[Wednesday, September 9]

It was 1:30 am. The military erected several barriers around the construction site.

Lackies transported goods into tent-like structures from trucks belonging to the coast guard. Very little supplies that went inside came back out again.

At the center of all this activity was the black orb, suspended and ominous. It was isolated in a room of its own. Even still, the orb radiated an unnerving aura that could be felt through the walls.

A young physicist named Paul waited impatiently outside. He glanced through the plastic window and his heart skipped a beat. It was a discovery-of-the-century, and he couldn’t wait to study it.

Curiously, he couldn’t feel the strange aura that everyone was mumbling about. Instead, the place smelled like a delicious meal.

His eyes brightened when he saw his supervisor, a dark haired woman with a name tag that read ‘J. K. Carlure.’

“Professor Carlure, what’s the word? Do we have the ‘go-ahead’ on the testing yet?” he asked.

She sighed, not because Thompson asked her every ten minutes, but because she wanted just as badly to study the anomaly.

“Not quite, Thompson. The military won’t let us do any subsurface scanning. No X-rays. They will let us take physical measurements; I have a list for you.”

“They want to treat this like a bomb even though it isn’t. The witness who found this thing said it absorbed his pen. Bombs don’t do that.”

“I know. I was there when they questioned him.”

She rubbed her eyes. She hadn’t gotten any sleep since the military called her and rushed her to a plane over 18 hours ago.

Sensing the lull in conversation and knowing he wouldn’t win that argument, Thompson tried to change the subject.

“Why does it smell like my mom’s roast beef fresh out of the oven?”

It was a serious question. His mouth was watering and he kept thinking of food, but the female professor just rolled her eyes.

“You are weird. Though, a few of the guys carrying boxes said that something smelled delicious as well. Doesn’t it give you a feeling of dread? It sure does with me.”

Paul shook his head. “Nope, I’m too excited. This is the find of the century.”

She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Ok, then. I’ll leave you to your work.”

He returned his attention to the anomaly, or STA as he started to call it.

He chuckled when he recalled what had happened to the military the previous morning.

It was no wonder politics was moving so slowly. There weren’t any protocols for this sort of thing. When no one could move the anomaly to a secure location, the military decided to build the secure location around the anomaly. Construction was halted and every civilian, which happened to be only an old couple spending time in their home, was evacuated.

Then they brought in physicists, including him, and a few other specialists to determine what the orb was. If it was a weapon, they needed to find out.

He looked down at the list in front of him, already prepared to stay awake the entire night. Alright, I guess I’ll start by taking its temperature.

[You have discovered a dungeon]

Zach narrowed his eyes at the system message.

[02:06:45]

[02:06:44]

[02:06:43]

[02:06:42]

‘What?!’

He stared at the floating black orb which definitely did not look like a dungeon.

‘What is with the timer counting down? Why does it smell so good?’

He noticed a bar of text, similar to a tag in a video game, just above the orb. He didn’t even need to use his [Observation] skill.

[Stone Marketplace of Bliss (level 1)]

He recalled the [Quests] list mentioning something about a dungeon. He quickly brought it up.

[Quests:]

[Daily Quests:] (1)

- {Running for Fun: 1.3 / 3 Miles Ran}

- {Duck Hunter: 10 / 10 Ducks Killed} (Completed)

[Main Quests:] (1)

- {Defender: 0 / 1 Dungeons Closed}

He opened the quest {Defender} and read its description.

{Defender:}

- {Close 1 dungeon after it opens then report your discovery to the nearest Hunter’s Guild. The following will be awarded upon completion: +3 Stat Points for distribution / Hero’s Boots. *Incomplete* 0 / 1 Dungeons Closed}

He flipped his brain into overdrive, processing the information.

The floating black orb was a dungeon. ‘Okay.’ There were probably humans in this world, and they had a Hunter’s Guild like any good fantasy game. ‘Good.’

He would receive 3 stat points to freely distribute! ‘What!?’

He would also receive a pair of shoes - real shoes - not the pair of [Terra Plant Sandals] which were just a few leaves on some string he was wearing.

‘Finally! Something more substantial and protective.’

Plus, there was a lot of experience to be gained.

So then why did it smell like brownies and ice cream? The closer he got, the stronger the smell in the air became.

‘Weird,’ he thought.

He checked the timer again.

[02:02:19]

Zach made the assumption that the dungeon would ‘open’ at the end of the timer. If his gaming instincts were right, he would have to ‘close’ it too. Dungeons were a common trope in games and were usually filled with monsters.

Monsters.

This left him with two choices: he could get away as far as he could to safety but let the monsters out into the world, or he could go in, brave the dangers and close the dungeon. He was heavily leaning toward the former, but stopped himself, wanting to look over everything rationally.

In the end, it all came down to the unknowns. He didn’t know what the dungeon’s terrain looked like and he also didn’t know what kind of monsters possibly awaited him.

Zach’s next thought made him grit his teeth in reluctance.

Would he rather face them inside the dungeon, where he had the initiative, or outside the dungeon, at night, when they had the initiative?

He briefly imagined some goblins standing over him while he slept and shivered.

The decision at this point was obvious. He needed to brave the dungeon and eliminate any threats.

In that case, he’d better commit. He needed a surefire way to win every fight. His {Stones Throw} was already pretty good, but having additional weapons wouldn’t hurt.

Buying a weapon obviously wasn’t an option.

He searched and found a long branch and began sharpening it with his flint tool. After about a minute of work, he had completed a simple wooden spear, which the system called a [Wooden Spike] for some reason.

He repeated the process five more times, ending up with a total of six spears, which he sent to his inventory. He looked around, wondering what else he could do with his flint tool.

‘Hmm. Flint tool.’

The flint tool he had made was already pretty sharp. In fact, it wasn’t a far cry from being a weapon of its own. Perhaps he could fashion a dagger using his tool making skills.

He set to work using {Observation} on all the rocks he saw in the area until he found a piece of flint that was decently sized. He hit it against a rock, chipping off excess material and creating a sharpened edge.

Whenever he grew unsure of his progress, he took a minute to study the soon-to-be weapon, then imagined using {Tool Making}. A sense of knowledgeable confidence would wash over him and his next strike would create a perfect edge.

[Tool Making has reached level 2]

The work became easier after that. It being a flint weapon, one of the most basic types of weapons, the skill of [Tool Making] made the process extremely easy.

After an hour of chiping, Zach attached the flint to a branch, creating a handle, before fastening the two with [Picante Tree Sap] and [Rope Weed]. The sap dried quickly, glueing the whole thing together. A series of messages applauded him.

[New Skill: Weapon Making (level 1)]

[Item Acquired: Flint Dagger (Rarity D)]

- {A dagger made from primitive, yet sharp materials. +12 Attack}

‘Yes! I’ve never felt more accomplished!’ he cried inwardly.

‘Yes. I’ve never felt more accomplished...’ he cried inwardly.

With this, he returned to the dungeon, ready to fight some monsters.

[Stone Marketplace of Bliss (level 1)]

[00:04:12 until Dungeon opens]

- [Open Early? yes/no]

Zach gripped his new dagger a little harder then selected yes. There was no point spending four minutes getting hungrier.

A lightning bolt struck the orb.

Blinking the spots out of his eyes, he watched in astonishment as the orb cracked and split apart. The air around it fractured like a mirror. Hairline cracks spread across the sky itself until it created an eight foot tall triangle with the ground as its base. Then the area inside the triangle broke apart and pieces of the sky fell inward, one at a time, revealing a new area as if it were there the entire time, behind the scenes of reality. The black orb collapsed, disappearing without a trace.

Nothing he had seen, either on TV or in a video game, prepared him for this.

He walked around it, fascinated by its apparent flatness. Looking through it from the back side revealed a different view of the same dungeon area. It was a two sided portal to worlds unknown. A fissure in reality.

Zach summoned a stone from his inventory, gripping it with his throwing arm, while holding his brand new dagger in his right. Then he cautiously proceeded into the fissure.

He stepped through and took in his surroundings.

‘A shopping mall?’

A wide foyer and several shopping areas were laid out before him. There were park benches and aluminum trash bins common to a heavily populated area. Every potted plant was shriveled, as though they hadn’t been watered in a long time. Metal shutters blocked shattered windows and certain areas were blocked off by chain link gate fencing. The only illumination came through skylights, and even that seemed dim, as if there was perpetual cloud coverage. Papers, leaves, and other trash littered the brick and concrete ground, sometimes shifting in the slight breeze. It was eerily quiet.

He stalked forward. The whole scenery reminded him of a zombie movie, a thought that didn’t help him calm down.

He checked to make sure his exit was still there, which it was. The fissure was centered between the two restrooms and off the wall so you could still walk through the other side if you wanted.

He tried to calm his racing heart, recalling that the quest needed him to “close” the dungeon. He forced his limbs out of their paralysis, looking for anything that stood out to him.

He rounded a corner and saw the hulking mass of grey fur. He quickly backtracked and pressed himself against the wall.

There was a loud snarl and the sound of heavy paws on stone. The ‘click clack’ of nails on the pavement got louder as the beast approached Zach.

He didn’t know which he could hear louder: the sound of his heartbeat or the animal’s breathing. At last the footsteps receded as the beast moved away. He let out a silent sigh of relief when he couldn’t hear it anymore.

Then a gust of wind blew in the direction of the beast. The corner he was hiding behind suddenly exploded into a shower of concrete dust and brick, throwing him backward several feet.

His meager instincts kicked in and he scrambled back to his feet. The adrenaline pumping through his veins accelerated his clumsy movements and he took in every horrifying detail.

Brilliant, reflective orange eyes. An enormous, salivating maw. Teeth as long as fingers. It’s breath smelled like rot.

A system message identified it as a [Zerean Wolf (level 6)].

Zach prepared to throw his stone. Too late, the wolf had closed the distance. He attempted to bite Zach who backpedaled. By sheer luck, Zach’s dagger in his other hand managed to open a small wound underneath the wolf’s neck.

Zach stood to throw his rock at the beast, but the wolf had closed in on him again, apparently enraged that he had managed to escape twice.

It nipped at him several times, sharp fangs opening a wound on his left forearm. Zach dodged and backpedaled, trying to create space, but the wolf persisted in its attack, keeping him from throwing a rock while also staying out of reach of his dagger.

When it nipped again, Zach dodged by the smallest of increments. The wolf’s head was right in front of Zach. He thrust his dagger up under the wolf’s chin at the same time his throwing arm came down right between its orange eyes. There was a sickening crunch as stone collided with skull and dagger bore into flesh.

The wolf’s legs stopped moving all at once and it dropped to the ground. Zach quickly moved away leaving his dagger buried in the wolf’s neck. His heart pounded in his chest as he leaned against a wall.

He looked down at a shaking hand holding a pile of dust. He had hit the wolf so hard that his stone had been pulverized. While admiring the fine powder that slipped between his fingers, a few system messages appeared.

[Defeated: Zerean Wolf (level 6)]

[Level Up: +1 to all Stats, Full Recovery]

[Level Up: +1 to all Stats, Full Recovery]

[Level Up: +1 to all Stats, Full Recovery]

A shimmer of light encased Zach’s body. When he looked down, any cuts he had were mended and he no longer felt tired. His heavy breathing and racing heart returned to normal in an instant. Even the fear had vanished.

‘Maybe fear counts as a status effect?’

He summoned his [Player Data].

[Zach: Level 7]

[Health: 110/110 Stamina: 40/40 Mana: 18/18]

[Classes: {Dreamer}, {empty}]

[Titles: none]

[Stats:]

- {Litheness: 16}

- {Constitution: 19}

- {Power: 21}

- {Will: 17}

- {Intelligence: 18}

- {Consumption: 18}

[Abilities: {?????}]

[Skills: Observation (level 2), Clothes Making (level 1), Tool Making (level 2), Stones Throw (level 3), Candle (level 1), Dungeon Detection (level 1), Weapon Making (level 1)]

He had reached level 7 in twenty seconds; a feat that would have taken him many ducks and several days to reach. He glanced at the wolf corpse several feet in front of him.

‘Is it worth it? Is that worth the risk?’

He stared in disbelief at the wolf’s gruesomely concave head, amazed at the damage his attack had done. This was the result of just a few points increase in his {Power}. At 21 points, it was a little more than double what it was when he had first seen the system. In other words, he was twice as strong now.

He stood, remembering his dagger. He retrieved it and looked down at the fallen beast.

He wondered why there was no prompt to send it to his inventory. He would have clicked ‘yes’ immediately. But perhaps the wolf was just too big.

He could chop it up into smaller pieces, but he doubted he had the stomach for that. His eye caught the bright white of the wolf’s fangs. He knelt and carefully placed the flint dagger in between the top fang and nearest tooth. With a lot of effort, and one pile of shameless vomit, he managed to pry the wolf’s largest two canines free.

[Item Acquired: Zerean Wolf Fangs (Rarity C)]

He immediately transferred these to the inventory, looking away from the wolf carcass. It was a shame he couldn’t bring the rest of the wolf with him and he regretted not being able to put it in his [Inventory].

The howl of another wolf brought him out of his thoughts. This time however, he didn’t freeze.

The tides have changed… (Actually, they were always in his favor.)

The next wolf he saw - its large eyes and enormous form - looked like a punching bag.

Zach gripped his knife tighter, not even bothering to summon another stone from his inventory, and charged the Zerean Wolf.

[End Chapter 5]