CHAPTER 3: A cook inside the dungeon

“Blade? A cooking class?! What the fuck is this shit?!" I shouted loud enough to get everyones attention. I notice some of them are trying to hold a laugh. But this isn't funny at all. This class specializes only in cooking and it’s probably useless in combat.

Class Description of "BLADE" A cooking class. You're on a path to master all types of cooking. You can even master beverages and other godly goodies that can satisfy a person’s stomach. Advance this class to the maximum capacity and achieve 'master' blade status! You are an individual that fight behind closed doors! Just sit back, relax, and let the food do the talkin’!

“Oh my fucking god. This class is useless in combat! This must be a mistake!" My heart is palpitating too much at this point. The voice in my mind betrayed me and the information Riki said isn't true.

Why the hell did I listen to them. This is not a dual wielding attacker. This is a fucking cook! I say in my mind.

I picked blade so that I don’t have to rely on other but now, it became just the opposite of what I want. In order for me to survive here, I might rely on them to help me.

“Let me seeeeee~," Luro says and I didn't notice the statue is standing behind me reading the class description. “Hmmm, this is not a mistake. Kekekeke. All class is created properly by no other than great god: me!"

“How do you expect me to fight out there with this?!” I shout towards him. My mind is a mess. My logical thinking has become clouded by fear and my poor judgment.

Luro shrugs. “I don’t know, I’m not a cook. Kekekeke.”

“But you created this class!“

“That I did.” I can hear in his voice, he just doesn't care at all.

At this point, my mind is going blank. I didn't know what to do except scream back at him. "You created this fucking world!"

“That I did.”

“Why?!”

Luro smirks. “For fun~”

Is he mocking me? Is he?! He’s fucking mocking me! I say in my mind. I feel tired from all the screaming. Everyone's not saying anything and just looking at us back and forth as we exchange blows with our words.

Luro turns towards Riki and crosses his arms. “Besides, who told you it was a dual wielding combat class in the beginning?”

“But the name blade. I thought....It-“ Riki tried to reply but he was interrupted from finishing his sentence.

“Exaaaaactly~ You thought. Let me give you all a word of advice, think differently from now on. If any of you want to survive, a lot of basic information on earth doesn’t apply here. So~ Stop thinking like you're on earth! This place is better than your dull planet~ It's a wonderful place to be in~ kekekekekekekeke~” Luro says and I don’t say anything back. My mind is a mess. I can't think of anything except the situation I’m currently in.

I'm fucked. I’m genuinely fucked. I can’t cook my way through this world! What am I suppose to do? Feed the enemies to death? For a person who studies all his life, I did the worst fucking mistake and let my feelings choose for me rather than using facts. I messed up. I really fucking messed up. I say in my mind.

“Now, we have wasted a lot of time. Let me give you guys your weapon and then you can go on figuring out how to leave this dungeon." Luro says. "Now, remember even if it is a game, you all only have one life. If you die…well you die..kekekekekekeke.”

While he's laughing like a maniac, my gaze is focused on the ground. My eyes are getting blurry as tears accumulate. My mind is a mess.

How am I supposed to go home like this? I’m the weakest in the group and probably a hindrance in the future. I say in my mind. Then I hear him snap his fingers and a new notification emerged in front of my vision.

Luro the ALMIGHTY GOD wants to give you a gift? Accept?

At least I get a weapon. I say in my mind.

“Accept.” Junpei was the first to talk and a weapon materialized in front of him. It’s a sword along with a shield. Along with the weapons, a piece of armor also materializes a metal chest plate.

“Accept.” Hiroko followed right after him and said the word. A bow and quiver with arrows appeared in front of her along with what seems to be a leather jacket.

Seeing Hiroko and Junpei getting their weapons and armor, the rest of the group followed them. Riki got a two handed hammer along with a metal chest plate similar to Junpei's. Sawada ened up picking assassin instead of archer and Tobi picked the archer since the weapon they got is a dagger and along with the leather hood and Tobi got the same type of weapon and armor as Hiroko. Rikimura-san got the same type of weapon as Junpei.

“Hahahahaha I look forward to seeing this group come out alive from this dungeon! Well then, arrivederci little babies! Don’t die until you have killed me! Kekekekekekekeke~” Luro says as he walks back to the statue’s original position and froze in place as for how it was in the beginning. Just like that, Luro was gone and we're all by ourselves again. The notification is still here, right on my face. I try to calm myself and accept the fact I messed up. If I throw a tantrum now, these people will think of the worst of me. Even though they orced this stupid class onto me, I'm partly at fault for now following my gut instict.

"Ok, ok, I got this. It's not the end of the world yet. As long as I have weapons, I can make do." I mutter to myself. As I look at the rest of the group who is busy equipping their armor and testing out their weapon, I just remembered, I displayed a side of me I don't usually do. I feel embarrassed knowing the fact they saw me screaming like a kid.

They must be judging me now thinking that I'm a psycho. Fuck. I say in my mind as I averted their gaze and just focused on the message in front of me.

“Accept.” The minute I said the word, the notification disappeared and my weapon along with my armor materialized out of thin air. I started laughing. I got something really good to laugh at. I laughed so loud that the rest of the group stopped what they were doing and just looked at me. But my laugh turned quickly into a scream.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" I let out all my frustration as much as I can until my throat rips apart inside and I taste the blood inside my mouth. I got on my knees and started sobbing.

“Fuck, Fuck…” my voice trails off as it slowly gets replaced with silent sobs. The weapon that materialized is a spatula and a frying pan. My armor? An apron. Stupid fucking apron.

“Fucking asshole, at least give me a knife to cut things with…” I’m crying while smiling and laughing. Oh man, I’m broken on the inside.

This is just too much. I did one careless fucking mistake and now I'm in deep shit. It wasn't like me to move without thinking things through. Why did I do that? Why didn't I check the class description? Why did I pick because of a stupid voice in my head!? Why?! I was going crazy in my mind.

While wallowing in my situation, I hear footsteps approaching me. Junpei is walking towards my way. I wanted to look up but I didn't want to look at him in the eye and see pity or worse, see the same look I got when my mother and me we're homeless. I keep looking at the ground sobbing quietly. I hear him stop right in front of me and I can see his shadow overlapping mine.

Please don't make fun of me. Please don't pity me. Just leave me alone. I say in my mind.

"Hey, Yasu was it? Don’t worry about it. Just stick close to me and I’ll guard you with this shield. Junpei says as he holds the shield up. “The only way for us to survive this is if we all work together. Isn’t that right everyone?” Junpei looks at everyone in the room.

As I glance at their faces, they all nod but I can see that they already see me as a hindrance. Even though its all their fault for forcing me into this class, I didn't say anything. They don't know me and I don't know them. But at least I'll have the common decency to hide my expression if I was in their position.

“Everyone, we need to think of a way of getting out of this place. First thing first, who here has played online RPG game before? Raise your hand.” Junpei asked and everyone raised a hand. "Ok good, this means we all have the general aspect of an RPG game. The first thing we need to do is check our stats. I figured out how to view or stats. Everyone, please say status window. This will show you information such as; list of skills, our current level, guild, and even our class. I think we're all level one."

"Status window." I whisper under my breath and a window came up.

Status Window

Name: Yasu Class: BLADE Level: 1 Guild: Diamond District Skills: Skill level: Grill 1 Passive Skills: Passive skill description: Chef's Soul Gives you a chef's natural abilities. Purify Whatever you cook is automatically purified making it safe to eat. Midas Touch All the food and beverages you create taste better.

Status Window

Name: Junpei Class: KNIGHT Level: 1 Guild: Diamond District Skills: Skill Level: Shield Smash 1 Sword Slash 1 Passive Skills: Passive skill description: Hero's Soul You are a Hero. Valor of the Knights Boost your leadership status. Protector You feel less pain from attacks.

Status Window

Name: Hiroko Class: ARCHER Level: 1 Guild: Diamond District Skills: Skill Level: Deadshot 1 Arrow Rain 1 Passive Skills: Passive skill description: Hero's Soul You're a hero. Sharpshooter This improves your accuracy. Leather Aim. Wearing a full set of leather increase accuracy.

Status Window

Name: Riki Class: BERSERKER Level: 1 Guild: Diamond District Skills: Skill level: Hammer Smash 1 Stomp 1 Passive Skills: Passive skill description: Hero's Soul You're a Hero. Berserk This skill randomly activates during combat to give you a boost in strength. Going HAM You are much stronger when wielding hammers.

Status Window

Name: Sawada Class: ASSASSIN Level: 1 Guild: Diamond District Skills: Skill level: Assassination 1 Stealth Step 1 Passive Skills: Passive skill description: Hero's Soul You're a Hero. Nightvision Gives the ability to see better in the dark. Feather Step Makes every footstep silent while crouching.

Status Window

Name: Tobi Class: ARCHER Level: 1 Guild: Diamond District Skills: Skill level: Deadshot 1 Arrow Rain 1 Passive Skills: Passive skill description: Hero's Soul You're a Hero. Sharpshooter This improves your accuracy. Leather Aim Wearing a full set of leather increase accuracy.

Status Window

Name: Rikimura Class: KNIGHT Level: 1 Guild: Diamond District Skills: Skill level: Shield Smash 1 Sword Slash 1 Passive skills: Passive skill description: Hero's Soul You're a Hero. Valor Boost your leadership status. Protector Feel less pain from attacks.

“This stats are weird. Where's the stamina, and stuff.” Riki says looking confused.

"The what?" Junpei asked.

Even though I'm not an avid gamer like Riki, I know what he's talking about. On those RPG games, you start with basic stats. You're given points to distribute within the build of your character. Adding more points on stamina improve health, adding more points in strength makes your character stronger. But in our case, none of these are available. But for now, I can't trust anything he says. He gave me a false sense of safety earlier with his bullshit information.

"Show Stats. Hmm nothing, let see, show points? Nothing. How does this even work…" Riki plays around with the commands. Basically, the interface we're all using is probably all voice activated. We say the commands and it appears. The only issue is, we don’t have a list of commands for this world. We don't know what commands bring out what information.

Wait, how come he's not apologizing for giving us wrong info? I say in my mind.

"Help? Nothing. Show command list? Nothing. What the hell...." Riki continues. "Hmmmm….how about seeing it separately. Let see....show stamina? Nothing. Show strength? Still nothing..." Everyone's now saying a different set of words to figure out more of our system but nothing is happening. Riki kept trying more commands until he's able to get something to pop open.

"Show DPS? Show DPH? BINGO!" Riki screams. "Guys! Say show DPH!" Riki says and we all did.

"Show DPH," I mumble and a notification came up.

DPH 1

"What's DPH?" Hiroko asked and Riki happily explained.

"Well, DPS stands for damage per second. DPH Stands for damage per hit. It basically represents how much damage you do every hit.” Riki explained. "Look, if you hold your weapon, your DPH increases! Without a weapon, my DPH is 20. When I hold my hammer, it goes up to 100!" taking out their weapons and holding them.

"Whoa, mine went up to 100 also," Junpei says.

"Me too!" Tobi says. Actually, it's not just them three, everyone's damage per second is around 100 with their weapon equipped. I hold my spatula and frying pan since it's the only weapon that was given to me.

"Fuck." I whisper to myself looking at my DPH. It’s still at one. It doesn't matter if I’m barehanded or holding my weapons. It remains at one.

This is not good. Why is mine at 1? Am I really not suited to fight? Does this mean I have to hit them multiple times to kill them? What if...what if their health is around 300?! Do I have to hit them 300 times?! I say in my mind. I tried to not give an impression that my attack damage is one. They already know I'm weak; I don't want to put myself deep in the gutter more than I already am.

“Ok now, how do we get out of here?” Junpei asked and all gazes fell towards him.

“Well, I don’t know if any of you noticed but there's a lot of doors that surrounds us. All of them are open because that's where we came from.” Rikimura point towards the only closed door. “Except that door. I was thinking we're missing a person, but since that statue said there's only seven of us, I guess that's the exit."

The door is located right next to the one I exited earlier. We all walked towards it and Hiroko started inspecting like she's some door professional.

“If you look at it closely, the door is taller than the ones we came from. It also has the carvings and design on it but it is missing the handles. This means it must be pushed from the inside. Guys help me out.” Junpei asks and we all move towards the door trying to push it open. At first it didn't budge but the more we tried, it started moving slowly. Once we managed to get the door open enough for all of us to fit through, we see a dark hallway. Three torches are illuminating the section near us but the hallway then continues its blackness as far as our eyes can handle.

We started walking out and the minute we did, a notification appeared in front of us again.

You have left a safe zone.

I got startled by its sudden appearance and I'm not the only one since Hiroko let out a yelp. I guess it’ll take time to get used to these notifications suddenly popping up.

"I guess that room is the safe zone," Riki says in a low voice like when someone might hear him.

"Should we go?" Hiroko whispered.

"Well, I don’t think we can stay here any longer," Junpei whispers. He looks back towards the inside of the safe zone and continued talking. "There are hardly any resources for us to sustain a living. There’s no food, beds, water, or anything here as far as I know. And it’s not like we have to wait for rescue. No one is coming to rescue us. We have to get out of here on our own."

"Well, even if you guys want to stay, I think I'm going. I don't want to die here." Sawada says and he started walking towards the dark. Everyone probably thinks the same since we all ventured out away from the safe room. We don't know each other very well so I can feel everyone a bit distant from each other.

So far as for now, it's every man for themselves. I say in my mind worried that if every they leave me behind, I'd be as good as dead.

Right now I’m staying close to Junpei who has his shield up and sword ready just in case any monsters come out from the shadows and attack us. As we progressed through the hallway, new torches keep igniting while the ones we got far away from turned off leaving us with darkness in both directions. We kept on advancing forward until we hit another double door. This one is different. It's made of marble that has design encrypted onto its lower half.

"Words? Of this world?" Junpei says inspecting the unknown language carved into the door. He started pushing it open and when we're about to help him, Hiroko interrupted us.

“Wait.” Hiroko grabbed Junpei on the arm. “Before we go through this door should we have a formation?”

“Formation?” Tobi replied.

Hiroko then lets go of Junpei’s arm and looked at Tobi. "Yeah like those army guys has. Once we're on the other side we should watch all sides."

Army guys? This girl. I say in my mind.

"Ah, I got it. How about the ones with a shield cover the front and the back while archers cover the left and right. The assassin should scout ahead but not too far from our reach just in case it gets ugly. Yasu, stay in the middle of the group and Riki, you stay with Yasu and deflect any enemies that might attack us from above.” Junpei says.

I don’t mind staying in the middle. I'm useless in combat and it's the best ideal scenario in this case. I say in my mind.

“S-sure," Riki replied. He then turned to me and gave me a smile. "I got you, man. I’ll hammer our enemies to death!" He holds up his two-handed hammers showing it to me and I just nod in agreement. I guess he feels a bit responsible giving us or I should say, giving me the wrong information earlier.

“Everyone agree?” Junpei asks the rest of the group. We all replied with a yes or a nod.

The only thing I can use now is my brain. But I don't want to make unnecessary movement and give out opinions and challenge Junpei's position of being the leader. Even though we didn't pick him to be the leader, it seems like he stepped up on his own and no one questioned it. Not even Rikimura-san who’s older than all of us. And, If I try to lead them now to tell them what to do, they might hate me or hate the fact that someone weak is leading them. I have a couple of better solutions but for now, I'll stay quiet to avoid friction between us.

We started pushing the marble door open. Getting the doors to open was a lot harder. This one required a tremendous force from all of us and even when we pushed it with all our might, we're only able to open it partially for us to side step one by one. We tried to push it further but it won’t budge anymore. Looking through the opening, it was pitch black inside. Not a good sign. Sawada, without notifying us, ran back where we came from into the darkness.

“Sawada what are you doing! Sawada!” Junpei shouted out in the dark. We all stared at the darkness where Sawada ran off into. We're all thinking he ran off back to the safe zone but then Sawada came out of the dark hugging a few torches.

“Sawada! What the hell man! What’s wrong with you?!” Junpei says. It seems like he's really worried.

"Sorry, sorry, I just don't want to go through the other side blind so I went to pick up torches for us to use," Sawada replies and gives him a torch. I don't know why he ran off in the dark if he could have picked up the torches near us that are lit up and used it. Why would he run into the dark to get torches? I don't know.

Maybe he's trying to impress them. Wait....how come the torches didn't light up? I remember it lit up by itself when we passed by...does it only work when we're all together? I have so many questions running through my mind.

“Damn man, tell us before you go ghost recon on us. Jeez, don’t scare us like that.” Junpei says giving Sawada a light tap on the chest with his fist.

What? Are they friends already? Ghost Recon? That's a cringy comment. I say in my mind.

“Hahaha. Sorry, sorry.” Sawada replied. After their brief bromance moment, we tried again to open the door more.

“ARGH! Fuck it! This won’t open any further. We just have to go one by one through the opening. I’ll go first, Rikimura-san, please go last since you also have a shield. I don’t want any one coming up behind us and were unprotected.” Junpei suggested.

"Sure kid," Rikimura says. We started to enter the opening one by one. First was Junpei, and then Hiroko followed. The third person to go was Riki then Sawada. The three of us was left on the other side. Tobi was preparing to enter through the opening when we all heard Hiroko scream from the other side.

“KYAAAAAAAAAA!” I hear Hiroko scream.

“Hiroko get back!” Junpei shouts out.

“Everyone get through the door quick! Help us!!” Sawada shouted out and we all rushed through the opening. What awaited us on the other side was hell incarnate itself.

It’s just unfair, really unfair. I whisper in my mind feeling a cold sweat tricking from fear.