Will clenched his teeth to prepare himself in the only way he could for what he was about to do. That is to say, it wouldn’t help in the slightest but it made him feel a little better. He pointed up at the centipede, aiming for one of the black compound eyes on its head and squeezed the trigger.

A sudden boom echoed across the enclosed cavern, leaving Will to resist taking a hand off his weapon to cover his ears. The sound was familiar to him but still nearly unbearable. The echoing pulsated into his now ringing ears as he took aim and fired again.

His first round had missed the eye and impacted the head but failed to penetrate but did leave a dent. His second shot was even worse as his aim was thrown off by his discomfort. It didn’t leave a dent and the centepede had decided that two free shots was apparently enough as it scurried across the ceiling, somehow sticking to the surface despite its weight.

Will kept firing and emptied the final rifle round he had loaded as the bug made it back to the floor and charged at him with wide pincers. He dropped his rifle and drew his revolver while once again running away from a pursuer with far too many legs. He turned and fired at its head again. The heavier projectile deforming and putting a sizable ding in its armor but still didn’t penetrate.

“How the fuck am I suppose to kill this thing!” Will yelled as he ran in a circle with the Centipede only just being kept at distance. He was lucky it wasn’t very bright and that the floor in the room was flat, so despite his torch being in the middle of the room he could still see a little and didn’t have the risk of falling. “Alright, armored opponent without armor penetrating rounds. No backup and no explosives… Opponent is fast moving and fights in close quarters, I think. Damn, don’t let this thing start spitting or something… Go for unarmored joints and shoot to disable the leg- nevermind, I’d run out of ammo before I managed to take out enough legs. Joints on the body it is.”

Will turned to glance at the coming monster for an opening to target the seems of the metal carapace after he finished breaking down his enemy. He sidestepped before he spun around and used [Quick Aim] to get on target quickly. He pulled the trigger and another booming echo filled the room but it was joined by a primeval scream. He took the monsters sudden pain to reposition himself and was happy to see the seem between the second and third sections damaged and leaking a puss colored ichor.

After a few more steps in distance the centipede got moving again while he continued to desperately kite around the room. He fired three more times with three more hits. The centipede was beginning to slow from the loss of fluids, giving Will a bit of a break while he reloaded.

His strategy was slowly working but he still worried about having enough ammo to put it down. Yet another ten minutes of jogging in circles and the things legs gave out and it dropped to the ground. He could see it squirm and try to rise back up but rather than waste the ammo, he let it slowly die. He received conformation of sorts when it finally passed in the form of a pair of blue window.

Primary Class leveled! Prodigious Gunslinger Level 3

Utility Skill Learned: [Lesser Endurance]-Passive

Dexterity +3

Perception +2

Focus +1

Vitality +1

Primary Class leveled! Prodigious Gunslinger Level 4

Class skill Learned: [Penetrating shot]-Active

Class skill Learned: [Quick Step]-Active

Will ignored his new skills for the moment and took another sip of water before pouring some over his head. Running in circles in a hot room with no ventilation took a lot out of a person. He walked carefully towards the centipede and cast [Identify] on the corpse.

Lesser Silver Shell Centipede- level 8 (Deceased-Dungeon Spawn)

Details: Carnivorous arthropod that can grow to extreme lengths. It kind fuses metal into its carapace to form a resilient armor.

Composition: 80% biological matter, 15% Steel, 5% silver.

Durability: Unknown

Damage output: Unknown

Estimated value: Unknown

Stats: Unknown

He had only hoped to see if the details had changed but was delighted to see the composition of the corpse was now included with the skill as well. Level four didn’t seem like an important threshold but he wasn’t going to argue against it. The information was still extremely vague when it came to biological matter and what exactly the percentages represented but it was more data. After all five percent by mass and five percent by volume would have to completely different amounts of silver…

Will suddenly turned to the pedestals. He walked over and picked up his silver coin from before and took note of the four more unopened archways. He felt like an idiot.

“Knowledge… the answer is fucking knowledge,” he said to himself as he took a step back. There was some knowledge out there that was priceless and no amount of money or resources could be traded for it. Likewise even knowledge that could be traded was still a valuable commodity, no matter where you were. He just had to think about how to represent it.

He walked over to the iron coin and took it and started carving the word into the slate. After a few minutes he placed it onto the final pedestal. It took a few moments before another stone wall started to slide open. Will ran to reload as soon as he saw movement again, “but that’s fucking right!”

Another ten minutes later, Will sat with his pack on the pedestal and watched the second centipede die. Learning once again through a window informing that he’d gained another level in his gunslinger class but no skills that time. He did receive stat points, which he’d gotten on the first and third levels too. He wasn’t sure but it was possible he only got those on odd numbered levels.

He didn’t waste any time and stood up as soon as he knew the bug was dead. He walked over to the answer pedestal and placed the slate down on it once again. He looked towards the other three archways with his rifle at the ready. It had proven valuable once he could use his new [Penetrating Shot] skill. It gave the round just enough to punch through the metal exoskeleton, although Will had no idea how a skill like that worked.

A grinding of stone came from in front of him and behind him. He looked towards the entrance to see the stone wheel lift slightly and roll to the side. He looked towards the other sound and watched as the tunnel directly across from the entrance slowly lowered down. Will watched and ready himself to shoot but as it came down and the meager light lit the space, he lowered his weapon.

He didn’t say a word as he approached the new alcove. It wasn’t a full tunnel and he could see what looked like another tunnel sealed along the back wall but his eyes were focused on a single item placed on a final pedestal. It was hard not to look at it, “How often do you see a glowing book?”

Will walked forward and tried to read the cover but it appeared to be a wide variety of runes and different alphabets. It didn’t look like they said anything but rather were there for asthetics. Like a math book having a bunch of random equations on the cover. He went to open the book but the moment he touched it, a blue window appeared.

Profession Tome- Arcane Enchanting-uncommon

Claiming this tome will allow you to gain the Profession Class- Arcane Enchanting. The tome provides instruction for a basic level of understanding of the class with various enchantments provided. Once claimed the tome will only be readable by the one who claimed it.

Claim? Y/N

“Ah, yes,” Will just went with it and braced for an influx of information but what came was only a fraction of what he’d been prepared for. He opened his eyes to immediately see another blue window in his view.

Class Accepted…

Detecting education…

Class upgraded… Arcane Artificer- Rare

Profession Class applied:

Arcane Artificer- Rare

An education is one of the most valuable things a person can receive and you far outreach any of your peers in regards to the knowledge and art of design and construction of items of a mundane nature. Alongside basic knowledge of the art of enchanting, the two go hand in hand to form the core of what it is to be an artificer. A mesh of magic and science to create something beyond the capabilities of both. This is your craft.

Dexterity +2

Intelligence +2

Focus +1

Unlocks basic class skill: [Analyze]-Active, [Zoom]- Active

Unlocks utility skill: [Enchanting-Basic]- Knowledge based, [Blueprints-Basic]-Knowledge based, [Steady hand]- Passive

Will read through the class description a few times and decided his near completion of his bachelors degree must have been what made him far outreach any of his current peers. It was far from true in the coalition but in Silverstead it was likely true. He wasn’t going to complain because with it came innate knowledge of what an artificer was compared to normal enchanting, which he now knew a little bit of too.

From his point of view one was purely magical while an artificer was a type of magical engineer. That’s all he could really grasp though besides a couple simple blueprints in his head that he could mentally pull up. It was things like knowing how to build a crossbow or a simple wand with a weak elemental effect like his Fire-Starter Wand. He could at least imagine that there was a lot more out there he could learn and the enchantments in his new tome would be a good start.

“Well, time to use [Animal Processing],” Will said to himself after he carefully put the book away and looked at the two large centipedes with the silver lined carapaces.

“You spot that horse thief?” Sheriff Teddy asked when Will walked in. He was once again reading his book but glanced up at Will’s arrival only to look down again when the criminal wasn’t with him.

“No but did find something interesting. Did you know the mine is a dungeon?” Will let it out. He’d debated about keeping it to himself, with how valuable it could be but decided that he didn’t know enough about how dungeons worked. They could start spewing out monsters into the country side, just a mile from Silverstead, for all he knew.

Skunk spit out his coffee from where he was seated at a smaller desk writing something on a piece of paper. The brown liquid coating the sheet and ruining whatever report he was working on. For the sheriff’s part he lowered his book and took in Will with a furrowed brow.

“You’re sure? What kind of monsters?” he asked.

“Positive, it’s called the silver depths and it said it was young. All I found in there were slimes, cave bugs, mites, and two giant centipedes. But I didn’t explore everything,” Will informed them, pulling a silver plate out of the shirt he was using as an extra sack. Skunk whistled at it while the Sheriff’s eyes rose. “Wasn’t sure if it could become a problem for the town…”

“Problem? That might just save the town!” Skunk ignored his mess and got up to inspect the ‘Silver-steel exoplate’ in Wills hand. It was about a half meter across and half again as wide. It curved into nearly a half cylinder shape and was just one of many that Will had with him. He’d used [Identify] and the name alone was enough for him to grab every single one of them. Even to the point he was tempted to try and trip the trap to let out another one but decided against it. He had no idea if it would be just one that came out on the third failure, he didn’t want to press his luck. He did get a couple more slimes on his way out though.

“Pour yourself a coffee, I’ll be back,” the sheriff got up abruptly and started walking out the door, “Skunk, clean up that mess.”

“Yes, boss,” Skunk mumbled but his eyes were still on William’s prize.

“This really a big deal?” Will asked. He knew it was in a way, at least it was for him. The carapace that Skunk was rapping his knuckles on was a meal ticket for him.

“Big deal? Ya don’t think having a dungeon that spawns monsters with valuable bits to get ain’t a big deal?” Skunk sounded incredulous. Said that way, yeah… it’d be like machine that constantly spat out credits to him every time he inserted a chit. But also one that would try to kill him randomly.

Will set down his stuff and made his way to the kettle on the hotplate-

There was a design he didn’t notice before. Lines spread out in a pattern from the center. As he focused on them they became more pronounced, more real.

He instantly recognized what it was thanks to the knowledge that had been forced into his head. It was enchanted, magic woven into the metal plates top to put out a constant heat when it was on. Will poured himself a cup of coffee substitute and inspected it closer while Skunk broke away from admiring the bug parts to clean up his spray.

A few minutes later and Sheriff Teddy walked back in with another in tow.

“This is the one, Mayor,” The sheriff gestured to will and leaned against his desk with his arms crossed.

“Ah… Nice to meet you Mister… Tempest. Mayor Abdey, Martin Abdey. As I understand you’ve come across something valuable for our little town. I don’t suppose I could persuade you to recount what you saw?” The mayor was a short portly man with a well cut suit. He took a seat when Skunk brought a chair around and, seeing no reason not to, William described his small adventure.

The mayor even pulled out a map of the mines, showing it’s various shafts but Will got confused as he looked at it. His route through the mine wasn’t a complex one but going left on each fork led to a dead end. He stated this.

“So, it’s much larger than what you see here? At least our maps are of some use… Dungeons can grow and change, cant they sheriff?” The mayor looked over at the mustachioed lawman who only responded with a ‘mmmhm’ in the affirmative.

Mayor Abdey continued, “Remarkable, truly remarkable…”

“So this won’t cause problems for the town? No monsters coming out of the mines?” It was still a concern for Will. He didn’t feel like going fishing along the river and having to stop to fight a dungeon monster or run from a fight with a group of giant centipedes.

“Hah. I see you’re a cautious man, Mister Tempest. No, no… Perhaps a couple hundred years ago when people were armed with spears and bows. Knights in shining armor and all that nonsense but it’s the modern world. Technological advances the likes of which our ancestors could never have even dreamed off… Just the guns here would keep it in che-” The mayor was interrupted by Sheriff Teddy loudly clearing his throat.

“Mister Mayor.. Me and my men can’t be pullin’ guard duty on the mine all hours,” He gave the Mayor a pointed look and tapped his badge. The point was clear, he was a lawman not a security guard.

“Well… I suppose we could hire a few-” Once again the mayor was cut off.

“A few?”

“Perhaps more than a few townsfolk to keep an eye out that way,” The mayor acquiesced.

“That ain’t the problem. Might make it worse. As soon as word gets out we’ll be up to our necks in shit. Folk out on Deathbane Ranch will be tryin’ ta shove every hand they can into the pot, whole lot of ‘em will be running down there shooting everything in site and try to claim it as their own,” Teddy’s words made the Mayor cringe but his bad news wasn’t over, “Then folk from out of town will come, adventurers and the like. They’ll be drawing down on the Landry’s if they can’t get into the dungeon. Then every desperate vagrant, conman, and working girl willing to travel’s gonna show up-”

“There’ll be decent folk too. Silversmiths and trad-”

“Not worried about ‘em. Even the conmen we can deal with but once word spreads and outlaws realize there’s money to be made here… They’ll be setting up on the roads, just waitin’. Any poor bastard that tries to head out with what they can get outta the mine is gonna end up missin’ the top of their head,” Sheriff Teddy uncrossed his arms for a moment to demonstrate a finger gun but went right back to his relaxed, arms crossed lean against his desk. He gave it a moment but Mayor Abdey didn’t respond.

Will wasn’t even sure what there was to say. He had no clue about the world he’d found himself in but he knew the sheriff was right. In his experience, raiders and pirates would ignore a little colony out in the middle of nowhere with nothing of value but the moment that colony struck platinum, titanium, plutonium, or set up a station to harvest tritium from a gas giant in the system without defenses in place… Well that was when they had to send in Will and his fellow marines but usually not before the colony was half destroyed and the survivors had endured a couple months of slavery. People that had no qualms about violence or making other people suffer actually looked for opportunities like that. Soft Targets.

“What would you suggest, Sheriff,” Mayor Abdey said, maybe realizing it was beyond his scope.

“Couple new lawmen… posse at least. But ‘fore we do that we need to send word to the Marshall’s office at Fairpoint. Let them know to expect trouble heading this way, see what help they can send,” Will suddenly felt eyes on him as Teddy finished but the Sheriff didn’t ask what he thought was coming, “I’ll send Victor along with a rider or two… Mister Tempest, you planning on sticking around. Gonna be bounties filling that board ‘fore long?”

“I… guess,” Will answered, not sure what else he could say. He’d half expected Teddy to ask him to go but even with his map Will didn’t know enough about what was out there to try to make it to another town. Teddy studied him for a moment then nodded and went behind his desk and pulled a tin star out of his drawer. He tossed it to Will and Will caught it but didn’t look at it.

“Not gonna make you into a deputy but consider yourself part of a posse. We get ourselves buried in Barkarna shit, gonna be calling on any man that knows how to shoot, not just you. You’ll need that when the time comes,” Teddy said.

“When?” Will had to ask even though he agreed that something bad would happen. He tucked the badge away into his pocket, wondering how long it’d be until he had to wear it.

“Oh, it’s gonna happen. Better go tell Jakob to pull out his long gun and get it ready-” Skunk joined the conversation excitedly but was almost immediately cut down.

“Skunk. Get Victor and tell Jakob, no one else… ya hear? We don’t need this gettin’ out ‘fore we want it gettin’ out,” Sheriff Teddy said sternly but his eyes weren’t on skunk, they were locked onto the Mayor. Skunk didn’t waste time but grabbed his hat and headed out the door.

Sheriff Teddy watched for a second then sat behind his desk and pulled out a book, “Now, that gets us started on when outlaws and bandits get word. What we gonna do with the Landry’s?”