The set of armour swung out once more, and once more, Frank simply moved back out of range.

“Alright, come help me, just give it a solid push,” Frank shouted to the others.

They all moved immediately, to their credit. Moments later, the hulking construct was falling backwards, landing on the stone floor with an earshaking clatter, its pike falling from its hands. It wasn’t defeated though, or even really damaged.

Ponderously, the construct attempt to sit up. Frank didn’t give it time. He aimed at where the neck would be, slashing down with his sword. It bit in fairly deep, but not enough to stop the thing. It was still trying to get up.

“Try and hold it down while I see if I can destroy it.” Frank gave further instructions to the other three. Bill simply sat on its chest, while Rina and Maria each pinned an arm.

He resorted to hacking at it, making slow progress as the metal visibly reconnected between his swings. It wasn’t going to work either. Finally, he wedged the blade in a crevice between the helmet and the neck plate and used his sword as a lever. This did work, after much grunting, and the helmet came free from the rest of the suit.

Immediately, the suit went limp, ceasing it’s struggling.

Derelict Iron Armour Animated by a Forgery of the Flame of Vitality(Level 1) defeated. 100 EXP awarded to Frank. 25 EXP awarded to Bill. 25 EXP awarded to Rina. 25 EXP awarded to Maria.

The vanquished armour began to glow blue, pike included.

“There’s your first dungeon combat,” Frank said, looking at the three of them. “That’s probably the easiest one you will ever have.”

None of them had even broken a sweat besides Frank, and that had only been from his efforts at removing the head of the thing after it’d been dealt with. The initial alarm of facing something that size had long faded, and watching Frank struggle to put it down while it was helpless had been ridiculous enough to calm them all completely.

Frank was happy with the outcome. They all listened to him. “If anyone has any questions, go ahead. Then we move on.”

“Does the name it had mean anything? It was super long and pretentious sounding.” Maria asked.

“The names seem to be mostly just descriptive from my experiences. If something is called a Giant Lizard, it’ll just be a giant lizard with nothing special going on. The derelict means that that thing was in bad shape, armour is I guess quite literally what it is, and it seems obvious that its self-repairing was related to the ‘forgery of the flame of vitality.’ Sometimes there’ll be a theme to a dungeon that the names evoke. Someone I knew said that it felt randomly generated like it was a program selecting from a database of options it mixed and matched.”

Frank thought of David for a moment after saying that. He wondered briefly if anyone had survived what had taken him out, or if they’d gone back in time with him. Nothing he could do about that though. He could use David’s advice though. When it came to problem-solving and theorizing he was something special. Said he’d been a philosophy instructor at a college before it all fell apart. Frank frowned, wondering if his own actions had already altered his fate, for ill or good.

His mood was noticed by the others, who didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, everyone silently fell into formation, and Frank continued to lead them deeper. Another lumbering suit of armour, much the same as the previous one, stood at crossroads, three paths behind it. Just like the previous, it was a big, hulking thing of iron, and when they took notice of it, it took notice of them.

Derelict Iron Armour Animated by a Forgery of the Flame of Strength

Level 1

Frank grimaced at the sight. Not only was strength probably more dangerous than vitality, all things considered, but the theme was obvious, and that meant they risked facing an animated armour of agility. The thought of a huge pike whipping around at high speeds was not a good one.

This particular armour was equipped with a giant war hammer, which it held in both hands as it menacingly trudged their way.

“Stay well back this time. This one could be a lot more dangerous.” Frank told his companions.

He moved up to meet the thing, feinting a step into its range. It was just as lumbering as the first. With a long windup, it swung overhead at where Frank had pretended to move to. Frank dashed back, covering his face with his arms as he stepped away, sensing the power of the blow.

Chips of the stone floor were flung about as the hammer smashed into the floor, the fragments pinging off walls and into Frank. Several hit his torso, blocked by the gambeson, but one managed to wedge itself into his shin.

Frank hissed in pain. He needed to find some sort of armour for his lower body. There was no time to deal with the shard though, if he let the armour swing again he’d just risk another cut. He dropped his arms from his face as he dashed in, past the hammer that was being lifted back up for another attack. Once again, he got beside the thing and slashed its elbow with his sword.

This time, there was no unnatural regenerative ability. The sword bit in, damaging the point of articulation. The arm lost most of its ability to move, and with that, the creature’s offensive ability was crippled. Frank kept moving after the strike, getting behind the thing. It moved so slowly that once Frank got a couple of steps past the range of its hammer, he knelt and removed the piece of stone from his shin before engaging with it again. It turned to face him, pivoting gracefully but almost in slow motion.

“Hit it from behind if you can,” Frank told the others as he sprang back up and went for the other arm. It was soon disabled too. The armour was simply unable to react quickly enough to defend itself from attacks. It did not take long before they’d toppled it over too. A little bit of wedging and yanking later and another enemy lay defeated, disappearing into flickering blue lights.

Derelict Iron Armour Animated by a Forgery of the Flame of Strength(Level 1) defeated. Frank awarded 130 EXP. Maria awarded 15 EXP. Rina awarded 15 EXP. Bill awarded 15 EXP.

“Move back away from the crossroads a bit, and then I want to deal with the cut on my leg,” Frank told them.

“You got cut? Are you okay?” asked Rina, concerned.

“It’s fine, just need to properly bandage it. It’d be a huge waste if it got infected and I had to use a health potion on it.” Frank replied as they walked back down the hall the way they’d come from.

After a short journey, Frank stopped them, and then sat down to bandage his wound. His pack came off and he removed from it the medical kit, carefully disinfecting and wrapped his thigh. The cut was almost to the point it would be called a puncture instead, but it was not large enough to be worrisome, and it was not bleeding too much. It was the kind of damage Frank had long learned to deal with.

That done, he turned to his status. He’d levelled up when he finished off that thing, and he needed to deal with that.

Frank HP 56/59 Level 7 Human (1295/1280EXP) MP 0 Assassin SP 35/46 Strength 11 Knowledge 6 Agility 10(9) Intelligence 10 Constitution 7(4) Stability 10 Vitality 6(5) Wisdom 4

He hadn’t levelled up automatically, because he’d finished up the Assassin deed. He thought about levelling, and a new screen appeared.

Available deeds: Fighter: +3 to VIT, CON, STR, or AGI per level Mage: +3 to KNO, INT, STA, or WIS per level Wanderer: +1 to any two stats per level Unlocked by achievement: Assassin: +1 to INT, STR, AGI, and STA per level Survivor: + 1 to any two stats per level, -10% EXP to level Saviour: +1 to any four stats per level Neophyte: +2 to any two stats, +1 to one stat. -1 to one stat. Explorer: +2 to any one stat, +1 to any other stat per level

He chose the Saviour deed without hesitation. More stats were always better. The question was, where to put them. The obvious road would be to even everything out as best he could. But something nagged at him about the mental stats, wisdom and stability.

Frank was well aware that he was not rational. That he was erratic in his behaviour. A simple comparison from before and after he’d woken up back in his apartment revealed that. The question was why.

He felt hopeful, which was new. He felt talkative, at least compared to how he’d been. He felt at ease, relatively. His persistent nausea at killing thinking creatures hadn’t manifested when he’d fought the goblin leader. That one bothered him. He also didn’t feel it now, thinking about it.

Was it just the changed circumstances? He’d never found himself wishing for a second chance before it happened. For the last year, he’d honestly just wished it was over. But now that it was given, Frank knew he’d cling on to it with all he had.

His calculated and rational way of looking at things he’d adopted was crumbling. Less and less was happening as part of something long term. Everything was being experienced in the immediate, and he was reacting.

He thought it over. Why? Could it be the stats? Could his lowered stability and wisdom be affecting him? That didn’t explain his lack of reaction to the goblin. His introspection was interrupted by Rina.

“Ummm, are you alright?” She asked hesitantly.

Frank looked up. “Yes. I was just levelling up.” He put his points into wisdom, vitality, knowledge, and constitution, then put his pack back together, shouldered it, and stood.

“We should keep moving. There will be running water and a safe place to rest somewhere deeper in.”

Once more the party fell in behind him, and they travelled down the hall, reaching the crossroads. Three passages were branching away. Each one had a symbol at its entrance on the floor. AGI, VIT, KNO, they read in turn, the text a gaudy gothic font.

Frank considered for a moment and then chose the center.

“I thought you said you were picking left?” Bill asked, confused. He still followed without hesitating though.

“I was, but the floor has signs, that correspond to the stats. If we run into an armour again I want to see the first one, rather than a fast one or a smart one.” Frank replied.

“Makes sense,” Bill said.

The hall gradually changed from unadorned, roughly hewn stone, to a more advanced level of work. First, a row of pillars began in the distance. They too were made of stone and without decoration, but they jutted out from the walls at regular intervals. A little while later, the floor changed from carefully fitted, but otherwise unremarkable and somewhat random arrangements of stone to precisely fitted slabs. Still grey and simple, but requiring craftsmanship.

Another armour appeared, the only thing separating it in appearance from the previous two its slightly larger size and proportionately longer pike. Behind it, the hall ended with a wooden door.

Derelict Iron Armour Animated by a Forgery of the Flame of Vitality

Level 3

The armour started moving towards them. It wasn’t exactly fast, but it was a steady walk. Definitely more mobile than the level 1 edition.

Frank readied himself, and the other three did the same. He repeated his instructions from before.

“Stay back, let me test it out first.”

He met it, baiting out a strike. They were either very stupid or entirely unthinking, as it responded in the same way the others had. It swung overhead.

There was a noticeable difference though. This time, When Frank moved back out of range, the armour didn’t give him enough time to easily do something to it. It was still slow, but with the longer pike and less slow movements it possessed, it would pose a dilemma. Frank wished he had a shield for this. It would make it much easier.