡ªI have to go down. Right now, I¡¯m on the eighteenth floor. I head to the elevator and press the button to go to the basement. Before the doors close, I step out and take the stairs instead. If the elevator survives the trip down, it will survive going up one floor with the trolley on it. I rush down the stairs as fast as I can. The fire alarm is deafening¡ªbut that''s what I want. I need it to drown out the noise I make. When I reach the basement, I push the trolley into the elevator and use the bench leg to pry open the panel. Looking up into the elevator shaft, I see that the fire has reached the elevator I took up, though it hasn''t spread to the highest floors yet. It¡¯s terrifying how fast the fire spread. I push the button to go up to the ground floor and take the stairs. If I lose the trolley when the elevator falls, so be it. But I¡¯m playing it safe. The smoke in the basement is becoming so thick that it¡¯s hard to breathe. I hurry back to the ground floor and pull the trolley out. The moment I push the trolley out of the elevator, I get yanked back in. The wendigo had come through the open panel. It slams me against the back wall, shattering the large mirror. For the first time, I see all the damage I¡¯ve done to it. A hole in its neck from my arrow. Three holes in its chest. A missing antler from my revolver. A broken jaw from where I hit it with the bench leg. Burnt flesh covering its body. It wheezes from all the smoke in the vents. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I smile a little. Even if this is my last day, that fucker won¡¯t forget me. It rushes at me. I hold the monster off with my unbandaged arm as it tries to bite my head off. I try to think of a way out, but every time its jaws snap shut¡ªless than an inch from my face¡ªI lose focus. The elevator drops a foot as one cable snaps. That gives me an idea. Using my bandaged arm, I deliver a powered strike to its face. It staggers back, letting me escape. As I do, I grab its antler and, with all the adrenaline-fueled strength I have, pull it back. I jump out of the elevator and hold the wendigo¡¯s head outside. With my revolver¡¯s last two bullets, I shoot its arm as it claws at me. The two shots leave the limb nearly useless. Then, I hear something break in the elevator shaft. The elevator drops a couple of inches¡ªbut not enough. I¡¯m about to let go and run when I notice the cables losing tension. A loud clang echoes from above. Before I can react, the several-thousand-pound elevator motor crashes down onto the elevator with a deafening impact. When I open my eyes, I¡¯m holding the decapitated head of the wendigo. Without thinking, I grab the trolley and rush out of the smoke-filled building. I keep moving until I''m far enough away from the smoke spilling into the corridors. Then, I slump against the floor, exhausted. That¡¯s when I remember something. Lifting my arm, I see that I¡¯m still holding the wendigo¡¯s severed head. I drop it and wipe my hands on my pants. When the adrenaline wears off, my bandaged arm burns in pain¡ªlike something is carving into it again. When it stops, I take the bandage off. What used to be a rabbit¡¯s skull tattoo now resembles the wendigo¡¯s skull¡ªwith its broken antler and shattered jaw. I don¡¯t know what to think. So I use my Identify skill.
Mark of the Cornered Animal A hunter marked you as prey and lost. Granted to someone who was willing to fight to the end¡ªand won. Mark Type: Wendigo When under the influence of adrenaline, your stats will quadruple.
I let out a relieved sigh. So, it¡¯s dead. I won. The moment I swipe the notification away, my status screen opens.
Name: Grant Larsen Race: Human Titles: Dungeon-Summoned Hero, Mark of the Cornered Animal Class: Scavenger Pioneer Lv. 4 Attributes:
  • Vitality: 423/600
  • Stamina: 394/728
  • Mana: 21/21
  • Strength: 104
  • Agility: 129
  • Intelligence: 24
Status Ailments / Debuffs:
  • Smoke Inhalation: -50 Stamina
  • Left Arm Bleeding: -10 Health/m
  • Right Arm Cuts: Health Regeneration -10%
  • Back Severe Bruising: Pain
Abilities:
  • Luck Enhancement
  • Fast Recovery Lv. 3
  • Fire Resistance Lv. 2
  • First Aid Lv. 3
  • Item Weight Reduction Lv. 4
  • Weapon Handling Lv. 3
  • Reverse Engineering Lv. 1
  • Tactical Improvisation Lv. 1
Skills:
  • Powered Strike Lv. 2
  • Identify Lv. 2
  • Scavenger¡¯s Intuition Lv. 3
  • Overload Lv. 1
Summon Base Y/N
I use Identify on my new abilities.
Reverse Engineering Analyze and dismantle advanced mechanisms, gaining knowledge on how to repurpose or sabotage. Tactical Improvisation Enhances the ability to create makeshift tools, traps, or weapons from available materials. Overload Pushes all nearby electronics into temporary overdrive or shutdown, disrupting security systems. (Cost: 10 Mana)
I study my new abilities while bandaging my arm. They¡¯re useful, but I¡¯ll test them later¡ªback at the bunker. Overload is my first skill that costs mana. It doesn¡¯t use much, but then again, I don¡¯t have much. I¡¯ll figure it out later. For now, I click Yes to summon my base. chapter 23 I stand in front of the bunker door, press the intercom button, and yell into it, ¡°Monty, open the fucking door! Oh, fuck!¡± I shoot a direwolf in the forehead as two more surround me. Taking down the second with another shot, I swing my crowbar in a powered strike against the third. Slamming the intercom button again, I shout, ¡°There are a lot of them, Monty. HURRY UP!¡± I fire four bullets into a large ogre before reloading my revolver. Three bullets in, a goblin hurls a spear at me. Instinct kicks in¡ªI slap the hammer, sending a shot straight into its chest. I load four more rounds and immediately empty the cylinder into four lizard men. Finally, the door starts to open. Monty yells for me to get inside and close the door while he lays down cover fire. I shove the trolley through and abandon it, sprinting to the controls. Monty keeps firing at the monsters trying to break in. With a heavy thud, the door seals shut. I slump into an office chair in the guardroom as Monty steps in and gives me a once-over. ¡°Damn, you look like you tried to fight a paper shredder.¡± I glance at my arms¡ªseveral shallow wounds already closing and scabbing over. Unwrapping my bandaged arm, I show it to Monty. He raises an eyebrow. ¡°Did you find a tattoo parlor? ¡®Cause if you did this yourself, it¡¯s really good.¡± I give him a weird look before glancing at my arm. The cuts that once formed the mark have transformed into thin black lines. ¡°When did that happen?¡± I mutter to myself. ¡°Well, at least I don¡¯t have to keep it bandaged anymore. No, it¡¯s not a tattoo. Some monster marked me as its prey, and after I killed it, I got this thing.¡± Monty¡¯s expression shifts to concern. ¡°And what exactly did this to you?¡± I point to the trolley, where the wendigo¡¯s severed head is tied to the handlebar. He grimaces. ¡°And why the hell did you bring its head with you?¡± I shrug. ¡°I don¡¯t know. There¡¯s something about it, but I didn¡¯t want to inspect it out there.¡± Walking up to the head, I activate Identify.
Wendigo Trophy The head of a wendigo. When processed and placed in one¡¯s base, it will grant a buff or effect. (Can be toggled on or off at the base terminal.) Effect: Hunter¡¯s Luck Residents of this base will come across more edible monsters than normal ones.
I turn to Monty. ¡°It¡¯s a trophy. Once processed¡ªwhatever that means¡ªit¡¯ll make it so we find more edible monsters and fewer normal ones.¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Monty nods. ¡°That sounds good. Let¡¯s just hope ¡®edible monsters¡¯ doesn¡¯t mean something like a minotaur.¡± I glance around the loading area, now clean and organized. ¡°Did you clean this place? It actually looks good now that we can see the floor.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Monty says, crossing his arms. ¡°Took a while, but it¡¯s looking good. Even cleared the broken shelves from the sublevel. But the storage room¡¯s locked¡ªI¡¯d need a keycard to open it, so I left it alone until you got back.¡± I grin. ¡°Perfect. I want to try something. Come with me.¡± We head downstairs to the atrium, then to the sublevel. I approach the locked storage door and activate Overload. The lights flicker, and a low electric hum fills the air. A few seconds later, the electronic lock disengages. I push the door open, only to find a room filled with empty shelves. Disappointing, but at least the skill worked. I turn back to Monty. ¡°Did you get the fridge door open?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± he says with a sigh. ¡°It was a mess. All the food inside was rotten, and the whole place was covered in mold. That took me the longest to clean.¡± I nod, inspecting the smashed latch on the fridge. Something in my mind urges me to move it, so I do. Twisting the broken piece back and forth, it snaps off. My Reverse Engineering skill immediately kicks in, feeding me ideas on how to craft a similar latch to replace it. But right now, I have something else to do. ¡°I¡¯m gonna process the wendigo skull,¡± I tell Monty. He wrinkles his nose. ¡°Yeah, do that in the shower room. I¡¯ll unload the trolley.¡± Before leaving, he hands me the pocket knife I gave him on our first day here. Taking the wendigo¡¯s head, I step into the shower room and start removing the rotting flesh. Monty brings me a bucket, and I dump the scraps into it as I work. Shining my flashlight into the eye socket, I realize the wendigo¡¯s eyes are massive, filling the entire space. I have to cut them into pieces just to get them out. The spine is still attached, along with the brain. Using the knife, I slice between the vertebrae and the skull, severing the connection before dumping the spine into the bucket. Digging into the skull, I scramble the brain enough for it to drip out. That goes in the bucket too. Once finished, I take the bucket to the loading area and set it in front of the door. Then, I check the security footage. Rewinding the feed, I see that after the doors shut, the monsters worked together, trying to break in. After half an hour of no progress, they turned on each other. Now, the entrance is smeared in blood, but the creatures are gone. I open the bunker door just long enough to dump the wendigo scraps outside, then close it again. Returning to the shower, I grab the now-clean skull. Monty is waiting for me, something tucked under his arm. He hands me a wooden plaque. ¡°Found one of those mounted deer heads in the goblin leader¡¯s trophy room. Already threw the head in the recycler. Along with that opossum you brought back.¡± I blink, then laugh. I¡¯d forgotten about that taxidermy opossum from the school. I knew Monty would hate it¡ªthat¡¯s why I brought it. ¡°Thanks. I can make a proper trophy now.¡± Using nails and glue, I mount the wendigo skull onto the plaque. Once it¡¯s done, I hang it above my desk in my room. I stare at it for a while before deciding I don¡¯t want it there. Instead, I take it to the lounge and mount it there. chapter 24 After hanging the trophy, I go to the base terminal to check if anything needs to be done.
Base Status Entry Floor:
  • Loading Area
  • Elevator (Damaged)
  • Guard Room (Damaged)
Main Floor:
  • Kitchen (Damaged)
  • Restroom (Damaged)
  • Lounge (Damaged)
  • Generator Room
  • Atrium
  • Recycler
  • Room 1 (Empty)
  • Room 2 (Empty)
  • Room 3 (Empty)
First Floor:
  • Bedroom 1
  • Bedroom 2 (Empty)
  • Bedroom 3 (Empty)
  • Bedroom 4 (Empty)
  • Bedroom 5
  • Bedroom 6
  • Shower Room (Male) (Damaged)
  • Shower Room (Female) (Damaged)
  • Officer Quarters 1 (Empty)
  • Officer Quarters 2
  • Officer Quarters 3
  • Officer Quarters 4 (Empty)
  • Commander¡¯s Quarters
Sublevel:
  • Storage
  • Armory (Damaged)
  • Freezer (Damaged)
  • Fridge (Damaged)
I click on the restroom to check what needs to be done.
Restroom Repairs Remove:
  • Sink 3 (0/1)
  • Toilet 1 (0/1)
Maintain: Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
  • Tighten Pipes (0/5)
  • Unclog Sink 5 (0/1)
  • Replace Floating Rod (Toilet 7) (0/1)
Required Materials:
  • Hinge (0/3)
  • Plastic Foil (0/2)
  • Duct Tape (0/1)
This is a good project to tackle while the cuts on my arms heal. I collect materials: plastic foil from the recycler room, duct tape we had lying around, and hinges from the damaged female shower room. Next, I need tools¡ªa wrench and a screwdriver. I search the base and find a screwdriver in the kitchen. Then, I ask Monty if we have a pipe wrench. ¡°I think there¡¯s one in the generator room,¡± he says. I nod, head there, and find it in a toolbox next to the generator. With everything gathered, I start with the toilet removal. The bowl is shattered. I turn off the water at the side, but since I can¡¯t flush, I grab a bucket, detach the hose, and siphon out the water. After dumping it, I remove the tank¡ªit¡¯s still usable, so I store it for future repairs. The bowl, however, won¡¯t budge. I try lifting it, but it¡¯s stuck. Grabbing the wrench, I smash it to pieces. Once broken apart, I see why it wouldn¡¯t move¡ªit was cemented to the floor. Now I have to break up the concrete block. Luckily, it¡¯s weak, and a few hits with a crowbar break it apart. All that remains are three embedded bolts and the open drain pipe. I quickly cover the hole with thick plastic foil and tape it down. Next is the broken sink. This one is easier. I turn off the water, unscrew the bolts attaching it to the wall, and disconnect the hose. Carefully lowering it, I make sure not to cut myself on the sharp edges. The faucet is still good, so I unscrew it and place it in storage. Then, I replace the three broken hinges on the toilet stall doors. It¡¯s frustrating since Monty went to bed, and holding a door while attaching hinges alone isn¡¯t easy. Now for the simple task¡ªtightening loose sink drain pipes. I go through them one by one but can¡¯t find the last one. I search behind sinks, behind toilets¡ªnothing. Then I notice a small puddle forming in the corner. Looking up, I see a dripping ceiling pipe. That will have to wait until tomorrow. Exhausted, I go to my room. The moment I open the door, I instinctively draw my gun¡ªsomething is sitting on my desk. I flick on the light and sigh. Monty did not throw the taxidermy opossum into the recycler. I grab it, place it on a shelf, and swear I¡¯ll get him back for this. But right now, I¡¯m too tired for revenge. I strip off my smoke-stained clothes and collapse into bed.
The Next Morning First, I tighten the loose ceiling pipe from last night. Next, I need to unclog Sink 5. I decide to use the shop vac we took a filter from. Pressing it against the drain, I let it run until¡ªTHUNK! Something flies through the hose. I turn on the faucet and see water flowing freely. The last step is to replace the broken floating rod in Toilet 7. I take the rod from the old toilet tank and install it. With everything done, the base screen pops up:
Finish Repairing Restroom? Y/N I click Yes. A loading bar appears. Repair Progress: 0% Estimated Time: 20 minutes
As the system finalizes repairs, I head to the kitchen to get something to eat. chapter 25 I sat down in front of Monty, who was eating some flatbread he made along with a bowl of chili from one of the cans I got at German school. ¡°We didn¡¯t have yeast, so I made this,¡± he said, pointing at the plate of flatbread. ¡°I think it¡¯s called bannock. It¡¯s really dense, but it¡¯s pretty good.¡± I take one, and Monty pours some chili into a bowl for me as he refills his own. It¡¯s actually good, but after that disastrous MRE, I guess anything would taste good. Monty suddenly looks up, like he just remembered something. The screen appears in front of me again.
Monty Davis requests to co-own your base. Do you accept? Y/N
I click yes without really thinking and ask, ¡°How did you figure out how to do that?¡± ¡°I was on the base terminal, and I clicked on one of the empty rooms. I could at least see what we could build in them. When I clicked one of the options, it gave me an ¡®Access Denied¡¯ message, but it also said that upgrades and building projects can only be done by the owner or a co-owner.¡± I nod and continue eating before asking, ¡°What would you have put in the empty room?¡± ¡°I saw we could build hydroponics in there, but there were several interesting ones¡ªa workshop, a gym, a med bay. The most interesting one was an option to dig it out further, turning it into a hallway and adding four more rooms. But I¡¯m not doing that without at least a jackhammer.¡± ¡°We could leave the middle one empty until we decide what to do. And even then, I doubt the system would stop us from digging under the commander¡¯s quarters.¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. I take another piece of flatbread and eat it. But first, we need to find a way to safely open the bunker door from the outside so we can both go exploring again. Then I remember¡ªI haven¡¯t tried my new skill on the bunker door yet. After finishing my meal, I head to the guard room to find the door controls. I know the control board has all the buttons, but I haven¡¯t seen the actual mechanism. After searching, I find the control cabinet and open it. Inside, there are a lot of wires and some black and white components. Monty follows me out of curiosity, but the moment he sees the electrical parts, he swears. ¡°Ha, fuck. Not these things.¡± I look at him, realizing he knows what these are. ¡°These are relays. Some of the farm equipment used them back home. Biggest pain in the ass I¡¯ve ever had to deal with. The contacts get stuck if even a little dirt gets on them, and if oil gets in there, they start crumbling apart.¡± He takes a screwdriver and presses one of the black indents. The bunker door starts to open. When he releases it, the doors continue opening until he presses the ¡®Close Door¡¯ button. The contact switches, and the door closes again. Monty looks at the hydraulic piston and says, ¡°There are two sensors on it that signal when the door is fully open or closed.¡± ¡°Hey Monty, do you think you could move the opening relay closer to the door?¡± He gives me a weird look but shrugs. ¡°Yeah, I can do that if I have some cables.¡± I tell him to wait here while I head to the storage room. I grab a spool of thin cables and bring them back, handing them to Monty. Less than half an hour later, the relay is now taped next to the bunker door, with a cable running along the ground back into the control cabinet. We press the ¡®Open Door¡¯ button, and it still works. I tell Monty to stay put and close the door once I¡¯m outside. As the bunker door closes, I place my hand on the outer wall where the relay is taped on the other side¡ªand use Overload. After a few seconds of electrical buzzing, I hear the door begin to open. Monty looks confused and asks, ¡°How did you do that?¡± I grin. ¡°One of my new skills lets me mess with electronics. But you know what that means¡ªwe can explore together again.¡± Monty stares at the still-opening door and mutters, ¡°That should not work. Aren¡¯t bunkers built to withstand an electromagnetic pulse?¡± I just shrug. ¡°Well, good thing it¡¯s magic then¡ªand not electromagnetic whatever-you-said.¡± chapter 26 I begin to prepare for the next time we venture into the dungeon. This time, I hope to visit more than three places before having to return. I start by putting another MRE into my backpack, making sure it''s not the omelet again, before slipping another box of ammo into my pocket. Then, I empty my backpack and duffle bag, leaving only my now refilled canteen inside. Monty is waiting for me in the loading area. ¡°You ready?¡± he asks. I nod, and he opens the bunker door. I step out with the trolley and watch as the door starts to close. Monty sprints out just before it seals shut. Once we''re far enough away from the bunker, I activate Scavenger¡¯s Intuition and start leading Monty toward the first building. As we approach, we spot something ahead¡ªpossibly the largest boar I¡¯ve ever seen. It stands nearly as tall as me and stretches at least fifteen feet long. We watch in awe as the boar charges forward. A second later, we hear a crash, followed by the unmistakable sounds of orcs fighting. Taking advantage of the distraction, we sneak past and continue deeper into the dungeon.
After several minutes of walking, we arrive at what looks like a pawnshop. Inside, the shop is filled with all the junk you''d expect¡ªfake swords, odd collectibles, and random antiques. I spot a framed document and take a closer look. Stolen novel; please report. "The Venezuelan Declaration of Independence, huh? That¡¯s pretty neat." Nearby, I find a WWII gas mask with an original filter¡ªdefinitely something I wouldn¡¯t bring anywhere near my face. Those old filters were filled with asbestos or cinnabar or whatever else they used back then. I move to the counter and check the display case. Inside, several fake watches sit on velvet cushions. One almost fools me¡ªuntil I realize it says "Armenia" instead of "Armani". Glancing behind the counter, I spot something useful¡ªa quiver. With this, I won¡¯t have to pull arrows out of my bag one at a time. Too bad I left my bow back at the base. I place the quiver on the trolley and keep searching. Monty is on the other side of the store, hidden behind a wall. I have no idea what he¡¯s looking at, but I¡¯ve just found the real treasure of this place. A full suit of plate armor. I put it on and waddle my way toward Monty. The cheap stainless steel armor wasn¡¯t built for mobility. As I click and clank toward him, Monty bursts out laughing. ¡°You look like a dumbass in a tin can.¡± I sigh and start taking the armor off, but I leave the helmet on to bring back to base. Then I round the corner¡ªand see why Monty was so excited. A glass case filled with firearms. Inside are pistols, shotguns, rifles¡ªeven a sniper rifle, along with several boxes of ammo. Monty grins. ¡°The more firepower we have, the better, right?¡± I shrug. ¡°How do we open it?¡± Without hesitation, Monty kicks the glass where the two doors meet. It shatters instantly. ¡°Like that. Now help me load these onto the trolley.¡± We pile the guns and ammo onto the trolley, then head to the backroom of the shop. Inside, we find an iron wall locker¡ªjust like the glass display case, but locked. We force it open. Inside are more pistols, an MP5, and a weird gun I¡¯ve never seen before. It looks like someone took a Thompson, shrunk it, and slapped a drum magazine on top. I pick it up and check the tag on the grip. "American-180." I glance at Monty. ¡°This one¡¯s mine. I¡¯m keeping it.¡± He shrugs. Doesn¡¯t care. As we turn to leave, something catches my eye on a nearby shelf. A pocket watch. I grab it and slip it into my pocket before pushing the trolley back into the storefront. Monty stops in front of the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence and asks, ¡°Can I take this?¡± I shrug. ¡°Take whatever you want. I don¡¯t care.¡± He nods, puts the framed document on the trolley, and we head out¡ªready to find the next building. chapter 27 As we roam the corridors, waiting for Scavenger¡¯s Intuition to recharge, we stumble upon a summoned building. However, this one is the oddest yet. We look at the front of the large wooden building with "Saloon" written above it. Monty, halfway to becoming a cowboy with his gunslinger class, excitedly walks into the saloon, and I follow him. The place looks straight out of a cowboy movie. Monty strolls over to the bar and looks below it as I take a look around the room. I walk over to the piano in the corner, press a key, then head upstairs to the rentable rooms. In the hallway, I find the first thing of interest¡ªa black-and-white picture of someone who seems important to the bar. There are several more photos of the man¡ªsome in groups, others alone¡ªbut what really catches my eye is his rifle, which has a ridiculously long scope. I open the first room and find a suitcase under the bed. Inside, there are several pieces of clothing, a not-so-comfortable pair of boots, and lastly, a packet of cocaine gum. I close the suitcase to bring it downstairs later to show Monty, placing it in the hallway while I search the second room. This one seems ready for the next guest, so there isn¡¯t much of interest except a small platter on the desk containing foodstuff from that era. The platter has a small piece of hard candy wrapped in red and white, a bowl of dried fruits and nuts, a round piece of bread with butter, and a bottle of ginger beer. I take the bottle of ginger beer, curious about what it tastes like, before heading to the third room. As I open the door, I smell something awful. Looking around, I spot shards of glass on the ground along with a brownish liquid. The label on the smashed jar reads ¡°Fermented Tomato Catsup; preserved in vinegar and spices.¡± It smells more like tear gas than ketchup, so I quickly close the door and head to the fourth and final room. Instead of a number, this one is labeled "Private" and is locked. But with a solid kick, the door swings open to reveal a small but nice room. I look around and find a closet full of clothes, a footlocker with a ledger inside, and another wardrobe. As I open the wardrobe, my suspicions are confirmed¡ªthe man in the pictures was indeed the owner of the saloon. In the wardrobe, I find the rifle with the ridiculously long scope. I look through the scope and see that it has no markings and only zooms. I sling the rifle over my shoulder before inspecting the other items in the wardrobe. One is an ornate wooden box, and the other is more interesting¡ªthere¡¯s one word on it: ¡°Dynamite.¡± I stare at the box, confused¡ªwhy would a saloon owner have dynamite? I grab the ledger and read the entries from the back. After reading for a moment, I find out why he had dynamite. ¡°05/08/1872: Had to confiscate a box of dynamite as the drunk owner Billy Townsworth lit one in the bar and threw it outside. Luckily, nobody got injured as it was late at night, the sheriff was out of town, and the deputy refused to deal with it. I will be holding onto it until the sheriff arrives.¡± That at least explains why he had dynamite here. I take the box of dynamite and the ornate box, then head back into the hall to take the suitcase downstairs to show Monty. Monty sits at a table, rubbing down a revolver with some oil and a rag. He looks at me with a smile and holds up the revolver for a good look. It¡¯s a nice revolver. I place the box of dynamite on the table, and Monty asks, ¡°Why would a saloon owner need dynamite?¡± I explain why it was here, and then I place the ornate box on the table. We open it to find another revolver¡ªunlike the one Monty found, this one is black powder instead of using cartridges. It also has something interesting: two barrels, one aligned with the cylinder, while the other is not connected to anything in the back. I don¡¯t understand this gun, so I decide to use Identify on it.
LEMat Revolver This ten-round revolver was designed by a French military doctor in 1856. Nine of its shots come from the revolver part, while the last comes from the under-barrel shotgun. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
I blink at the last part. ¡°This thing has an under-barrel shotgun?¡± I accidentally say out loud. Monty, however, looks at the revolver with an almost reverent look as he asks, ¡°Do you mind if I take this one? My class is telling me this is the best thing I could use at the moment.¡± I look at him and tell him, ¡°Sure, take it, as long as I can keep the rifle,¡± patting the weird-looking sniper rifle on the desk. He nods and takes the revolver. I then have an idea and push the suitcase toward him. ¡°Might as well dress like a cowboy.¡± Monty snaps out of his admiration for the new gun and looks at me as the words sink in. He grabs the suitcase and disappears into the backroom of the saloon. I wait for a bit and decide to taste the ginger beer. I pour a glass and take a sip. It tastes like ginger ale but with a little bit of alcohol. While I¡¯m pretending to be a ginger beer sommelier, Monty steps out with a mix of old and new clothes¡ªor are his clothes the old ones and the cowboy clothes the new ones? Doesn¡¯t matter. What does matter is that he looks great in his modern jeans and combat boots with his cowboy button-up shirt and vest. He even found a red bandana in the suitcase that I missed. I ask, ¡°Where did you find the holsters?¡± He points at the bar. ¡°There are a bunch behind it. I think the owner kept the ones that got left behind.¡± I look and, indeed, find a bunch of holsters. I take one to put mine in. With everything in the saloon done, I dump out the suitcase¡ªit¡¯s a good, sturdy container. I place it on the trolley, and we leave the saloon. After walking for a bit, I activate Scavenger¡¯s Intuition and find the next place for us to loot. On the way there, we encounter a group of lizardmen¡ªabout twenty in total, with one noticeably bigger than the rest. I take my revolver in one hand and my crowbar in the other, then look at Monty. He¡¯s shifted the sling of his rifle for easy access and drawn both his new revolvers. With a nod, we begin our assault on the group. We aim for the archers first, but one still manages to release an arrow that nearly hits me, sending a spike of adrenaline through my body. My vision blurs at the edges, and my heart races as my focus sharpens. I shoot once, and the archer who shot at me crumbles. I holster my revolver and take my crowbar in my dominant hand. With one brutal swing enhanced by Powered Strike, the head of the first melee lizardman is gone, leaving only a spray of blood. I think to myself, ¡°Damn, that four-times stat multiplier is no joke, but I think it also quadrupled my adrenaline output.¡± Everything is amplified now¡ªevery noise is louder, and everything is so vibrant. In my adrenaline-fueled state, it becomes harder to think rationally as I attack lizardmen one by one. One manages to disarm me, but before the crowbar hits the floor, my fist caves in its face. I take its sword and stab it with it. Monty, even without my adrenaline-fueled mania, is having a blast testing his new weapons. Each shot is another dead lizard. After emptying his six-shooter, he switches to the LEMat. While it packs less of a punch than the other pistol, he¡¯s excited to test its special feature. He shoots six more lizardmen with the LEMat before butt-stroking the last three into the larger lizardman. When it¡¯s close enough to attack him, he uses the sixteen-gauge shotgun part of his revolver. With that blast, the lizardman noble¡ªor brute, we don¡¯t know¡ªkeels over. With his closest enemies dealt with, he begins to clean up the rest with his rifle. I stand before three lizardmen, my last enemies. I quickly draw my revolver and shoot the first one. Another rushes at me, trying to stab me with its sword. I parry it¡ªnot very well, but well enough to kick its legs out from under it and stab down with the sword. The last one tries to be defensive, so I pick up a second sword and throw both at it. The bizarre tactic surprises the last lizardman, and it loses focus on me. Both swords miss spectacularly, but it gives me the opening to punch it in the face hard enough to knock it clean off its feet. It looks up at me just as I¡¯m about to stomp down onto its head. In a flash of movement, my leg comes down, ending the fight. I turn to Monty, who still has an air of excitement about him as he reloads his revolvers. I, however, am more interested in the gold jewelry the large lizardman was wearing. I take off its emerald-encrusted necklace, armbands, and earrings, then place them on the trolley before moving the bodies out of the way so we can continue to the next building. Halfway there, my adrenaline fades, and a profound feeling of exhaustion washes over me, but I keep going, hoping I can rest at the next building. When we arrive, we see something we didn¡¯t expect: other people. It seems my skill led me to a group¡¯s base. As we watch the two guards by the door, we hear a weapon rack behind us and a stern voice saying, ¡°Don¡¯t move. Don¡¯t turn around. And you better not try to draw your weapon.¡± chapter 28 I raise my hands slowly and tell the guy, ¡°We weren''t going to do anything; we were just trying to get to the next building.¡± Suddenly, Monty slaps me on the back of the head. It takes me a moment to realize why before it hits me¡ªI accidentally revealed we knew where the summoned building would be. The guy tells us, ¡°Stand now.¡± Monty asks, ¡°Can we at least take the trolley with us?¡± The guy motions with his weapon at the trolley, and we take that as a sign to begin pushing it as he leads us into the lobby of their base. Once inside, we realize what it is: a large resort hotel. The most shocking part, however, is the sheer number of people moving around inside. In the lobby alone, there are at least sixty people, some in full military gear while others seem to be in support roles. We glance around at the crates stacked throughout the space and even spot a working forklift transporting a pallet with what looks like a pump. The guy points to a door and instructs us, ¡°Leave the trolley out here and enter the door. Someone will question you soon.¡± I respond, ¡°Dude, we have gold on the trolley. We ain¡¯t leaving it unattended.¡± The guy eyes us skeptically until I slide the wooden box aside, revealing several large pieces of gold jewelry. He sighs. ¡°Fine, put the trolley near the door and sit down at the table.¡± We enter the room and follow his orders. ¡°Now, hand over your weapons,¡± he demands. Reluctantly, we comply. He locks them in a metal closet along with the weapons we looted from the pawnshop before leaving and locking the door behind him. I scan the room and, seeing no cameras, walk over to the trolley and open the wooden box. It was a good thing I had turned the text toward the suitcase¡ªotherwise, he would have seen ¡°DYNAMITE¡± written in giant letters across the front. I take three sticks, tuck them into my hoodie, and sit back down like nothing happened. Monty eyes me. ¡°What are you going to do with that? The room is way too small; you¡¯d kill everyone in here.¡± He pauses as realization dawns. The dynamite isn¡¯t for use¡ªit¡¯s leverage. He sighs with a tired smile. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Three hours pass. I¡¯m fast asleep with my head on the table, dynamite hidden in my hoodie, its fuses above my pocket, and a lighter tucked away. Monty, unable to sleep, twiddles his thumbs, humming tunes he remembers. Finally, the door creaks open. A woman in military apparel, slightly more casual than the others, enters with a man in tow. She sits across from us. ¡°I¡¯m Major Tatiana Marlow, and this is Staff Sergeant Daniel Abbott. Please state your names and classes for documentation.¡± Monty stays silent. I lazily lift my head and mutter, ¡°Nonya business and professional copper thief,¡± before dropping my head back onto my arm. Major Marlow sighs. ¡°Please don''t make this harder than it has to be.¡± Monty replies, ¡°I¡¯m not telling you my name or class. Maybe if you tell us why you locked us up, we¡¯d be more willing to talk.¡± She sighs again and explains, ¡°Fine, if you two won¡¯t cooperate, I¡¯ll start. You were spotted stalking our base while heavily armed. What were your intentions?¡± I speak up. ¡°I¡¯d hardly call what we did stalking. We arrived, looked around for a few minutes, and got caught.¡± She flips through some documents, likely containing a different account of events. But I keep talking. ¡°As for the weapons, they were just loot from a pawnshop. And even if we did have bad intentions, what could two guys possibly do against this many people?¡± Before she can respond, an older man enters. Both Major Marlow and Sergeant Abbott immediately salute. Without a word, he gestures for them to leave. They obey without hesitation. The man sits in front of us, places a document on the table, and introduces himself. ¡°I am General Stevens. I must apologize for my underlings. They¡¯ve been on edge after a recent attack on our base. That said, paranoia is no excuse for neglecting their duty to protect fellow survivors.¡± Monty asks, ¡°Is that what you people are doing here? Helping survivors?¡± The general nods. ¡°Yes, we rescue as many people as possible and bring them to the lower floors where the dungeon is more stable. But I have a question for you two. The corporal who brought you in has¡­ a reputation. Would you read this report and tell me what doesn¡¯t line up?¡± Monty takes the report and begins pointing out falsehoods. ¡°First, we just arrived and were captured within minutes. Second, we handed over our weapons willingly, yet this claims we were searched. In reality, he never even searched us.¡± Monty nudges me. I smirk, pull a stick of dynamite from my hoodie, and place it on the table. ¡°This report is a gross exaggeration and, in some places, a flat-out lie.¡± The general¡¯s eyes remain locked on the stick of dynamite as he mutters, ¡°This is going to be a hell of a lot of paperwork.¡± chapter 29 Monty and I sit at the table, enjoying the show, while the general yells and waves a stick of dynamite at the corporal. ¡°You complete MORON! Not only did you fail to search them or their belongings, but you also lied about what happened, nearly causing these two to blow the room up!¡± The general stops, suddenly realizing something, and asks us, ¡°How much dynamite do you have?¡± Monty looks at me, nudging me to answer. ¡°I counted forty-nine sticks, and they each weigh a pound, so that¡¯s forty-nine pounds of dynamite.¡± We watch as the corporal¡¯s face loses all color while the general turns red with anger. ¡°Forty-nine pounds!¡± The general grabs the corporal by the collar. ¡°Do you even realize what would happen if that went off in here? This room would be gone! The floors above us would collapse. Hell, the whole hotel would crumble if it detonated near a load-bearing pillar.¡± The general releases the corporal¡¯s collar and orders, ¡°Get the fuck out of here, private!¡± We watch as the general rips the insignia off the now-demoted corporal¡¯s uniform. The private hurries out, but before he can leave, the general calls out, ¡°Wait outside my office. I¡¯m not done with you.¡± The private salutes him and runs out of the room. The general sits back down, takes a drink, and lets himself calm down before speaking. ¡°Where did you even find dynamite? This isn¡¯t even modern stuff.¡± Monty speaks up, ¡°We found it in a saloon, along with some of our weapons.¡± The general sighs. ¡°We could use some of your luck.¡± He takes another sip of his drink and asks, ¡°Would you two be willing to trade some dynamite? Whatever you need, we¡¯ll see if we have it.¡± I turn to Monty, unsure of what we might need, and he asks the general, ¡°What do you need the dynamite for?¡± The general explains, ¡°We have an enemy on the sixth level. Their base is an old metro station with two entrances. We¡¯re planning to blow up one entrance and force them out through the other while our men wait for them to come out.¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. I ask, ¡°Won¡¯t they just escape through the metro tunnels?¡± He replies, ¡°They could try, but from what I understand, the dungeon gets confused by tunnels; it turns them into a mess of intersecting paths. The real issue is that the dungeon still treats them like summoned buildings. No new summoned buildings means no new supplies.¡± Monty asks, ¡°How will you find their base? Doesn¡¯t the dungeon shuffle everything around every few hours?¡± The commander smirks slightly. ¡°The dungeon changes drastically after the first three floors. Unlike the upper levels, the lower floors have more boundaries.¡± Monty turns to me, ¡°It¡¯s your dynamite¡ªtrade or not.¡± ¡°If I have five sticks left, I¡¯ll be happy. Just trade them for something we need. You¡¯re better at haggling than I am,¡± I say, trying to keep my eyes open. ¡°It¡¯d be nice to get materials for hydroponics,¡± Monty mumbles. This catches the general¡¯s attention. ¡°You have hydroponics?¡± the general asks, looking intrigued. Monty responds, ¡°Not right now, but we have the option to build one. Why?¡± The general, now excited, explains, ¡°Our base moves from floor to floor, beginning here at the second and ending in the ninth before we come back up. But, we can¡¯t build farms like the others because the second and third floors won¡¯t let us upgrade outside the building. Everything has to stay inside. While we do have basic hydroponics, they¡¯re a joke compared to the real ones.¡± I tell him, ¡°That¡¯s cool, but I¡¯m pretty sure we can¡¯t give it to you.¡± The general responds, ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. If you join us, we could share the information and help build one here.¡± Suddenly, the system prompt appears.
Join the Dungeon Rescue Corps? Y/N
I sit up straight and meet the commander¡¯s eyes. ¡°Look, man, what you¡¯re doing is noble, but we¡¯re not made for military life.¡± I click No. The general looks surprised but tries a different approach. ¡°I understand, but it would save countless lives if we could stay on these floors longer before having to restock at the base on the fifth floor. How about this: we become allies. you can come and go as you wish, trade supplies, and all we ask is that you share the hydroponics design and stay civil with other survivors.¡±
Ally yourself with the Dungeon Rescue Corps? Y/N
chapter 30 Ally yourself with Dungeon Rescue Corps? Y/N I turn to Monty and ask, ¡°Should we?¡± Monty looks at the general. ¡°I¡¯ll agree to an alliance if we each get to pick a weapon from your armory, plus four boxes of ammo.¡± The general counters, ¡°One weapon each, two boxes of ammo,¡± then extends his hand. Monty shakes it. ¡°Deal.¡± Seeing that, I simply click ¡°Yes¡± the moment they shake hands. I turn to the general. ¡°Now that we¡¯re allies, can we get our weapons back?¡± He nods and heads to the metal closet where our weapons were locked away. As he opens it, he raises an eyebrow. ¡°I guess that part of the report wasn¡¯t exaggerated.¡± I scratch my face, feeling the stitches on my cheek. ¡°You have a doctor here? These stitches are ready to come out.¡± The general answers, ¡°Follow the directions on the wall. We¡¯ll head to the quartermaster to get the materials for the hydroponics. Meet us at the armory after.¡± I give him a thumbs-up while Monty leaves with the trolley. I follow the arrows to the infirmary, passing by the mess hall. There must be at least a hundred people inside. I step in and glance around, stopping at the buffet table. A random assortment of fruit catches my eye¡ªa bowl filled with pomegranates, three lemons, and a coconut. The woman behind the counter shrugs. ¡°We get what we get.¡± ¡°Can I take one?¡± I ask. She gives me a weird look but doesn¡¯t stop me as I pocket a lemon and walk away. Back on track, I follow the arrows until I reach the infirmary. Above the door, spray-painted letters mark its new purpose, but the original sign still hangs¡ª¡°Arcade.¡± I step inside and sit in the waiting area with several others. One guy has his arm in a cast, a woman has a nasty bite on her leg, and the wildest sight¡ªa guy calmly reading a book with an arrow still sticking out of his shoulder. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. A nurse notices the one unfamiliar face in the room¡ªme¡ªand approaches with an unimpressed expression. ¡°Something you need?¡± I turn my head so she can see my stitches. ¡°Just need these removed.¡± ¡°Go to section two. A nurse will be with you shortly.¡± I move to section two and sit in a chair. Since I¡¯m the only one there, I get seen quickly. An older doctor approaches, eyeing me curiously. ¡°New here? Pretty sure I haven¡¯t seen you around before.¡± I nod. ¡°As new as can be. We just got released from the interrogation room.¡± The doctor smirks. ¡°Really? So you must know why the general was pissed at Garret.¡± He leans in and whispers, ¡°Come on, tell me the details.¡± I chuckle. ¡°Remove my stitches, and I¡¯ll tell you the whole story.¡± He examines my wound. ¡°Stitching looks good, but these should have come out days ago.¡± ¡°I just got them a few days ago,¡± I reply. He gives me a weird look. ¡°I have an ability that speeds up healing.¡± The doctor nods and starts removing the stitches. Within minutes, they¡¯re gone. I hold up my end of the bargain. ¡°Short version: we got caught by Garret near your base. We didn¡¯t know what kind of group you were, so we asked to bring our trolley to protect our gold. He agreed and only took the weapons off the trolley¡ªnever checked further.¡± The doctor shakes his head, already guessing where this is going. ¡°Let me guess, you had a gun hidden on the trolley?¡± ¡°Not exactly.¡± I smirk. ¡°We had fifty pounds of dynamite ready to blow if we thought you were slavers.¡± The infirmary goes silent¡ªexcept for the guy with the arrow in his shoulder, who is now struggling not to laugh. Probably a friend of Garret¡¯s. A nurse stares at me. ¡°What were you gonna do with the dynamite?¡± I shrug. ¡°No plans. We¡¯re trading it for materials we need.¡± Then I remember something. I pat my hoodie and find two more sticks of dynamite still there. Yeah¡­ I¡¯ll just keep that to myself. I stand up, thank the doctor, and leave. Outside, I start looking for the armory but eventually give up and ask someone for directions. They point me the right way. When I enter, Monty and the general are discussing Monty¡¯s chosen weapon¡ªa lever-action rifle. I walk up and grin. ¡°Soon you¡¯ll be a real cowboy.¡± Monty smirks. ¡°Damn right. My abilities suit this rifle perfectly.¡± The general clears his throat. ¡°Are you ready to pick your weapon?¡± I shake my head and turn to Monty. ¡°How many sticks of dynamite do you still have?¡± He pulls five from his pocket. I pull out my two and hand them to the general. ¡°Forgot I had these.¡± The general nods and passes them to the quartermaster, who opens the armory for me. Inside, the selection is massive¡ªrifles, shotguns, SMGs, even a few belt-fed machine guns. But one weapon immediately catches my eye: a Browning BAR. I pick it up, testing the weight. Yeah, this is the one. I show it to the quartermaster, who nods, writes something down, and gestures for me to leave. Stepping out, Monty and the general both nod in approval of my choice. Monty places his rifle on the trolley, and we head to the lobby, where two soldiers are waiting. The general introduces them. ¡°These two will be joining you to retrieve the hydroponics grafting specs and help transport the materials for construction.¡± chapter 31 General Stevens POV I watch the four of them disappear into the dungeon corridors. I trust the two soldiers I sent. E-5 Freja Madsen was part of the Danish Fr?mandskorpset, or frogmen as they were known in America. It was hard to confirm, but she did have all the gear. She passed all our tests with relative ease and made her way to sergeant in our special forces group. While I had planned to send her alone, she requested to bring E-4 Micha? Zieli¨½ski, a Polish GROM operative, and her right-hand man. I make my way back to my office where Private Garret is waiting. ¡°Get in,¡± I point at the door, and he steps inside. He stands at parade rest while I sit at my desk. I grab his report of when he captured the two I later learned were called Monty and Grant. While discussing the needed materials with Monty, I put the report on the desk and tell him to read the highlighted sentence. Garret picks up the document and reads. ¡°Trespasser #1 states that they were just trying to get to the next building. Trespasser #2 smacks him.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, sir, but I don¡¯t see the relevance of the sentence, sir.¡± The general sighs and begins to explain. ¡°The second one was displeased by what the first one said, so #1 might have said something they wanted to keep a secret.¡± Garret doesn¡¯t react, so the general presses further. ¡°They were going to the next building. That means¡­¡± The general waits for a response from Garret, who is still giving him a blank look and doesn¡¯t answer. The general¡¯s blood pressure spikes at the thought of someone this clueless reaching the rank of corporal. ¡°It means they have a way to locate the summoned buildings, you dense piece of shit! And your aggressive actions might have just caused them to refuse to join us! Do you know what that could do for us? We could send a search party who doesn''t wander aimlessly and knows where to go in this ever-changing hellhole.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Garret''s face pales at the implications of such a skill, and the fact that he is the reason they lost it. ¡°We¡¯re lucky they didn¡¯t hold a grudge, or else we would have lost them fully!¡± The general releases the armrest, his knuckles turning white, and the wood creaks under his grip. He takes a deep breath and lets himself relax. Any more frustration and he might have thrown his chair at Garret. ¡°Luckily, I was able to strike a deal with them after your colossal fuckup¡ªonly some materials and a weapon each. But guess what, Garret? You¡¯re on gathering duty until you¡¯ve replaced every piece of gear and material that we had to give because you couldn¡¯t do your goddamn job right. Now get out of here and report to Sergeant Madelin. She¡¯s your new CO.¡± With that, Garret salutes the general and hurries out of his office. "I truly hope we can work more closely with those two, we need some of that luck they have." the general says
Grant POV I turn to the two soldiers who have been assigned to help us get the materials home and bring the hydroponics crafting specs back to their base. ¡°Hey, you two up for some looting?¡± They give me an odd look, and Monty lets out a sigh. ¡°Dude, I thought we were keeping that a secret,¡± Monty says. ¡°Well, I already fucked up and said it in front of¡­ whatever his name was. While he might not have caught it, he probably wrote what we said. It''s also probably the reason the general himself came to check on us. So let''s just give them something to report, and I can get some more loot. It¡¯s a win-win-lose." Monty asks, ¡°Who is losing?¡± With excitement, Grant says, ¡°Corporal or private, whatever the fuck his name is. That bastard won¡¯t see another promotion for the next couple of years.¡± Monty chuckles and tells me, ¡°Fine, lead the way.¡± He turns to the two soldiers. ¡°You two don¡¯t mind a little detour, do you?¡± Sergeant Freja looks at her second-in-command, who only shrugs, and she answers in a thick Danish accent, ¡°We do not mind.¡± With that, I activate Scavenger''s Intuition and lead the group through the building. After walking for a while, we arrive at the front of a supermarket, this time with working sliding doors. But there¡¯s another exciting thing here¡ªshopping carts. I look at Monty and say, ¡°Ready to do some shopping?¡± Monty grabs a shopping cart and tells me, ¡°I¡¯ll look for essentials while you go and look for luxury items we can trade.¡± I nod and look back at the two soldiers while Sergeant Freja is searching for a way to get the shutters down so the place is secured. Corporal Micha? has already taken a shopping cart. With a jump, Freja grabs the shutter, pulls it down, and sets it down gently to avoid making too much noise. With the supermarket now secured, it¡¯s time to stock up. chapter 32 While Monty is out gathering essentials, I¡¯m busy trying to break open the cigarette closet. With a twist of the crowbar, the door creaks open, and I start loading up as many packs as I can fit onto the already crowded trolley. Next, I head to the alcohol aisle and spot Corporal Micha?, already stacking his cart high with bottles. I grab a couple of bottles of whiskey and move to the next aisle, where the energy drinks are stocked. I pile as many as possible onto the cart¡ªcigarettes and energy drinks are a soldier¡¯s staple, and we could trade these for all sorts of supplies. While I¡¯m stacking the cans, I see something hilarious¡ªSergeant Freja casually dumps what must be a hundred packs of condoms into Micha?¡¯s cart. I walk up to her and smirk. ¡°Oh, your poor husband.¡± Freja barks out a laugh. ¡°These aren¡¯t for him. They¡¯re for the soldiers back at base. If they can¡¯t keep it in their pants, they might as well do it safely,¡± she says in her thick Danish accent. I raise an eyebrow. ¡°Does that happen a lot?¡± She nods. ¡°More than you¡¯d think. Since our last rotation, twenty soldiers have gotten pregnant, and nine have picked up STDs.¡± She pulls out a box and shakes her head. ¡°I¡¯m hoping these will make them a little more responsible¡ªat least for a while.¡± That gets me thinking. ¡°Now that I think about it, we got the title Dungeon Summoned Hero when we were brought here. What do people get if they¡¯re born here?¡± She considers it for a moment. ¡°I think they get a different title¡ªDungeon Native, maybe.¡± With my curiosity satisfied, I leave to find Monty. After wandering the store for a bit, I spot him stocking up on canned food, flour, yeast, and other essentials. I walk over and suggest, ¡°We should grab some fresh fruits and vegetables too.¡± The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Monty glances at me. ¡°Why? The main fridge still isn¡¯t repaired.¡± ¡°There are still the ones in the kitchen. And besides, hydroponics is useless without seeds,¡± I point out. Understanding now, Monty heads toward the fresh produce aisle, and I walk alongside him. ¡°I¡¯ll check the book section, see if they have anything on gardening.¡± Monty gives me a look. ¡°You know I used to live on a farm, right? I doubt a book can teach me anything new.¡± I grin. ¡°Yeah, but this isn¡¯t a farm. We won¡¯t have machines to do everything for us. Plus, there might be some useful tips for planting.¡± He shrugs. ¡°Fine, but look for books on home gardening, not farming.¡± I nod and head to the book section. Home Improvement for Beginners? No. Surrounded by Idiots? Hmm. I could give that one to Freja¡ªmaybe she¡¯ll pass it along to the General. Gardener¡¯s Encyclopedia¡ªthat might be useful. Off-Grid and Urban Homesteading: A Guide to Self-Sustainability! Now with Seeds! I flip the book open. The off-grid section covers plant care and even includes a small bag of seeds¡ªpotatoes, carrots, and sugar beets. The urban gardening section focuses on growing fruits and above-ground vegetables like tomatoes and snap beans. Halfway through, the book takes an interesting turn¡ªhomesteading in an apartment. It describes a simple hydroponics setup with vertical towers of leafy greens and flood tables that keep a steady flow of nutrient-rich water over the roots. The best part? More seeds¡ªlettuce, kale, spinach, vine tomatoes, strawberries, and green onions. Satisfied, I grab the book, along with the other two, and head back to Monty. He¡¯s in the cookware section, staring at two pans. ¡°If you need cookware, take the best¡ªit¡¯s free,¡± I tell him. He nods. ¡°I already did, but I can¡¯t decide¡ªwok or cast iron pan?¡± I glance at his cart, nearly overflowing with groceries, grab the cast iron pan, and stuff it into my duffle bag. ¡°Both. Dude, you don¡¯t have to choose. Just ask¡ªI can still carry a lot.¡± With the pan secured, I show him the book and the seeds inside. While I like the idea of fresh food, Monty looks downright giddy¡ªfinally, no more canned meals every single day. He tucks the book into his backpack. Now it¡¯s time to find Freja and Micha?. When we track them down, they definitely look ready to go¡ªcarts piled high with booze, condoms, hygiene products, and movies. ¡°Ready to head back to base?¡± I ask. Micha?, his slight Polish accent coming through, nods. ¡°Yes, we are ready.¡± With that, we make our way to the entrance, open the shutters, and step back into the dungeon corridors. chapter 33 After leaving the store, I opened my status to summon our base.
Name: Grant Larsen Race: Human Titles: Dungeon-Summoned Hero, Mark of the Cornered Animal Class: Scavenger Pioneer LV 4 Attributes:
  • Vitality: 423/600
  • Stamina: 394/728
  • Mana: 21/21
  • Strength: 114
  • Agility: 131
  • Intelligence: 24
Status Ailments / Debuffs: None Abilities:
  • Luck Enhancement
  • Fast Recovery LV 3
  • Fire Resistance LV 2
  • First Aid LV 3
  • Item Weight Reduction LV 4
  • Weapon Handling LV 3
  • Reverse Engineering LV 1
  • Tactical Improvisation LV 1
Skills:
  • Powered Strike LV 2
  • Identify LV 2
  • Scavenger''s Intuition LV 3
  • Overload LV 1
Summon Base? Y / N Find Ally? Y / N
The option to find allies was new, so I turned to Freja and asked, ¡°What does ¡®find ally¡¯ mean?¡± She looked up, considering the question. ¡°You mean in your status, you can¡¯t summon our base the way you can summon yours? But it¡¯s still here on this floor, so it¡¯ll lead you to us. However, you¡¯ll have to walk for a while, and it only gets worse the deeper you go. On the lower floors, you¡¯ll probably be driving for a couple of hours to find your allies.¡± Freja didn¡¯t think much of what she had just said, but it hit me: we would need vehicles when we reached the lower floors. I nodded, selected "summon base," and immediately the location of our base became clear to me¡ªalong with the knowledge that all the monsters in the area also now knew where it was. After a while of running and gunning, we reached the base, just in time to meet a massive goblin horde. Normally, this would have been disastrous when it was just me and Monty. But now, with two trained soldiers alongside us¡ªboth armed with automatic weapons¡ªI felt more confident. I pushed my trolley toward the door, aiming my Browning BAR at the incoming goblins. Dropping to one knee to help manage the recoil, I signaled to Freja. On cue, we opened fire, mowing down the horde with automatic gunfire. Meanwhile, Monty picked off a goblin shaman in the back with a well-placed shot to the head from his .45-70. The goblins were reduced to a pile of corpses, but I wasn¡¯t taking any chances. I quickly moved to the door, placing my hand on it and activating the Overload skill. The electric buzzing died down, and the door slowly began to open. We pushed the trolleys and shopping carts inside to the loading area. I entered the guard room and closed the door, ensuring no more monsters could follow us. Freja glanced around the loading area, noting, ¡°Nice place, but it could use a bit of maintenance.¡± I chuckled. ¡°Tell me about it. We¡¯ve been cleaning this place for days. Only recently have we started fixing things. We really need to find a better way to open the door. While using this skill works, it can¡¯t be great for the relay.¡± I then looked at their cart. ¡°Do you have anything that needs refrigerating?¡± They shook their heads. ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Okay, then you can just leave it here,¡± I said, then started unloading the contents of Monty¡¯s cart and bringing them to the kitchen. After making several trips between the cart and the kitchen, everything Monty brought was stored away. We could now focus on the hydroponics materials provided by the general. However, there was one thing that bugged me: the system requested wood and plastic bins for the flood tables, but we had a massive supply of aluminum from cleaning up the goblin mess¡ªand even more plastic. Once we had everything brought in, I asked Monty to wait a moment while I tried something. I gathered about half the aluminum bars along with ten fifty-pound rolls of plastic. When I was done, I told Monty to click ¡°yes¡± on the hydroponics option. Monty raised an eyebrow. ¡°Why bring in a bunch of materials that weren¡¯t asked for?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Just trust me.¡± It quickly became clear why I had done so when the system''s message appeared. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
Initializing Hydroponics Building Process Searching for materials... Complete Superior materials detected. Do you wish to use these instead? Y / N
Monty looked at the second message, then clicked ¡°yes.¡±
Initializing Hydroponics Hydroponics has been upgraded to Industrial Hydroponics Do you wish to proceed? Y / N
He clicked ¡°yes¡± again.
Industrial Hydroponics Under Construction Progress: 0% Estimated Time: 2 days
It would take a while for the hydroponics to finish, and I was curious about the atrium upgrades, which we hadn¡¯t yet checked out.
Main Floor:
  • Kitchen (Damaged)
  • Restroom
  • Lounge (Damaged)
  • Generator Room
  • Atrium
  • Recycler
  • Room 1 (Empty)
  • Room 2 (Empty)
  • Room 3 (Empty)
First Floor:
  • Bedroom 1
  • Bedroom 2 (Empty)
  • Bedroom 3 (Empty)
  • Bedroom 4 (Empty)
  • Bedroom 5
  • Bedroom 6
  • Shower Room (Male, Damaged)
  • Shower Room (Female, Empty)
  • Officer Quarters 1 (Empty)
  • Officer Quarters 2
  • Officer Quarters 3
  • Officer Quarters 4 (Empty)
  • Commander''s Quarters
Sub-Level:
  • Storage
  • Armory (Damaged)
  • Freezer (Damaged)
  • Fridge (Damaged)
Monty clicked on the Atrium and was presented with two options: Upgrade or Build. He selected ¡°Build¡± and was shown a list of things we could construct within the atrium. Atrium
  • Zone 1: Empty
  • Zone 2: Empty
  • Zone 3: Empty
  • Zone 4: Empty
Available Schematics:
  • Command Center: Allows communication with allies and settlements. Put four command centers next to each other to unlock a special atrium upgrade.
  • Recreation Area: A patch of grass and benches to give the residents a sense of the outdoors. Put four next to each other to unlock a special atrium upgrade.
  • Trade Warehouse: Shelving units for quick and easy trade. Put four next to each other to unlock a special atrium upgrade.
  • Guard Station: A guard office within the atrium.
The list went on, but I suspected these four would be the most useful. I planned to go over the rest tomorrow, but one thing was certain: the ¡°prison¡± option was not on the table. Turning to the two soldiers, who were eyeing the options with interest, I said, ¡°Seeing as the hydroponics need to be finished before we can give you the crafting specs, you two will be staying with us for the next couple of days. Let me show you to your rooms.¡± Freja smirked and said, ¡°One room will be fine. There¡¯s no need to give us separate rooms; we wouldn¡¯t want to add more work for you.¡± I narrowed my eyes, smiling. ¡°Sure, that¡¯s why you only want one room.¡± I looked over at Freja, who was now giving Micha? a mischievous grin. ¡°Alright, if you say so,¡± I said, raising an eyebrow. ¡°But I¡¯d suggest you take your own advice.¡± Freja didn¡¯t stop grinning. ¡°One step ahead of you.¡± chapter 34 I show Freja and Micha? to their room before heading to the pawnshop to bring the weapons to the armory. The only items I''ll keep are the American 180 and the Wild West sniper rifle. With the two weapons under one arm and the knight''s helm under the other, I head to my room to put everything away. The rifles find a temporary home in the corner until I can mount them on the wall, and the knight''s helm sits beside the copper kettle. As I look at my new items, I remember I have one other thing. I pull the pocket watch out of my pocket, and something else falls out. I place the watch on the desk and pick up the coin that fell. It takes a moment to recognize it, but once it clicks, I can''t help but feel a bit stupid. ¡°We forgot about the upgrade token,¡± I mutter, heading back downstairs to the atrium, where I find Monty still sitting at the base terminal, poring over the massive list of available atrium projects. I glance at the screen. ¡°Found anything good?¡± He nods. ¡°A couple of them are good. Like... this one. The machine shop would let us make a large number of items quickly, like machine parts, weapon parts, or armor. But it would need twenty people to operate.¡± I nod. ¡°So our problem is personnel. Wait¡ªhow did you know we need that many?¡± Monty opens the machine shop blueprint. ¡°Each dot represents one person¡ªfive per machine shop. We need four of them for the special upgrade, so twenty in total.¡± I ask, ¡°What about the other four we looked at earlier?¡± ¡°The command center needs one person per spot, so four. The recreation area doesn¡¯t need anyone unless you count cutting the grass. The trading warehouse needs three per spot, meaning twelve people. The guard station only needs two, but I don¡¯t think we get a special upgrade for having four,¡± Monty explains. I consider the options. The machine shop requires too many people, but maybe we could upgrade the armory to function similarly once we fix the door and wall lockers. But now it¡¯s between the recreation area, the command center, and the trading warehouse. The guard station isn¡¯t useful enough when there are only two of us. ¡°Do we really need a recreation area? It¡¯d be nice to have some grass, but we¡¯re getting a hydroponics room soon. We could just put some chairs and tables there to sit at,¡± I say. Monty checks the requirements for the three options we¡¯re considering. ¡°The recreation area needs a level-three water filter, but we¡¯re at level one. The command center needs a server room and a level-two generator. The trading warehouse needs a functional elevator.¡± I shrug. ¡°Let¡¯s look at the materials tomorrow. I¡¯m exhausted.¡± Monty nods and turns off the base terminal. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. I can already hear my bed calling my name.¡± ¡°Hear what?¡± I ask. ¡°My bed, calling my name. Goodnight,¡± he says before heading upstairs to his room. I take one last look at the hydroponics room, noting the screen''s update:
Industrial Hydroponics Under Construction Progress: 3% Estimated Time: 2 days
With that, I follow Monty¡¯s example and head to my room, collapsing into bed.
The next morning, I wake up to knocking on my door. I open it to find Freja standing there. ¡°Good morning. I¡¯m sorry to wake you, but is there another washroom I can use? The ones upstairs seem to be under disassembly.¡± I rub the sleep from my eyes and tell her, ¡°Yeah, sorry. The goblins who lived here before trashed the female shower room. You¡¯ll have to use the male one. The last two showers are fine¡ªjust use the last one; it still has a door.¡± ¡°This used to be a goblin nest?¡± Freja asks. I nod. ¡°Yep. It took a long time to clean up all the trash and get it into the recycler.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the recycler? I¡¯ve never heard of it before,¡± she asks. ¡°I¡¯ll show you after your shower. I need to check on something anyway,¡± I reply. Freja heads off to the shower, and I go to Monty¡¯s room, but he''s already gone. I find him in the kitchen, baking proper bread with the yeast we brought back. ¡°I¡¯m going to see what we need to fix the elevator. Freja is using the shower, so don¡¯t go there right now,¡± I tell him. Monty nods. ¡°We¡¯ll need the elevator soon. I doubt the stuff for the atrium upgrade is light.¡± I head over to the base terminal and turn it on. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Base Status Entry Floor:
  • Loading Area
  • Elevator (Damaged)
  • Guard Room (Damaged)
Main Floor:
  • Kitchen (Damaged)
  • Restroom
  • Lounge (Damaged)
  • Generator Room
  • Atrium
  • Recycler
  • Room 1 (Empty)
  • Room 2 (Empty)
  • Room 3 (Empty)
First Floor:
  • Bedroom 1
  • Bedroom 2 (Empty)
  • Bedroom 3 (Empty)
  • Bedroom 4 (Empty)
  • Bedroom 5
  • Bedroom 6
  • Shower Room (Male, Damaged)
  • Shower Room (Female, Empty)
  • Officer Quarters 1 (Empty)
  • Officer Quarters 2
  • Officer Quarters 3
  • Officer Quarters 4 (Empty)
  • Commander''s Quarters
Sub-Level:
  • Storage
  • Armory (Damaged)
  • Freezer (Damaged)
  • Fridge (Damaged)
I click on the elevator to see what¡¯s needed for the repair:
**Repair Elevator:
  • Clear Door Obstruction (0/1)
  • Reconnect Engine in Y Configuration (0/1)
  • Reconnect Buttons (0/3)
  • Remove Foreign Object (0/1)**
Looking at the surprisingly short list, I wonder what ¡°put the engine in Y configuration¡± means. Not knowing, I go to Monty. ¡°Monty, what does it mean to put an engine in Y configuration?¡± I ask. Monty stops cooking, turns around, and says, ¡°What? How should I know? I don¡¯t mess with electric engines. I tried to figure one out once and got shocked hard enough that I had a hole in my hand. It wasn¡¯t even bleeding, just burned shut.¡± After Monty¡¯s great example of why I should turn off the power before working on it, I start by checking the elevator power, but it¡¯s already off. I open the elevator doors on the first floor and climb up the ladder to the stuck elevator. As I reach the bottom part of the elevator, I see something stuck where the elevator doors open. I yank it out but can¡¯t identify it, so I keep climbing upwards until I reach the top of the elevator shaft. I turn on my flashlight and look up at the place where the electrical engine should be. I climb onto the platform and find a large engine... and a very charred corpse. I look at the thing in my hand¡ªa charred arm¡ªand drop it before wiping my hand on my pants. Taking a closer look at the corpse, I say to myself, ¡°It¡¯s definitely a goblin... or was a goblin. What did it do?¡± I notice the severed arm is clutching a small metal strip. I straighten the strip and search for where it might have come from. I find another plate like it connected to two prongs, with one more to the left. I unscrew the nut on the middle and left prongs before placing the straightened-out strip perfectly in place. The goblin had smashed the top of the engine to pieces, so I have to tape the lid back on. I summon the base screen again to check if the repair worked:
**Repair Elevator:
  • Clear Door Obstruction (1/1)
  • Reconnect Engine in Y Configuration (1/1)
  • Reconnect Buttons (0/3)
  • Remove Foreign Object (0/1)**
I guess the ¡°foreign object¡± is the goblin, so I yell down the elevator shaft, ¡°MONTY!¡± After a bit of waiting, I¡¯m about to yell again when Micha? answers, ¡°Hello? Is everything okay?¡± ¡°Hey, Micha?, could you do me a favor? Bring a large trashcan to the elevator door on the entry floor,¡± I ask. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be up in a moment,¡± Micha? responds. I begin lowering the charred goblin onto the elevator and wait for Micha?. After a while, I drop down into the elevator and open the doors from the inside. As soon as I step out, Micha? comes up the stairs with the trashcan, out of breath. ¡°It¡¯s good you¡¯re fixing the elevator... that¡¯s too many stairs.¡± I chuckle and ask, ¡°Could you hold the trashcan in place while I lower somthing into it?¡± He nods, unaware of the situation. I climb back through the hatch onto the elevator roof, first throwing the arm into the trashcan. Micha? asks, ¡°Was that an¡ª¡± Before he can finish his sentence, I lower the charred goblin corpse down, saying, ¡°If you were going to say ¡®charred goblin corpse,¡¯ you¡¯re right. If not, I wouldn¡¯t blame you. I wasn¡¯t expecting to find this here either.¡± Once the corpse is low enough, I drop it into the trashcan, climb down the hatch, and take a moment to catch my breath. chapter 35 After catching my breath, I tell Micha?, ¡°Thanks, you can just leave it here. I¡¯ll deal with it later.¡± He nods and asks, ¡°So this was a goblin nest? What was the boss like? Goblins have the largest variety of bosses¡ªI once fought one that was driving a scooter and using a spear.¡± I think back to the goblin boss. ¡°It was¡­ dressed like a greaser and using a shotgun. But it was trying to give a speech or something, and we shot him before he finished.¡± Micha? looks surprised. ¡°It was a sentient goblin? Up here? That¡¯s not normal. They only start appearing past the fifth floor.¡± I shrug. ¡°Really? That might be something to put in your report then.¡± Micha? nods and heads back down, leaving me to finish fixing the elevator. The last thing that needs to be done is reconnecting three buttons. I open the panel and see that the ¡®Close Door¡¯ button, along with the buttons for the sublevel and the first floor, are disconnected. Reconnecting them doesn¡¯t take long, and once the panel is reattached, the base screen appears before me:
Please leave the elevator.
I do as instructed and watch as the elevator begins repairing itself¡ªsmoothing out dents and even making the numbers on the buttons clearer. After a moment, the screen pops up again:
Elevator repair complete.
With the elevator fixed, I head to the guard room to open the bunker door and dump the goblin outside. Checking the live security footage, I see nothing out of the ordinary, so I open the door. I wheel the trashcan outside and dump the goblin onto the dungeon floor before heading back in and sealing the entrance. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Stepping into the elevator, I press the button for the atrium. While waiting, I glance at the information plaque, which states that the elevator can carry a maximum of seventy-five thousand pounds¡ªreasonable for a freight elevator. Once I reach the atrium, I go straight to the kitchen to grab some of the fresh bread Monty was baking. Sitting at the table with Monty, Freja, and Micha?, I begin eating. After weeks of canned food, something fresh is a welcome change. After finishing the meal, I help bring the dishes to the kitchen. Luckily, the dishwasher is still fully functional, if a little banged up. Once the dishes are done, I turn to Freja. ¡°Do you still want to see the recycler?¡± Freja nods. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s always fun to see something new.¡± I know she¡¯s curious about our facilities, likely hoping to find something useful for her group. Not that it matters much¡ªthey can¡¯t access the base terminal to steal the schematics. If they want a recycler of their own, they¡¯ll have to trade for the blueprints. Leading her into the recycler room, I gesture to the large machine. ¡°This is the recycler. We put stuff in, and it breaks it down into base materials.¡± I grab a half-full trashcan and dump its contents into the machine. ¡°We don¡¯t know exactly how it works, and we¡¯re pretty sure a machine like this didn¡¯t exist back on Earth, but we won¡¯t complain¡ªit¡¯s one of the most useful things here.¡± Pressing the start button, I watch as the machine hums to life. While waiting, I open the hatch where the finished materials come out and hand her a solid brick of aluminum. ¡°When it¡¯s done, we get this¡ªa brick of metal. If it¡¯s plastic or rubber, it comes out in large rolls of material.¡± She studies the aluminum and asks, ¡°Is there any loss of material when you use it?¡± I shrug. ¡°I don¡¯t know. We¡¯ve only ever put trash in, but considering how much aluminum we¡¯ve stockpiled, I doubt it.¡± She seems to consider this before asking, ¡°Would you be open to selling the schematics?¡± ¡°Maybe, but that¡¯s something we¡¯d have to discuss with the general. That said, I might be willing to trade it for less if the general does us a favor.¡± Freja raises an eyebrow. ¡°And what favor would that be?¡± ¡°Nothing major. We just want you to keep an eye out for anyone from a flight from Paris to Oregon¡ªspecifically, if they know a Grant Larsen or a Monty Brandt.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± she asks, sounding surprised. ¡°We have an entire board dedicated to helping allies find people they lost contact with during the summoning.¡± chapter 36 ¡°There¡¯s a board for that? So people getting split up happens often, then.¡± Freja answers, ¡°That depends on how large the group was. If it¡¯s two people, they won¡¯t get split up. We¡¯ve even found a group of twenty who got summoned together. But when it¡¯s a large disaster, the groups get¡­ messy? When a disaster happens, we frequently get groups of people who don¡¯t know each other.¡± I nod and say, ¡°That might be the case for us. There were maybe four hundred people on our flight.¡± Freja shrugs. ¡°It happens. Everyone here is here because they were in a situation where they would die.¡± I look at her and say, ¡°Really? That¡¯s weird. Monty said a guy we found died about five years before we got here.¡± Freja looks at me, confused. ¡°And how did he know that?¡± ¡°The guy was a murderer. Monty said he heard about his death and his crime on the news,¡± I tell her. ¡°But if you want to know more about that, you¡¯ll have to ask him. I still have a question for you¡ªare there other groups out there like the Dungeon Rescue Corps? I mean, friendly ones.¡± ¡°Of course there are, but not this early in the dungeon. There are many, like the Fourth Floor Rangers¡ªbasically cowboys¡ªor the Freebase Collective. They¡¯re a large group of people who have permanently put their bases close together and built their own city. Even the dungeon had to acknowledge it and made new rules about it and subsystems. They have a special system for government stuff. We could have, too, but we didn¡¯t want it, so the dungeon made another subsystem for military groups. The dungeon might have brought us here for entertainment, but if something worth acknowledging happens, it rewards those who give it a new form of entertainment.¡± ¡°And your group gets along with them?¡± I ask. ¡°Most of the time, yeah. But there are things we don¡¯t see eye to eye on. The Fourth Floor Rangers, for example, have a more ¡®frontier justice¡¯ approach in their territory, which is understandable¡ªthey have a large bandit problem. We just think even a bandit deserves a proper trial. If they decide death fits the crime, that¡¯s theirs to decide. We just like to be certain we got the right guy, while they¡¯re a lot more willing to throw a rope over a branch and be done with it.¡± She finishes explaining and then asks me, ¡°Why are you interested in this now?¡± The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°We got a blueprint that would let us communicate with allies and settlements, and I just wanted to know about other groups out there. I wanted to see if that was a viable option because if it was only the Dungeon Rescue Corps, it would be a waste to build it. Don¡¯t you think? That would be like building a radio station to talk to only one person,¡± I tell her. She looks at me with a surprised expression¡ªone I haven¡¯t seen before, as if she knows something I don¡¯t but can¡¯t put it into words. ¡°You could build a room that would let you communicate with others in the dungeon? Did I understand that right?¡± I nod. ¡°Yes. We can even get a special version if we take four of them. What that would give us, it didn¡¯t say, but it can¡¯t be bad. It would cost us a fortune to build if we had to buy it, but we just need to find it. Easier said than done.¡± ¡°And what then? What would you use it for?¡± she asks. ¡°I don¡¯t know. That really depends on what the special upgrade gives, but even then, from what I understand, there¡¯s no fast communication between settlements, and it¡¯s even worse between floors. So how about this¡ªyou teach us about the other groups you know in the dungeon, and we¡¯ll give you a discount on the recycler crafting specs,¡± I propose. She shrugs. ¡°Sure. But some of the groups here in the dungeon are¡­ less than savory.¡± For the rest of the evening, she teaches us about the other groups in the dungeon. There are the friendly ones, like the several homesteads on the fourth and fifth floors and the people of the Tower on the sixth floor. Then there are the less savory ones, like the cults on the fifth floor. They¡¯re relatively peaceful¡ªof course, they defend themselves, but they can be worked with. Next are the unsavory groups, like a mafia that is fiercely protective of their property but not unreasonable. They are quite lenient as mafias go. Another notable group is the Brewers, a group on the fifth floor that has taken over a large brewery as their base, and a community has sprouted up around them. The only reason they¡¯re considered unsavory is that they despise the thought of losing their independence so much that they don¡¯t allow large groups of other factions into their territory. Then there¡¯s the bad category¡ªlarge raider groups on several floors. The ones that stand out to me are on the seventh and eighth floors. On the seventh floor, there¡¯s a group of zealots who kill anyone who wanders into their territory. On the eighth, there are the cannibals, who¡ªas expected¡ªeat people. chapter 37 The next day is a blur of inactivity, with the only interesting event being Monty gaining an ability from reading the entire Gardener''s Encyclopedia. I could do the same if I wanted, but it would take me a week, so I spend the day prepping for our next dungeon expedition, putting together a proper kit. The compound bow, while useful in my one-on-one with the wendigo, doesn''t offer much beyond that, so I retire it to the corner along with other weapons. Next is my revolver. While my weapon-handling skill provides a baseline for using various weapons, I''ve grown accustomed to the single-action revolver. Now that I have a double-action revolver, it actually feels off, so I return it to the armory and keep the single-action as my sidearm. Then there''s the BAR. I like it, but even with my thirty percent weight reduction, it''s heavy. I decide to leave it behind for now and take the MP5 instead. The rest of my pack is filled with essentials¡ªdisinfectant, bandages, MREs, and a canteen. With my kit ready, I check on the hydroponics progress.
Industrial Hydroponics Under Construction Progress: 94% Estimated Time: 3 hours
With only a couple of hours left before completion, I head to Monty¡¯s room. He looks up from his book as I take a seat by his desk. Holding up the upgrade token, I ask, ¡°Remember this?¡± Monty sits up in bed, getting a good look at the coin before saying, ¡°Not a clue. Is it something I left lying around?¡± ¡°What? No. It''s the upgrade token. Remember, the one we got for killing the orc boss?¡± Monty thinks for a moment before nodding. ¡°Oh yeah, that thing. Completely forgot about it. Wanna use it on something?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m here for. What should we use it on?¡± Monty ponders for a moment before asking, ¡°Would you let me use it on the LeMat?¡± I hand him the coin and say, ¡°Sure. I¡¯m curious to see what it¡¯ll turn into.¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. As he places the coin onto his revolver, a message appears from the dungeon:
As there was no true next version of this weapon, I have made my own version. Have fun and don''t lose it.
We glance at the dungeon screen and then back at the revolver, which has transformed into a monstrous weapon. It is no longer a black powder revolver but a .357 Magnum with an extra slot for a .410 shotgun shell. While the previous version looked cool, this one seems ripped straight from a steampunk movie, with numerous brass components. Its handling has also significantly improved, featuring a better grip and proper iron sights instead of the previous single-piece nub at the barrel¡¯s end. With the upgrade token taken care of, it''s time to eat and wait for the hydroponics to finish. As we head to the kitchen to prepare today¡¯s meal, I consider going on a solo dungeon run while Monty stays behind to set up the hydroponics. Monty doesn¡¯t seem to mind, but I don¡¯t like missing out on whatever¡¯s out there. So I ask him, ¡°When Freja and Micha? head back to their base, do you mind if I go out by myself? Sitting around for two days without much to do here has me feeling uneasy.¡± Monty shrugs. ¡°I don¡¯t mind, as long as you¡¯re being careful. And I mean really careful. Not the kind where you come back looking like shit while dragging the head of a dragon behind you.¡± I think for a moment before asking, ¡°Do you think there will be a dragon boss?¡± He gives me a look. ¡°The dungeon told us it pulls from our legends and myths. It would be stupid not to have one. Don¡¯t you want to see what modern weapons can do to a dragon? Will they be useless, or will it be easy?¡± ¡°If it really takes from our legends, there must be some interesting things deeper in the dungeon.¡± Monty chuckles. ¡°That might be right. But I am curious¡ªwhat would a unicorn taste like?¡± As I bring the food to the table, I reply, ¡°Definitely not good. Have you ever had horse meat? It¡¯s awful. I¡¯m more curious about what dragon meat would taste like.¡± Our discussion about which magical creature we¡¯d eat is interrupted by Micha?, who comments, ¡°You know, the boars on this floor are actually pretty tasty.¡± We flinch, not having noticed them enter, but the surprise quickly fades as we sit at the table and listen to stories of the mystical creatures the two soldiers have eaten. Freja asks Micha?, ¡°Remember the lizardman chieftain? The one that looked like an alligator?¡± ¡°The one Orion cooked up? Yeah, that¡¯s something I won¡¯t be forgetting anytime soon.¡± Micha? turns to us and explains, ¡°We once came across this big lizardman chieftain. He was a pain in the ass, but we managed to bring him down. Just as we were about to leave, Orion¡ªthis big Cajun guy¡ªsaid it would be a waste not to eat him. So, after he butchered it, we ate nothing but alligator meat for the next few days. It was good for the first two, but after that, we all got food poisoning. Good times.¡± chapter 38 We walk into the now-finished hydroponics and look at the growing towers and floodbeds. While I don''t know much about growing plants, Monty has been studying the books and making a plan for what each plant needs. I took a peek at his notebook but got lost after he started writing about how long strawberries need light. I thought we could just forget about it after planting, but apparently, we need to do a lot of configuration before we can let it run on its own. I go to the terminal, turn it on, and click on Industrial Hydroponics.
Industrial Hydroponics
  • Upgrade
  • Repair
  • Share
After we got our first ally, we unlocked the option to share the crafting specs with them. As I click on Share, a small tray opens at the front of the computer, ejecting a small, flat object that looks like an SD card¡ªpartially made of crystal. I look at the weird, futuristic SD card before turning to Monty. "Are you going to come? I''m about to give Freja the crafting specs." Monty continues working on a timer a bit longer before answering, "Alright, this one is done. Only eighty more to go. Yes, I¡¯ll be coming." I nod, and he follows me out of the hydroponics room toward the loading area, where Freja and Micha? are preparing to go back to their base. As we exit the lift and step into the loading area, I hand Freja the SD card and say, "The general better be happy with that. He got a special version instead of what we agreed on." Freja holds the crystalline SD card between her fingers and replies, "I doubt he¡¯d mind having a better version than we agreed on." Monty adds, "He should. He could feed his entire base with two of these. We might have to put a free fruit and vegetable stand outside with how much we¡¯re going to produce." Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Freja chuckles. "Well, it was nice staying with you, but we have something to deliver. But if you do have too much food, we¡¯ll always be willing to trade." Monty opens the bunker door, and I tell Freja, "We will. And we¡¯ll also be taking more stuff from the summoned building to trade. Soon, your base will be envied by the other Dungeon Rescue Corp bases with the amount of goods we¡¯ll trade with them." Freja nods and heads out into the dungeon. We watch them disappear into the corridors before I turn to Monty and ask, "You¡¯ll be fine while I''m gone?" "Just make sure you don¡¯t get killed by some Eldritch horror out there. I¡¯ll be fine," he says. I laugh. "I won¡¯t. I¡¯m just going out for a bit. I¡¯ll be back before you know it." I take the trolley and begin heading into the dungeon corridor. Once I¡¯m far enough away, I use Scavenger''s Intuition and start following it through the corridors. While walking, I spot a group of orcs charging into gunfire, but since they aren¡¯t in my way, it''s not my problem. I continue toward the summoned building. After rounding one last corner, I see the entrance of the building¡ªheavily fortified and guarded by lizardmen. I sigh as I look at the structure. "No windows, made of solid stone. That¡¯s a museum." I draw my revolver and push the trolley toward the entrance. Since both lizardmen guards are only holding spears, they don¡¯t pose much of a threat. They¡¯re dead soon after spotting me. I push the trolley inside and am immediately greeted by archers waiting on the first-floor balcony. I abandon the trolley and duck behind the counter. "I think this was a mistake," I mutter as an arrow zips past my head, embedding itself in the wooden chair in front of me. Two sword-wielding lizardmen climb over the desk, but a bullet each, and they¡¯re no longer a problem. Another arrow zips overhead as I try to figure out a way to get to better cover. I look around, but the only things here are some cabinets with nothing important. I yank a cabinet door off its hinges and put my hand through the handle, making a shield out of cheap wood that wouldn¡¯t stop a butter knife. I throw the useless shield aside and grab one of the lizardmen corpses instead, using it as cover. Keeping my back to the wall, I feel every arrow thud against my scaly shield. After some awkward shuffling, I make it to a door and open it, stepping inside¡ªonly to be met by two small lizardmen. I drop my pincushion of a shield and try to draw my revolver, but these two are fast. The first one latches onto my arm, sinking its teeth into my flesh. I shoot the second one first to prevent more damage, then slam the little bastard clinging to my arm against the corner of the table. It goes limp, but its teeth are still stuck in my arm, so I have to pry its jaws open to free myself. chapter 39 After prying the small lizardman off my arm and pulling out the remaining teeth, I look around the room. It appears to be a barebones break room with only a table, a few chairs, and a fridge with a microwave on top. However, it does seem to be connected to the maintenance hallways. As I walk through the maintenance hallways, I can hear the lizards trying to break down the door. I decide to run before they succeed. At the end of the hallway, I find stairs leading both up and down. Not wanting to get overrun in a basement with no escape, I go up and find two doors¡ªone leading to more hallways and another opening into a dimly lit exhibition hall. While the hallways are better lit, the exhibition hall provides better places to hide. As I step into the hall, a sensor must catch my movement because the automated tour begins to play. ¡°Welcome to the third part of the tour: Warfare Throughout the Ages.¡± The blood drains from my face as the tour begins explaining something about a war involving some guy called Enmerkar. "Oh shit, gotta go," I mutter as I head back into the maintenance hallway¡ªonly to hear many clawed feet rushing down the hall. I slam the door shut and run deeper inside. Something in the medieval section catches my eye¡ªa two-handed mace. Scanning over the plaque, I read: ¡°Ulrich von Jungingen. Not important... Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights. That sounds cool.¡± I check whether it''s a replica or the original. ¡°A replica made in the same way as the original, which is on display at the Malbork Castle Museum in Poland.¡± I take my crowbar and smash the protective glass, grabbing the heavy mace. Holding the replica in my hands, I think, While the real thing would be cool, the replica is probably better. The original would be¡ª I glance at the plaque again. ¡°Six hundred years old.¡± I don¡¯t have long to admire my new toy before a group of lizardmen bursts through the door leading from the maintenance hallway. Since they¡¯re still decently far away, I use my revolver to thin them out as they charge. By the time they reach me, four are dead, and one is wounded. That still leaves me with eight who can fight. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. The first one to reach me is the first to go¡ªits head disappears as I swing the mace into the side of its skull. As the headless lizardman collapses to the floor, both the remaining lizardmen and I stand in shocked silence. "I know I got stronger since coming here, but holy shit." The mace had just removed its head. I don¡¯t have much time to revel in my newfound strength before an archer looses an arrow at me. I barely dodge it, but the scare is enough to spike my adrenaline. I can feel the mark enhancing it again. If I was about twice as strong as when I arrived, now I was about eight times stronger. And all things considered, I like to think I was already above average in strength for someone my age. The mace now barely feels like a heavy weapon, so I decide to try something. Taking it in one hand, I swing at the still-stunned lizardmen. My hit is a bit crooked, so the first lizardman¡¯s head turns to mist, while the second is decapitated. I don¡¯t even notice the third one sneaking toward me for a stealth attack¡ªuntil it gets flung into a display and impaled on a rack of swords. Even though the third one surprises me, the adrenaline high keeps me from thinking about it too much. Using the momentum, I perform an overhead swing and, out of morbid curiosity, activate Powered Strike. To its credit, this lizardman doesn¡¯t lose focus like the others, who just stand there with their mouths¡ªjaws? Maws? Doesn¡¯t matter¡ªhanging open. It tries to block the incoming attack, but it soon learns that was a mistake. Its bronze sword shatters under the iron head of the mace, and the impact crushes it like a soda can. With my mace now thoroughly stuck in the museum¡¯s tile floor, I draw my MP5 and shoot the archer perched on top of the Roman weaponry exhibit. While adrenaline helps with fighting, it does not help with thinking. Caught in a near-manic frenzy, I hyper-focus on one enemy at a time, losing track of the others surrounding me. I only realize my mistake seconds before they try to stab me, failing to dodge completely and gaining several cuts along my back and arms. Now very pissed about how they ruined the hoodie I got from the supermarket on the first floor, I pull my trusty crowbar from my belt and pummel the stabby bastard¡ªuntil stabby bastard #2 tries his luck. It doesn¡¯t end well for him, but his attack gives me an opening to run deeper into the museum. I need to shake off the remaining lizards and find a place to rest and bandage my wounds. I burst into a sprint, leaving my mace firmly stuck in the floor. As I run, I pass through the art sector, the historical artifacts wing, and even the storage area before spotting something¡ªa ladder to the roof. It¡¯s nearly unnoticeable between all the boxes, but I climb it, open the hatch, and enter a small room. There¡¯s a door that should lead to the roof proper, but when I open it, I find myself staring at the same large stone walls as the dungeon corridors. chapter 40 While bandaging my wounds, I pull another tooth out of my arm¡ªone I hadn¡¯t noticed before but am now very aware of as the adrenaline fades. Luckily, the cuts on my back aren¡¯t a big concern since they¡¯ve already stopped bleeding, but my arms need to be properly wrapped. After finishing, I decide to eat one of the MREs I brought. To avoid attracting unwanted attention, I eat it cold. While chewing on a bland bag of cold ravioli, I hear something in the vents. Carefully opening the grate, expecting to find another one of those small lizardmen, I instead find a tiny, white, iguana-like creature. ¡°Well, hello there,¡± I say, petting the small lizard. It¡¯s not one I¡¯ve ever seen before¡ªits tail is positioned oddly, and it doesn¡¯t seem able to properly support its own weight, crawling around on its belly instead. I take a beef ravioli out of the package, split it open, and place the exposed meat in front of the small lizard. It starts nibbling at it, and I chuckle while petting it. It doesn¡¯t even resist when I pick it up and place it in a box with a few more open raviolis. ¡°You¡¯re coming home with me. But first, I have to clear this place out.¡± It looks up at me and licks its eye. I chuckle again before finishing the rest of my MRE. After eating, I wait for the sounds below to die down while reloading my guns. Once I can¡¯t hear anything, I open the hatch and peek into the storage room, spotting only one lizardman sleeping behind some boxes. As I quietly climb down the ladder, the lizardman stirs. I freeze. It squints at me, groggy and confused. I don¡¯t move. After a tense moment, it lays back down, rolling onto its side. Carefully, I climb down, gripping my crowbar as I sneak toward it. Looming over it, I notice a bronze dagger lying next to it. Smashing its head open might be too loud, so I take the dagger and drive it into its throat instead. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t be sleeping on the job.¡± Now, I have a choice: head back into the exhibition halls for full-on combat or slink through the maintenance hallways and pick them off one by one. I choose the latter. Moving as quietly as possible, I navigate the hallways, striking from the shadows and eliminating however many I can. After committing a few hit-and-run attacks, I come across the prehistoric wing. In the center of the room stands the skeleton of a T. rex¡ªsurrounded by hooded lizardmen, chanting something. I¡¯m about to attack when I hear an angry voice yelling. ¡°You did what?! Not only did you let an intruder escape, but you lost my daughter!?¡± I turn to the source of the voice. A lizard¡­ woman? She looks similar to the others, but her tone is distinctly female, and she speaks clearly. Could she be the boss of this place? She doesn¡¯t look that special¡ªthe only real difference is her color. While the others are blue and gray, she is pure white. To be sure, I use Identify on her.
Lizard-Queen ¨C Lv. 6 Lizard queens don¡¯t fight themselves. They organize the troops, ensure their nest is stocked with supplies, and keep it secure. Killing a queen won¡¯t have an immediate effect¡ªexcept to enrage the other lizardmen¡ªbut to truly destroy a lizardman nest, the queen must die, or she will rebuild it.
¡°Just how do you fuck up watching a kid that can hardly crawl yet!?¡± She taps a clawed foot impatiently as the large lizardman in front of her stammers out a response in broken English. ¡°She very small. After escape from nest, she crawl behind closet. When I move it¡ªshe gone. Couldn¡¯t find.¡± The queen grabs him by the gold necklace around his neck, looking as if she might rip out his throat. ¡°Then you better start searching, or you will be offered to the ancestors!¡± The large lizard bolts, tail tucked between its legs. The queen then turns to one of the hooded lizardmen. ¡°Is it done yet? We can¡¯t let the intruder get away.¡± One of the hooded figures responds in a language I can¡¯t understand¡ªjust a bunch of hissing. The queen nods, accepting a book one of them hands her and begins reading aloud. ¡°O great ancestor, heed our call in our hour of need. Grace us with your presence and help us defend against the intruder.¡± I listen to her ramble about their so-called ancestor, waiting for something to happen¡ªuntil I hear something running behind me. I whip around just in time to see another of those small, feral lizardmen launching itself at me. I draw my pistol and fire mid-air, hitting it, but its momentum doesn¡¯t disappear. The body collides with me, knocking me off my feet¡ªstraight into the hall. As I crash to the floor, all eyes turn to me. The five hooded lizardmen. The Lizard Queen. And, worst of all¡­ The T. rex skeleton. chapter 41 As I lay on my back, looking at the T-Rex skeleton stopping over to me, I decided that fighting it wouldn''t end well. Pushing the dead feral lizardman off of me, I ran back into the maintenance hallway, down it, and entered the last exhibit hall about space. Unlike the others, this hall has two floors. I move to the balcony and look down, seeing various recreations of space suits and moon buggies, but the most impressive is the replica of a rocket hanging from the ceiling. I take a quick look at the plaque and read its name: "Saturn V." As I read the plaque, the hooded lizardmen come rushing out of the maintenance hallway. They don''t look like much; they seem skinnier than a normal lizardman and aren''t even armed. I take my crowbar, not wanting to waste ammo on them. As I pull the crowbar from my belt, the closest shoots a ball of green goop out of his hand that I barely dodge. "What the fuck was that?"
Lizard Man Necromancer - Level 3 Affinities: Death, Decay, Poison A rare type of lizardman specialized in dark magicks. They often work alone and build armies of weak undead to protect them, but they are only found in groups when a queen is involved.
I quickly identified the others, and they had the same text except for the one in the back holding a large tome. When I identified him, I began to wish I had just left this place when I found it.
Lizard Man Dark Mage - Level 8 {Underboss} A lizardman who has reached mastery of the dark arts by studying ancient tomes for decades, leaving him a force to be reckoned with but neglecting his physical health, leaving him frail. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
"So he''s a glass cannon." I shoot my revolver at him, but a large wall made of green hexagonal pieces blocks the bullet. "Of course, it can''t be that easy." I dodge another green bolt of poison goop and rush the one who shot it, with crowbar in hand, to gauge their strength. I hit the first necromancer lizard with a normal hit of my crowbar. Surprisingly, that''s all it took to kill it. "You died to that?" I say in disbelief. I can''t stay in disbelief for long as the dark mage lets out a green dark mist from his hand. It hits me and all his allies, but it doesn''t seem to affect them, while I begin coughing and my eyes begin to water. "You ass, is that fucking tear gas?!" The mage hisses something to the necromancers as they begin to fire more of that poison crap. While I can hardly see, the poison blobs they shoot are neon green, so not too difficult to dodge. One makes the mistake of hissing, and I charge him and tackle him to the ground. I put my knee on its chest and bring down the crowbar again and again until I can hear it hitting the stone floor beneath its head. I stand unsteadily on my feet as the dark mist is still messing with my senses. The only ones not affected are hearing and touch. I move my head around and try to see anything, but it''s too blurry, so I rely on my hearing to fight. But they have gone silent¡ªno footsteps, no hissing, only silence. I stand there, lost in the hall, until I see a green blob growing in the corner of my eye. I drop to the floor and feel the poison fly over my head and splatter against the floor behind me. But now I know where they are again. I grab the MP5 from my side and spray the area where the blob came from. I don''t know if I hit it, but I take the chance to run and clean the stuff out of my eyes. As I begin to run¡ªand fail miserably at it, tripping over stuff I can''t see¡ªI just take cover behind a display and use the water in my canteen. After hearing a few poison blobs splatter nearby, I get enough of the dark stuff out of my eyes to restore my vision. I look out from the display to see only the mage and only two of the five necromancers survived. As I watch them, another of those ferals jumps from behind the mage and flies face-first into the mage¡¯s magic shield. "So it only protects him from the front. I can work with that." chapter 42 Picking up a few pieces of rubble that got blasted off the walls by the necromancers, I throw them at the mage. The first bounces off the magic shield, the second one flies over it, and the third and final one I throw high, landing near the mage. "Could I climb over it?" I peek out from behind the pillar and shoot the second-to-last necromancer with my revolver, leaving only the feral, the mage, and the last necromancer. The feral is the biggest threat right now. The mage and the necromancer are cautious and won''t attack me, but the feral is a wildcard¡ªI don¡¯t think even they can tell it what to do. It''s been trying to sneak up on me by going the long way around. I crouch-walk over to the other side of the railing and wait for the feral to come around the corner. When it does, it will have a crowbar waiting for it. After waiting, I hear something¡ªas if a big cat is trying to run on a narrow fence. As I look up, the feral is mid-jump off the railing toward me. I duck again as it flies over my head. The feral lands on its head, but by my guess, there isn''t much brain to damage, so he is basically fine. The moment he gets his bearings, he launches himself at me once again. I hold out my crowbar, and he latches onto it, biting down with all his force, all the while trying to claw my face off. It gets a good scratch on my collar before I can get my leg under him and kick him over the railing. "Ahhh, damnit," I say as I look over the railing and watch the feral bounce off a replica lunar rover, my crowbar still clutched in its maw. "I''m not leaving that one behind," I grumble as I watch the feral twitch next to my favorite weapon. I turn back to the mage and necromancer before seeing something round the corner¡ªthe T-rex skeleton has found me. I look through my bag for anything I have to defeat it. "No, no, no, that won¡¯t do. Shooting it won¡¯t do much either." I pull the one stick of dynamite from the bottom of my bag and try to form a plan. "I need to be careful with this¡ªI only have one." I put it in my pocket and come to the conclusion that I will need to set a trap to defeat the T-rex. While trying to form a plan, the T-rex has been slowly approaching me. I shake myself from my thoughts and begin to run towards the necromancer. My sudden rush catches them by surprise, but what catches them even more by surprise is that I don¡¯t attack the necromancer¡ªI use him as a stepping point to jump over the mage''s shield. My newly heightened agility really helps me make the jump, but it doesn¡¯t help me with the sudden parkour. My foot slips, and I take a tumble. The mage, trying to protect himself, begins chanting some lizardy spell but is cut short as I fall on top of him, breaking his concentration and causing a misfire of his magic in the form of a green cloud that smells like what our base smelled like before fixing the air filters. "Aw, dude, that¡¯s disgusting, man," I say, nearly gagging from the smell. Quickly, I begin to drag the mage into the maintenance hallway to finish him off. I throw the mage into the hallway and slam the door behind me. As I turn back, he¡¯s trying to crawl away. It seems my fall left him in a worse state than it left me. I walk up behind him and get ready to curb stomp him, but suddenly, he begins to try and negotiate. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. "I will tell you where treasure is," is what I think he wants to say, but I can''t understand Lizard. So I bring my boot down on his throat, and with a crunch and some thrashing, it''s done.
Underboss defeated Reward: +50 Mana (Overload) has been upgraded to Electric Affinity
Level Up!
Suddenly, after crushing the mage, I get two messages¡ªone from the dungeon and one from the system. It seems the dungeon handles rewards and the system just manages what I can do. I try to activate Electric Affinity, and I feel it''s no longer just "activate and forget"¡ªnow, there''s something more involved. As I feel it in my chest, I try to figure out how to use it, but mentally poking it doesn¡¯t do much. I try to poke it a bit harder, but it only moves from my heart to my lungs and just makes it feel weird. I poke it back in place before trying to move it up to my head. As I do, it leaves a trail of tingling sensations from my heart to my throat to my brain, and then I push it too far, and it ends up in my eyes. With my eyes now very tingly, I open them¡ªand I don¡¯t like it. I can see all the electricity moving in the cables in the walls, all the components, and even the lamps and how they work. I look up at the flickering light above me and concentrate on it with my new electric vision. Its flicker and hum are nearly overbearing. As I begin to focus more, I feel some of my newly acquired mana leave my body and enter the lamp. The lamp, however, doesn¡¯t like me doing this and promptly explodes, showering me and the dead mage in small shards of glass. Now covered in white powder and a few shards of glass, I brush myself off and push the electric feeling back down to my heart. But while halfway there, I start pushing it down my arm toward my hand and try to force some mana to combine with it. After a bit of trying, I figure it out. Combining the electric feeling with the mana, my hand begins to spark with small arcs of electricity. Touching one of the arcs with my other hand, I don¡¯t feel anything¡ªbut when I touch the dead mage, he twitches for a second before my mana runs out. "I am the taser now," I say with a slight manic chuckle as the absurdity gets to me. Looking down at the fallen mage, I begin to loot his corpse, looking for anything of use. First, there''s some evil-looking talisman.
Crow Skull Talisman Reduces cooldown time on dark magic spells.
I don¡¯t use dark magic, but it might be worth something. I''ll ask Freja when I go to trade. I dig through the pockets of his cloak and find a pipe, tobacco, and an enchanted lighter.
Enchanted Lighter Produces more light and will give a stable flame no matter the outside influences.
I throw the pipe away but keep the tobacco¡ªI don¡¯t want to be the origin of whatever lizardman diseases are on that thing. Lastly, I pick up the big leather-bound book he was carrying and open it. Flipping through the pages, it seems the mage, while not able to speak English, could write it. But what¡¯s in it doesn¡¯t make sense to me. It¡¯s filled with recipes, spell formations, and rituals, most of the ingredients I''ve never even heard of before. "What in the hell is a Cooksonia?"