Rina stood up quickly.

“Yes.” she said, nervousness evident.

Frank got up. He walked over to Bill’s stuff and took the spear resting beside his pack. As a makeshift weapon, it was more suited to fishing. He could still see where the elastic used for propelling it forward had been attached. It was thin, which made it light. That was good for beginners, because they would let the point drop as they stabbed out with a heavy spear. It was bad as a weapon though, because it was not durable. The point, made for fishing, was also less than optimal. It had the potential to lodge into something and not come out.

He walked over to where Rina was standing, waiting with her spear.

“There’s only a few things I can show you.” Frank told her.

“You attack by stabbing things. Either you do it without moving, or you step forward to increase the range.”

Frank demonstrated, showing first a thrust from a still position, then a lunge.

“When you step forward, spear moves, then body, then feet. You are extending the range of the attack, not moving closer and then attacking.” Frank said, lunging in slow motion to demonstrate.

“Your stance is simple. Bend your knees, put your weight on the balls of your feet. Back foot is perpendicular to your target, front foot faces it. Hips follow back feet, shoulders turn to face your oppponent. Makes you a narrower target.”

Frank demonstrated again. “All there is to do is practice that, while holding your spear with the front hand holding from below and back hand from above.”

Rina followed his instructions as best she could. Frank had to reiterate points several times, but eventually she understood everything he’d said.

“All there is to do is practice until it’s smooth.” Frank told her, after she managed to successfully keep all the things she needed to be doing in mind, managing a lunge.

Maria did not participate, but had watched the entire time. Bill slept through it.

Frank sat back down, watching Rina struggle for a bit, before going back to his own thoughts.

Sleeping on it had helped. He had a vague idea of what he wanted to do. There were two things he wanted. He wanted to survive. He wanted other people to survive.

There was only one way that both coincided. He had to become strong enough to directly influence whether or not humanity survived, and simultaneously not fall in doing so. A tall order. The first floor boss of the first dungeon he’d entered had provided an existential threat.

He was not a superhero. He had the advantage of being probably the single most skilled user of melee weapons in the entire world. That was something. He was the only living person who had consistent experience fighting others to death in full armour. Unless there were other human time travelers. He had a general understanding of how the system worked. Others did not.

Frank felt inadequate compared to what he wished to acheive. The things about the system he knew would be figured out in the coming months for the most part. There was no privileged knowledge that would lend him an absolute advantage. There were others who knew how to fight. Others who more naturally took to it. People who just needed combat experience. Some of them would live, and they’d surpass him.

The thought of other people doing that didn’t bother him. All the better. But there were enemies in the same circumstances. They had seasoned warriors of their own. Not time travelers, just those who had already been forged by combat before this, using weapons that fit these new circumstances. How long would it take before a prodigy amongst the other species understood the system well enough that its rate of growth surpassed his?

There was, Frank realized, no way he could simultaneously share resources with others and be confident he could be strong enough to deal with outside threats. The only things he could give away easily was that which he did not lose in doing so.

Information. That was what he had the ability to provide. He could give every single person he met knowledge. On top of that, he could ask that each of them pass on the knowledge. It wouldn’t even be that difficult to do. He could just write down the information he felt was the most important, a couple pages worth.

He didn’t have time to be writing down hundreds of copies, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get others to. If he offered a health potion or piece of equipment he could probably convince someone or a group of people to make copies for him. The number of people who were brave enough to go out and acquire those things right now was low, Frank knew. He hadn’t been brave enough the first time round. He’d just been lucky enough to be saved by someone who was.

He felt better. Having a purposeful and immediate path of action shunted aside insecurity like it was nothing. His thinking felt ordered. Frank stood up again.

“Hey Bill. Wake up.” Frank loudly said.

Bill responded by groaning, but did sit up. “What’s going on, man?” he asked groggily.

“I’ve been doing some thinking, and I’ve come to a couple decisions that I want to go over with you three.” Frank replied.

Rina stopped her practice, and Maria turned to face him.

“This dungeon is a horrible fit for you guys to get experience as it stands. What I am going to do then, is go try and find weapons. You can use them when I bring them back. I can give them to you if you are willing to do a favour for me later.” He informed them.

“What’s the favour?” asked Maria. Her voice indicated she was upset, probably about having the health potion and then losing it before she could use it on her father.

“I’m going to need you to copy some things I’ll write down later a bunch of times. I didn’t bring paper with me so I can’t have you do it right now, but before I leave town.” Frank answered.

“That’s more than fair dude. Sure you don’t have any secret missions for us?” Bill asked, half joking but also half hopefully.

“I don’t. What I’m going to do right now is head out and start exploring this floor. But before I do I’ll go over the basics of using a spear with you, Bill.” Frank looked towards Maria. “I know you watched when I showed Rina but I can go over it with you too if you’d like.”

“I guess.” Maria said.

Frank didn’t react to her noncommittal attitude, instead focusing on Bill. He went over the same things he did with Rina. Maria joined in part way, and he helped her a bit too.

“Practice that, if you get bored maybe try and figure out magic. I’ll be back when I find a weapon or when I clear the floor up to the boss room.” Frank told them, then prepared to leave.

His gambeson, damaged but still useful, went back on. He removed a bunch of things from his pack, keeping only medical supplies, a compass, his water, and a meals worth of food. He wanted to move quickly, now that he was alone.

His vitality was well above average for a human now, and his constitution borded the limits of what a man could achieve. He could move at pace for a long time. He put his pack back on

With the strength he had, it was no trouble to carry his sword in one hand as he did. His new shield was promptly strapped to his off hand. He donned his sunglasses, which he’d almost left behind, and set off down the tunnel at a jog.

It only took a couple minutes before the first enemy appeared.

Dapper Two Piece Suit Animated by a Forgery of the Flame of Vitality

Level 1

It stood in the long featureless hallway, just as an opening became visible in the distance. It was a black suit, Italian cut, two button with an aggressively angular lapel. A white shirt underneath, white gloves, and black box toed shoes. Every part looked like a well-to-do gentleman except for the rapier it held in one hand and the conspicuous lack of a head.

When Frank noticed it, it didn’t mechanically start moving towards him. It just took a defensive stance, sword forward and body making a line behind it. It moved with graceful fluidity as it prepared for combat.

It was obviously more dangerous than the armour he’d fought. System names tended to give it away. A positive description like ‘dapper’ was a warning sign. Frank suspected it’d be quite skilled.

He approached it anyways, slowing down to a walk as he got close. He also assumed a fighting stance, shield forward, blocking his torso, the rest of him behind it, but not to the extreme the suit had taken. Frank was more diagonal.

He stepped in and immediately the suit made a testing strike. Frank simply moved his shield in to block it. It had more range, compared to Frank. The rapier extended about ten inches further than Frank’s scimitar. When Frank made to counterattack the suit moved back.

There was no hurry though. With a shield, Frank felt absolutely confident. He kept it out, intercepting slashes and stabs with ease. It was just a matter of forcing a mistake from his opponent. Eventually, an opportunity came, and Frank was able to deflect a strike to the outside of his shield and step in.

He slashed down at the suit, which responded by spinning out of the way, but Frank was still stepping forward and followed up with a shield bash which smacked into it. It weighed more than a set of clothes should, but it was still light enough that it had absolutely no way to avoid being knocked around. His shield lifted it a few inches off the ground, and realizing this, Frank used his weight to throw the suit down on its back.

That proved to be the end. Even on its back, it dodged one strike, but the next sliced off the unarmed arm. Even in that situation, it attempted to stab Frank with its rapier, but his shield again provided the protection he needed. Two more slashes solidly bisected it across the waist, and its ability to regenerate was rendered moot by the sheer amount of damage each strike did.

Dapper Two Piece Suit Animated by a Forgery of the Flame of Vitality(Level 1) defeated. 200 EXP awarded.

Such an opponent would be much more difficult with a blunt weapon, or even a spear. A sword or pike or axe made easy work of them though.

Frank moved on once he saw that his slain foe begin to dissipate. He broke back into a jog and continued into the room ahead. Unlike the first floor, the increase in detail occured much faster. The room he stepped out into was a square, a hundred feet from side to side, doorways in the center of each wall. The same grey stone made up the floor and the walls. There was no visible ceiling. The walls just extended upwards beyond where he could see.

There was a path of lighter coloured stone that extended from the opening in each wall, meeting with the other three in the center. Interestingly, it also made a line hugging the wall from the door left of him to the wall opposite of him. It then simply continued up the wall.

Frank decided to check the side rooms first. At least up until he ended up in a diversion. He stepped out and cut across the room, taking a diagonal straight to the door. The first step he took off the marked path, and each exit was now concealed by a door. Frank immediately turned back to the one he came from. The door there was a glass sliding patio door. It was also locked.

Frank turned around, and saw that there was a single suit of armour standing in the center.

Decrepit Iron Armour Animated by a Forgery of the Flame of Knowledge

Level 3

Frank frowned. This would be interesting.