James stopped reminiscing about the events of that day. “That was a short while ago, though. I’ve been growing quickly. After I collect the last 3 orbs I need, I think I’ll try my hand at the 2nd floor.”

One couldn’t eat more than 50 orbs of each tier. So, a dungeon explorer could only gain so many points from tier 1 orbs. This was only really a restriction on James, who had bizarre luck when it came to dropped items and orbs. Within weeks, James would get the same amount of drops other explorers would have to work for years to achieve. It might have had something to do with the weird characters displaying on his luck stat, but James had no clue about the specifics. So, James treated it like everything else he didn’t understand – he stopped thinking about it.

“I should stop getting distracted while I’m in the dungeon. I could die. But, grinding monsters is really boring.”

James threw a knife at a goblin which was down running down a corner. His aim was a little bit off, so the knife dug into the shoulder. The goblin shrieked, and James simply stabbed the goblin in the forehead.

“You know, these goblins are really easy to kill. Even when my strength was really low, I didn’t have a problem. It’s because they’re weak and because they have no intelligence. They just lunge at you.”

James picked up the magic stone that appeared on the ground, and stored it in his bag. Then, he continued on.

James killed every goblin he saw without hesitation, except for the weaker goblin in the boss room. He incapacitated that one, blinded the boss goblin using the potion vials, and stabbed it to kill it.

The boss became berserk, as usual. James would usually throw knives at it and wait for it to weaken, but he tried something else today.

James grabbed a potion with his left hand, holding a throwing knife with his right. Ignoring the limitations that were the result of the imbalance between his high strength and low defense stats, he hurled the knife at the goblin, using all the strength he possibly could.

James’ right arm was dislocated at the shoulder, and a pain in his triceps made him assume that he tore the muscles while throwing. He ignored the pain and immediately drank the potion, while quietly running to the side in case the goblin came attacking. As soon as his arm healed, he pulled another throwing knife out of his bag.

However, he needn’t have worried. The knife he threw had aimed true. James didn’t see exactly how fast it went, but it had buried itself deep into the goblin’s head. It had died instantly.

In the few seconds before the goblin’s body disappeared and was replaced by the magic stone, James walked closer and was able to catch a glimpse of the goblin’s corpse in more detail. The knife hadn’t just sunk into the goblin’s head; it had actually pierced all the way through. James could see the point of the knife peeking out from the back of the goblin’s head, glinting from the lights in the dungeon.

“Wow,” breathed James. “I know that the berserk goblin’s defense is weakened, but this is still insane. If I get my other stats to this value, how powerful will I be?”

If the monsters on the other floors also dropped orbs that boosted his stats, James would become ridiculously strong, fast, and resistant to attacks. He would also have lots of magical capabilities, assuming that he could learn magic.

“I can see how my senior explorers became so strong.”

His seniors had shown frightening strength, but that distance didn’t seem like so much anymore. He would eventually climb up.

As soon as James had stashed the magic stones in his bag, the portal that would take him to the dungeon shop opened. But, James didn’t bother walking towards it.

“Commence exploration. 1st floor.”

[Keyword needed to authorize command.]

“Fuck.”

He still hadn’t found a way to change his keyword yet. Every time he wanted to enter the dungeon, he had to curse. Every time he wanted to hop into the first floor and kill goblins, he had to curse. Every time he wanted to visit the shop, he had to curse, or he had to clear the first floor, which meant he had to curse.

James guessed the purpose of the keyword was to prevent people from accidentally joining the dungeon when they didn’t mean to, but if he set his safe word as a commonly used word like “fuck,” then it would be practically useless.

“Whatever. Back to massacring goblins.”

====================

James walked into the dungeon shop about an hour before he had to wake up. This was the usual time where he and his senior dungeon explorers met and chatted. This was the chosen time, because it was the most convenient for James and Beck, who both resided in the western United States. James lived in Arizona, and Beck in California. Besides, Leah and Mike were the owners of massive corporations, and basically had no obligations. They could sleep whenever they wanted, except when they had meetings. Though, James didn’t know how Leah handled her legal stuff. She was the same age as James, who was 17, even if she had been exploring the dungeon for years already. Under Korean law, those under the age of 19 were still minors.

As he entered the shop, he noticed a new dungeon explorer. For the past 3 weeks, James had somewhat familiarized himself with the faces of the dungeon explorers. Of course, James couldn’t remember them all - most of them didn’t speak English or Mandarin. James had acquainted himself with a few explorers that spoke English, but had never really talked to them. He hadn’t seen any dungeon explorers from China, which he found weird. However, he didn’t think too much of it.

But, this dungeon explorer was different. James was sure that if he’d seen him before, he would have remembered him. Brown hair and eyes, a sharp jaw, a thin mouth, and tall physique. His face was handsome, but harsh.

James heard him speak a single line: “Commence Exploration, 19th floor.” Then, he disappeared.

The man spoke English. However, what startled him was the floor he was going to.

The 19th floor. The highest of the 4th tier floors, except for the boss floor on the 20th. A place where only the elites could hope to set foot in.

Explorers on the 2nd tier, floors 6 through 10, were considered low-tier explorers. Those on the 3rd tier, floors 11 through 15, were considered mid-tier. Then, those on the 4th tier, floors 16 through 19, were considered high tier explorers. Even among high tier explorers, there were a few who stood out above the rest. These were explorers who had cleared the 19th floor. These were the top explorers in the dungeon, nicknamed the “frontrunners.” All of James’ senior explorers were part of this small group of less than 10 explorers. And so was this brown haired man.

There were no recorded cases of an explorer ever clearing the 20th floor. According to those who’d been in the dungeon for a while, over the few years, multiple frontrunners had challenged the 20th floor and had never returned. As a result, the current frontrunners were scared of challenging the floor. Thus, the explorers were stuck at the 4th tier. If the pattern continued, the explorers would have had to fight a 5th tier monster.

James couldn’t imagine the strength of such a monster. The bear he had fought was a weak tier 4 monster, and could modify landscapes by itself. It had been sheer luck that James had managed to defeat it. A strong, tier 5 boss monster would be ridiculous.

Just a few moments ago, James felt as if he’d be able to gain strength very quickly. However, he now felt as if he was looking up at higher existences. He was being dwarfed by titans.