Darith walked forward through the underground ruins, carefully watching his step as he got deeper and deeper into the tunnels. When he reached the first intersection he could see all but one direction had caved in, leaving him little choice on which way to go. He followed the hall along, remaining as alert as possible with his staff in hand. His ears were quite good at picking up sounds due to their size, but he heard only the sound of his own footsteps along with the occasional dripping of water from the ceiling.

Cartography skill reached rank 6!

He took note that Cartography was tracking the path he took, even including where the deadends were, but upon leveling up, the map even labeled the area as ‘Unknown Location’. Eventually the hallway came to a large stone door in front of him, as he approached he noticed a second stone door in the wall on his left. Both had black metal handles that appeared so polished they shined, contrasting heavily with the decrepit surroundings.

The door immediately in front of him had a strange stone lock on it to keep it from being opened from the opposite side, luckily it appeared easy enough to unlock from this side. He turned his attention to the side door first and cautiously grabbed the handle. It took a lot of strength to get it to budge from the dust and debris that had gathered around it over the years, but he managed to move the door, causing a loud grinding sound as it scraped inward into the room.

Inside he saw several bookshelves that had been cleaned of books, and a desk and chair. The room looked as if it had been tossed, the drawers were pulled out, the chair was broken, the carpet torn, the bookshelves were on their sides. There was a piece of parchment on the desk held down by a small stone.

Darith walked over to take a look at the parchment, it looked newer and placed in a way that it would be noticed easily. He quickly read over the contents.

-Royal Decree-

The Darklight Caverns are Off-Limits

By order of the Royal Family, all magic experimentation under Avistion is to cease and the Darklight Caverns are to be sealed off. Any Unnatural creatures created as a result of Conjuration Experimentation are to be sealed into the Lower Caverns permanently. The Academy of Magical Arts has agreed to such measures after the Realm Breaking incident which has caused a loss in memory to all Avistion Inhabitants. The conjurers no longer remember what they had conjured before the Realm Breaking Incident, nor how to handle them. Therefore the greatest Mages of the Academy have placed a powerful seal on the Lower levels. Do not attempt to break the seal under any circumstances unless given permission by the Royal Family.

King Aros the 2nd

Upon finishing the read, he saw as his map text updated to read ‘Darklight Caverns Upper Level’.

“So that’s what this place this. I guess that’s why they sealed magic down here.” He mumbled to himself. He decided it best to leave the parchment there for anyone else who might come this way. He was about to check behind the desk, but he suddenly heard a loud sloshing sound behind him, as if someone had spilled a bucket of water. He looked in the doorway and saw nothing at first, but the sound continued to get louder slowly. It took a second to spot it in the dim light, but moving into the room were a collection of tiny floating rocks and pebbles that slowly disintegrated, then he watched as the aged carpet on the floor began to dissolve.

If it wasn’t for his experience in playing MMORPG’s before, he would have no idea what was in front of him, but anyone who has played an RPG before could identify the creature that was causing the carpet to dissolve. Very faint letters were visible in the doorway above its body as the creature made its way past the opened stone door.

Darklight Ooze - Level 27 - Hostile

HP: 1348/1348

It was lower level than him. That normally would help a lot, especially with his very powerful magic. The problem was his inability to use it. Luckily the Ooze was moving very slowly, so simply backing up was enough for now. He grabbed a piece of the broken chair and flung it at the ooze to get an idea of its size and also see what affect it would have. When the broken chair leg hit, the clear transparent outline of the ooze could be seen for a moment, but at the same time its liquid form splashed outwards, some of it getting on Darith’s robes. It burned through the robes and onto his skin in an instant.

You have taken 42 Acid Damage.

You have gained the skill Acid Resistance(?)

42 from that tiny drop. He knew if this thing got him he was dead. The wood from the chair leg dissolved in seconds without affecting it’s HP at all. He grabbed another piece, this time throwing it over top where the ooze might be, and it was able to fly through the doorway and clamber against the wall in the hallway. The ooze wasn’t very tall. Darith got up onto the desk, dug in his heels, and prepared to jump.

“Dash!” He shouted out, and with a burst of speed he was able to get overtop of the ooze back into the hallway. The ooze didn’t need to turn around, it changed directions quickly. Knowing his destination was likely beyond the locked door, he ran towards it the last few meters down the hallway. He unlocked the door with ease and began pushing it open, glancing back to see as the ooze slugged its way back into the hall very slowly. It was difficult to track because of its transparency, but Darith noticed as it moved it was leaving behind the greenish-blueish stains on the ground that gave off a fluorescent glow. He knew now where the stains on the walls and ceilings came from.

As he pushed the door open, he came to this realization just in time, that the oozes could climb walls and ceilings. He looked up to see a second ooze directly above him. He lunged through the door just as it attempted to drop down on top of him. He found himself standing on dark stone and kept moving forward to stay ahead of the two slow moving oozes.

The walls and floor were no longer paved, instead it was a rocky cavern made up of dark grey rock and dark brown dirt. While it started narrow, the cavern widened as it sloped downward. He saw more of the stains on the wall which let him know he wasn’t out of danger yet, and continued to move cautiously by holding his staff out in front of himself.

Upper Darklight Caverns have been discovered for the first time!

All experience gained in this dungeon by the discovering player will double for the next 5 days.

Darith held back his excitement on the message, not having much time to process it. He was more concerned about the dangers that might be around him. As the slope angle rose, a staircase carved out of the dark grey stone could be seen, and Darith stepped down quickly until he reached the bottom. At the base of the slope, the roof of the cave that had blocked his view from the top of the stairs stopped obstructing the cavern ahead of him, allowing him to see the Upper Darklight Caverns in all its glory.

It was a gigantic cavern that went on as far as he could see. The cavern looked to have multiple levels. He was on a level about 5 meters above the lowest, and the ceiling was at least 10 meters higher than he was. In the middle of the cavern was a large body of water, illuminated by large glowing stones scattered throughout the cavern. The stones were all uniform in size giving the impression that they were man made and placed intentionally, but there were plenty of dark spots still that Darith could see nothing of.

He didn’t have very long to take it all in, the sloshing of the oozes was getting closer. But before he could take another step down the stairs he heard tiny clitter-clatter sounds, as if hundreds of tiny legs were approaching from the darkness of the cave around him. He used his Nemothyne ears to track the direction, only to see from the darkness not hundreds of creatures, but a single very long creature.

Darklight Centipede - Level 24 - Hostile

HP: 2151/2151

It scrambled along the stone and dirt parallel to the staircase, approaching Darith very quickly. Once it got within a few meters, it poised itself upright and waved its mandibles in the air. Darith prepared himself for it to strike, and it did just that. The creature launched itself forward with a lunge at Darith, and he quickly dashed out of the way to avoid it as the Centipede, nearly twice his size, slammed its jaw into the stone staircase.

Darith glanced back to prepare for its next strike, this time planning to retaliate with his staff ready, but instead the Centipede continued up the stairs. He considered running, but he knew he needed to learn to beat the creatures in this cave if he wanted to complete the quest. Thinking it best to challenge them in low numbers, he pursued the Centipede.

He watched as the long creature got up to the slope, completely ignoring him. Instead it reared its head upright again, then shot out a spray of white mist across the dirt. As the mist coated the ground in front of the centipede, Darith could hear an odd bubbling sound - the Oozes that had been chasing him. He watched as the mist was absorbed by the oozes, and it quickly solidified them and turned them into hard white pasty chunks. The centipede lowered its head back down and moved forward, taking a bite into the ooze pancakes it had made as their HPs had hit 0 in an instant.

“Rock beats scissors…” Darith mumbled, he couldn’t help but feel disgusted by what the oozes would taste like, but at the same time he didn’t want to waste the opportunity. He walked as quietly as possible with staff in hand. The centipede paid no mind to him at all, which Darith felt odd. A creature that lived in the dark like this with all those legs normally would detect vibrations in the ground, maybe it was bad programming by the developers?

Once close enough, he slammed his staff down on the hind of the centipede. It made a loud clunk sound, as if he had just hit hard metal.

Darklight Centipede - Level 24 - Hostile

HP: 2149/2151

“Seriously?” Darith said in disbelief, he watched as the centipede angrily turned around and reared its head at him. Darith dashed backward as it shot out another breath of white mist, just barely avoiding it. It didn’t have much projectile strength, thus easy to avoid. Missing annoyed the centipede further and it gave chase. Darith turned tail and ran down the staircase.

Without magic he couldn’t do anything to the ooze or the centipede, so just how was he supposed to complete this quest? This frustrated him. He reached the bottom of the stairs finally, able to stay ahead of the centipede because of Dash, though just barely. His energy was draining quickly. He saw one of the tall glowing stones nearby and made his way towards it.

He knew he’d most likely need to use through the pain to escape this creature, get back to the door, close himself in that sealed office to rest and come up with a plan. A few more dashes and his energy was low. He got to the glowing stone, it was roughly twice his height and illuminated a fair distance around itself with a light blue glow, making it easy to see the centipede approaching. Darith backed up and prepared to loop around the stone, but before he could, the ground rumbled. In an instant, a large spike shot out of the dirt underneath the centipede, piercing through its body.

Darith watched as a huge brown creature rose out of the ground. It resembled a scorpion, but instead of pincers it had large needle-like arms and a needle-like tail with no visible venom sac. It pierced the centipede multiple times in its stomach and back, stopping it from moving by holding it in the air. The centipede puffed out the white mist but it had no effect on the scorpion.

Darklight Needle Claw - Level 25 - Hostile

HP: 1820/1820

Darith watched the Needle Claw pull the dead centipede back under the dirt with itself. He was distracted momentarily, but noticed just in time that another mound of dirt was shifting and moving towards him. He dashed away from the light rock just in time as a 2nd Needle Claw attempted to skewer him.

His first thought was to continue with his plan until he watched the Needle Claw dash after him, his dash almost as good as Darith’s. It moved with jolt like speed then thrusted one of its needles at him. Darith sidestepped to dodge just in time, getting grazed only slightly.

You have taken 212 Piercing Damage.

One direct hit and I’m dead. Darith was able to stay calm. Every game is made to be beaten. If I follow the logic up until this point, there’s a simple solution to this situation. Darith thought as he dashed away, running low on energy. He had about 5 dashes left in him, and everytime he moved, the Needle Claw followed with its own dash. Darith scanned the surroundings to find what he was looking for, stains of blueish-green on a nearby rock formation, and beside it, what looked to be a puddle. Darith dashed towards the puddle, then around it, so that it was between him and the Needle Claw.

He watched as the Needle Claw dashed right into the puddle and immediately screeched out in pain, but the screeching was muffled in seconds as the puddle grew upward and engulfed it. The puddle, now obviously a darklight ooze, worked to digest the scorpion in seconds as Darith leaned back against the nearby cavern wall, watching the process.

He was cautiously making sure nothing else was approaching as the Needle Claw’s hit points hit zero, giving himself time to regenerate his energy. The ooze remained stationary during the process, and once it had finished, every part of the Needle Claw had dissolved except for its tail. The ooze made a strange bubbling sound and rolled the left-over tail out of its body, then went back to pretending to be a puddle.

“Darith what is going on? Your HP is getting really low! Are you okay?” Liana panicked.

“Yo little man, you aite?” Gabriel worriedly.

“Can you hear us?” Elise sounded concerned. He couldn’t reply yet. He’d need full energy to grab that needle and get back to safety. If he made noise, he might attract one of them. He waited patiently, which only caused his party members to send him more messages.

It took a few long minutes of letting them panic and Darith staying perfectly still for his bar to refill.

You have gained the skill Stealth(?)

He didn’t need to click it to guess what that skill did.

“I’m okay, can’t talk right now.” He whispered into his party interface once his energy was full. The sound was enough to draw the ooze towards himself and further from the Needle it spat out. This made it easier to dash around the slow ooze and grab the needle, putting it in his inventory, then made his way towards the stairs. When he got up to where the centipede had spit at him, he saw the white mist had settled into white powder on the ground. The only item in his inventory he had to collect it was the plate left over from the steak.

It was a bit awkward, but he managed to scoop up the white powder onto the plate without touching it, then put it back into his inventory. Lastly, he dashed next to the solidified white ooze and snapped off a piece with his staff. He suspected it wasn’t going to deal acid damage anymore but still didn’t want to risk it, and took out his old Beginner Armor to use as makeshift gloves to pick it up and put it in his inventory.

Final step, he dashed back through the stone doors, then into the office that had been sealed with the parchment. He closed the door behind himself after checking to make sure no oozes were inside, then leaned against the door and let out a sigh of relief.

Health: 235/625 (0/m)

“Sorry guys, I’m in a place filled with weird creatures, I couldn’t talk or they’d find me. I’m okay now.”

“You sure you don't need my help? I could come heal you and make it easy!” Liana replied.

“The quest says it has to be completed alone, without leaving the area… and if I fail it can’t get accepted again. I’m fine, trust me.” Darith tried reassuring her.

“But it’s getting late, aren’t you coming home to sleep soon?”

“If I want to do this quest, I’ll probably need to sleep here. Can you tell Mom I’m okay?”

“Y-yeah…” Liana hesitated. “Is the quest really that important? It sounds really dangerous.”

“Exactly.” Darith replied. "It means the reward has got to be good."

“You better not get game over before you kill any monsters with me.” Elise commented.

“I promised your mom I’d take care of you little man.” Gabriel joined in.

“You’re the only one who really knows whats going on. We need you.” Jaese said.

“Guys relax, have a little faith in me!” Darith replied. “If I think I can’t handle it, I’ll run away.”

“Pffft. Yeah right.” Liana responded. Darith made sure to secure the door. He noticed this room had no stains from the oozes, so assumed that as long as the door was shut, they couldn’t get in. This unfortunately made it pitch black and hard to see, but still a good place to rest and think for a second.

You have gained the skill Dark Sight(?)

It popped up just before he could dig into his inventory. The moment it did, he was able to see a little bit in front of himself, though everything was tinted dark grey. Another skill he didn’t need to read yet to understand, he was more interested in his inventory items.

Lithrox Powder (Crafting Material)

A powder known to be toxic to the eyes and when inhaled. Can be used as a powerful base by alchemists, to dilute acids, or various other alchemy recipes.

Quality: Normal(?)

Used in: Alchemy

Known Sources(Scholar Mastery): Can be obtained from Darklight Centipedes

Black Iron Needle - (Uncommon)

Once the tail of a Needle Claw, after being exposed to the acid of a Darklight Ooze, the needle corroded into this purified form of Iron(?).

Quality: Normal(?)

Used in: Smelting, Blacksmithing, Woodworking

Known Sources(Scholar Mastery): Waste of a Darklight Ooze after having consumed a Darklight Needle Claw

Hardened Ooze Fragment - (Uncommon)

A solidified ooze resulting from the removal of an Ooze creatures acidity, and thus its ability be sentient, killing it. Returning the ooze to an acidic state from this form will not return it to life.

Quality: Normal

Used in: Alchemy, Woodworking, Enchanting, Jewelry Craft,

Known Sources(Scholar Mastery): Introduce Lithrox Powder to a Darklight Ooze and it will turn into this form

(?)Black Iron is a rare purified form of iron that is highly resistant to acid damage, but very difficult to work with. Requires Intermediate Smelting.

“I think I get it.” Darith said after reading over the items. “It really is rock paper scissors.” He sighed with relief. With these items in his inventory, he could find a way to beat all three creatures he’d seen thus far in the cavern. The black iron looked particularly valuable. He just needed to figure out how to use these things, and to hope those creatures were the only ones lurking around in the Darklight Caverns. Still, it’d be smarter to take the chance to rest now and get full health while he still could.

Next he wanted to check over the new skills he had just gotten during that fiasco.

Acid Resistance - Rank 1

Reduces the damage taken from acid based attacks. Gains experience by taking acid damage. Higher ranks reduce the damage further, based on the power of the attack.

Acid Resistance Rating: 10

Stealth - Rank 1

Reduces the sound made by you and improves your ability to go undetected. Effectiveness varies depending on the sensing capabilities of enemies.

Sound Reduction: 1%

Dark Sight - Rank 1

Allows you to see in places with no light. Unable to see color under these circumstances. Higher ranks improve visibility. This has no effect in magical-based darkness.

He made one last check to confirm the door was sealed tight enough that no liquid could possibly get through, then moved behind the broken desk with his back against the wall, eyes facing forward at the door.

“Here goes nothing… Power Nap.”