The entrance to the second floor was a large, stone tower, that rose high into the air, then went up and out through the roof above.

At the front of the tower, there was a single door with a golden metal frame, and a black metal handle on the side, just like before. The door didn’t have any sort of inscription or marking on it, but I didn’t pay that too much mind, as I pulled the handle towards me, and stepped inside.

Just a few feet in front of the doorway, there was a huge, winding staircase, that must have gone at least a hundred meters into the air. At first, to be honest, I felt a little intimidated by the sheer size and height of it. But as soon as I had placed my foot onto the first step, there was a sudden flash of light, and the same rumbling sound that I had heard before. When my eyes had adjusted once again to the new surroundings, I found that I was now at the very top of that same tower, with a bit of light streaming in through a few windows overhead, and another of the golden framed doors just in front of me. So, I reached out my hand, pulled the handle downwards, and pushed my way through the door, as I took my first step out towards the second floor of the dungeon.

In front of me was a huge, crystal-clear lake, that stretched out so far in all directions that it seemed to go on forever. All across the body of that lake, there were hundreds upon hundreds of small, round islands, each of which was within leaping distance of at least a couple of the rest. There were no bridges, and there was no boat or anything, so it seemed as if you really were meant just to leap from island to island in order to make your way on in ahead.

That sounded like a really good time, though, so I didn’t have even the slightest objection to that mode of transportation.

Way off into the distance, I thought that I could make out another stone tower, which probably lead up towards the third floor. I also saw a few islands that were much bigger than each of the rest, scattered throughout the horizon in front of me. One of them seemed to have a jungle on it, while another had what looked like a hot springs for bathing, and a third had a cave that I couldn’t quite see the entrance of. But for the most part, almost all of the islands were very small – only large enough for about five or six people to stand on at one time – and also quite flat, covered in little more than a light, green grass, with all of the smoothness and evenness of a well-maintained field.

If the waters of the lake hadn’t been so clear, I think that I would have been pretty worried about getting ambushed by some sort of monster from the deep. But as it was, I could see quite far down into the lake, in nearly all directions, and I didn’t see anything dangerous down there at all. There were just a bunch of beautiful, koi-like fish, and some lovely patches of coral further on in towards the bottom. The only odd thing at all was that there seemed to be a lot more ground beneath the islands than on top of them, and it also seemed as if some of the apparently separate islands might actually have been joined together along their bases. But I didn’t make too much of that at the time, and I merely registered it as another part of the landscape in front of me.

On the whole, the sight of the lake and the islands was deeply tranquil, and it gave a sense of profound calm, and of restfulness.

Except… well. There was a very obvious problem about the whole sight, which made me considerably more nervous than I would have been otherwise.

… I had no idea where any of the monsters were.

They definitely weren’t on the surfaces of the islands, and they didn’t seem to be underwater, either.

At the same time, I knew that they must be here somewhere, because Praxa had told me that every part of the dungeon has its own unique monster.

It was possible that they were invisible, or that they had some sort of cloaking device, or something. But that seemed a little too extreme for the second floor of a beginner’s dungeon.

The only possibility which that left, that I could think of… was that the monsters were somewhere underneath the ground – just waiting to pop up and to attack.

That wasn’t exactly the most comfortable proposition. But the more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that that must be the case.

Not only that, but I really couldn’t think of any sort of clever way to draw them out, or to expose them so that I could attack.

That meant that I was probably going to have to start walking on ahead, and wait for them to attack me, with no idea what they might be, or how they might strike. Then, I would have to do my best in order to survive, and to take them down once they had started to try to kill me.

That was, of course, a little bit nerve-wracking. But I didn’t really see any sort of alternative, and I certainly didn’t plan on heading back around, and giving up right then and there. So… I just tried to steel myself as best as I could, while I began to leap ahead, keeping an eye out for any sort of creature that might pop back out from the ground.

Not too long afterwards, I caught my first glimpse of the monsters that called this floor their home.

As I had soon discovered, this particular floor was populated by a creature that looked a little like a cross between a large mole, and a professional body-builder. They had the rough shape and outline of a mole, but with big, bulky arms, a thick upper torso, and a surprisingly expressive, pissed-off face. The whole spectacle was actually pretty funny, and I would have probably been really amused by it if I had seen them under a more favorable set of circumstances. But, it was hard to appreciate the sight too much when the creatures were trying so hard – and with such considerable skill – to bring my life to an end.

They were distance fighters, and their main method of attack was to pop out of a nearby island, then throw large, heavy stones in your direction, hurling them towards your head and your chest. Once you tried to get close to the creatures in order to defend yourself, they would just burrow down into the ground again, then pop back up on a different island, before resuming their attack.

If I was a ranged fighter, like an archer or a wizard, then it probably wouldn’t have been all that hard to take them down. But as it was, it took me a couple of minutes of frantic leaping and dodging until I was able to figure out a strategy that actually had a chance of working.

What I ended up coming up with was this.

I had to get as close to them as I possibly could without scaring them off, and then – right when they had put their whole forward motion into throwing a rock in my direction – I had to leap towards the island that they were on, all while twisting out of the way of their attack, and then plunging my blade into them before they could get away, so that I could finish them off right then and there.

As I’m sure that you can imagine, that took a lot of coordination, and it would never have been possible without my remarkably high Agility score, and my considerably improved Dodging skill, as well.

Also…

It was really, really fun.

I hardly even really noticed the passing of the time, as I ran and leapt from one little island to the next, flying through the air, dodging the volley of rocks that were hurled my way, and playing what amounted to the real-life equivalent of “Whac-a-Mole,” as I sliced and stabbed at the creatures, and grew stronger with every passing minute.

Of course, if I had been doing these sorts of things back on Earth, then I’m sure that I would have gotten really exhausted. But because of my blessing of Kalia, my body could almost instantly recover from all of the minor amounts of damage that I was doing to each of my muscles, which meant that I had something that came surprisingly close to being an unlimited amount of stamina. Not only that, but because you couldn’t really feel pain in the dungeons, I didn’t feel any discomfort when my whole body came crashing down onto the ground, or when I had to twist at an especially awkward angle up in the middle of the air.

All of that together meant that I was barely becoming tired, and that I could simply experience the thrill of leaping and flying through the air, and of running faster than I had ever been able to run before in my life, all without having to worry about my legs wearing out on me, or my muscles spasming, or anything like that.

I was still probably going to get pretty hungry, of course – my healing powers couldn’t just magically create the nutrients that I would need for my body – and if I pushed myself too hard for too long, I knew that the exertions would start to catch up to me. But even so, I was having such a good time that I didn’t worry about any of that at all. Instead, I focused in on soaring through the air, and on quickly dispatching each of my foes, as I continued to train to grow stronger on the huge, clear lake with the thousands of floating islands.

As I kept leaping and dodging, fighting and improving, I continued to feel really amazed that it was actually possible to make a career out of something that was so fundamentally enjoyable. From my conversation with Praxa a little while ago, and with Torver before that, I had already learned that adventurers generally didn’t make all that much money out of their careers, and that the successful ones usually only earned a little bit more than what the average person needed to make in order to survive.

But, honestly, I didn’t care about any of that at all. Just getting to be out here in these beautiful places, making such tangible and concrete improvements, and engaging in what effectively amounted to the most enjoyable form of athletic activity in the world – that was more than enough for me. Add to that the fact that eventually, I would likely be able to explore these places with the good friends that I made along the way, and the whole thing really seemed about perfect to me.

I had never been someone with especially expensive tastes, and I really didn’t care all that much about becoming rich, or famous, or even about being a big part of the events in the world. If I could become someone important, and if I could change the world for the better, then that would be nice, of course. But I was pretty easy to please, all things being considered, and the life that I was dreaming of at that moment – adventuring, exploring, and living out a peaceful and quiet existence in a little town somewhere, with my friends and family by my side – seemed like more than enough for me, and certainly enough for me to be quite happy.

And so, with a great sense of enjoyment and of satisfaction, and with a renewed determination to make my way through this world as a skilled adventurer, I simply continued to train and to grow stronger, enjoying all of the wonderful sights and spectacles along the way.

In the time that I continued to fight out there, I had quite a bit of progress. My Strong Swordsmanship had increased by 1, up to Level 8, and my Dodging had done the same, reaching up to Level 5. But my Athletics skill had predictably gone skyrocketing, from all of the leaping and running that I’d been doing, and it had advanced all the way up to Level 6. Just as with Dodging, there hadn’t been any sort of announcement of an enhancement or anything, so I assumed that “support” skills either didn’t get enhanced at all, or else reached their first enhancement at a later point in their progression. But the boost to my running and my leaping was still quite considerable, and it only served to make the whole act of flying through the air and jumping from place to place even more enjoyable.

But still, after about an hour and a half of fighting my way through the mole creatures, I was starting to get pretty hungry, and I was feeling just about ready to start to head my way back home. If I had thought to bring some sort of lunch with me, I could probably have gone a few hours longer. But I also felt like I had made enough progress for the day – I had been in here for almost five hours by now, and had dealt and received quite a bit of damage – and I figured that it was time to get back to watch over each of the children, and to continue to read and to learn about my new world.

But… well.

Even though I probably should have headed back right then, I still felt like I wanted to see a little bit more of this place before I left for the day. The whole setting was so enchanting, and so different from anything that I had ever seen before in my life, that I wanted to just walk through it and to explore it for a little while longer – without focusing too much on fighting or on growing stronger – before I ended up deciding to head back home.

So, I took a moment to stop and to look around, in order to see what there was left for me to explore.

I had already made my way out to the big island with the jungle on it, and I had also taken a brief rest at the big island with the hot springs, which was exactly as warm and refreshing as I had been hoping for. I had even gotten the chance to discover the stone tower that led up to the third floor, which was situated on one of the smaller islands almost directly opposite from the stone tower that I had originally climbed up from.

But I still hadn’t made it out to the large island with the cave just yet, and I was pretty curious about what might be lurking inside. I had been avoiding that place before, as I had been a little worried that it might be a boss battle or something, and I hadn’t wanted to get killed in here before I had finished up with my training. But now that I was about ready to start to head home, that unexplored cave seemed quite inviting, and like a nice place to examine before I gave up on my travels for the day. So slowly, I began to hop my way from place to place, taking my time to pause and to admire the view, as I made my way on up ahead.

About twenty minutes later, I hopped onto a bit of land a little ways behind the very back portion of the cave.

Once I had arrived, I could begin to just barely hear what sounded like loud snoring coming from towards the front entrance of the cave.

That set me on edge at once, and I suddenly became quite focused, and alert.

Then, as carefully as I could, I slowly made my way around the sides of the cave, trying not to make a single sound along the way. The whole time, my heart was beating faster and faster, as I stealthily made my way closer and closer towards the sound.

“Congratulations! You have learned the ‘Sneaking’ skill! Your Sneaking is now level 1! Each level will increase your ability to move quietly, and without being noticed.”

That might be useful for later, I thought. But, for now, I tried to focus on the task at hand, as I at last made my way up towards the front entrance of the cave.

Pausing, I turned towards my side, and took a good, clear look at what lay inside.

What I saw nearly took my breath away.

There, laying peacefully along the ground, was a golden goblin.

Given the odds that Praxa had told to me before, that seemed just about impossible – and I wouldn’t understand the reason that I’d been able to find one so quickly for another couple of days.

But right then, it really felt like a miracle, and like some sort of sign from the Gods that adventuring was going to be the life for me.

Fortunately, the creature hadn’t seemed to notice me yet, and the entrance to the cave was narrow enough that I doubted if it could escape even if it had.

Normally, I would have thought a little about what to do. But because of the extraordinary rarity of the find, and my eagerness to capture it, I didn’t even hesitate for a second. I just kept making my way closer in towards the creature, until I was directly at its side. Then, I raised my sword up into the air with both hands, and plunged it directly into the creature’s body.

I had been worried that, once I had made my attack, the creature might start to run, or that it might not go down without a considerable fight. But the moment that I touched it with my blade – even before I had done any real damage to it – the goblin exploded into thousands and thousands of particles of magical energy, as a large, golden box began to materialize right where the goblin had been before.

Excitedly, I opened up the box, and looked inside.

There before me, I saw four objects, lined up all in a row:

The first was a glowing, magical ring.

The second was a golden pendant, with a large gemstone in the center.

The third was a gem-studded dagger, that looked almost ceremonial in design.

And the fourth was a small, platinum coin, with an engraving of a golden goblin on the front, and of a box full of treasures on the back.

A little bit more investigation revealed to me that the magical ring was something called a “Minor Ring of Strength,” that gave a +4 boost to my STR, while the small, platinum coin was a special prize for having defeated my first golden goblin, that would automatically be returned with me when I left the dungeon, without counting against my three-item limit.

That meant that I could take every single thing in the box with me, without leaving a single one of the treasures behind.

I think it took me about a whole minute to really process just what an incredible find this was, and how many of my problems it had taken care of in a single instant. Even in the worst case – that this hadn’t been that good of a haul – it would certainly take care of my food expenses for quite a while, and it would probably give me enough money to really get my start in this world, and to serve as a solid foundation while I set up my career, and found a more stable way to earn my income.

That was, of course, a truly enormously good stroke of luck – one that I would never have been able to have received, had the goblin’s appearance depended at all on my ‘Luck’ stat!

Of course, even with the fact that the creature’s appearance wasn’t tied to my Luck, I still didn’t really understand how it was possible that I would have found such an extremely unlikely source of treasure on my very first visit to one of the dungeons. But right then, I wasn’t really thinking too much about any of those things. I just felt so grateful for what had happened, and so excited for all of the possibilities that this discovery had opened up for me, that it was hard to ask too many questions, or to think about any of the broader implications.

Honestly, I kind of wanted to sit there and to soak in the wonder and the joy of that moment for a long, long time, as my eyes gazed upon the beautiful treasures that were laid out before me.

But by now, I really was pretty hungry, and I knew that if I didn’t get back soon, then I was really going to be way too exhausted by the time that I finally made it back to my home.

So, I just marked each of the four objects as something that I wanted to take back with me when I left the dungeon, and then I told the system that I was ready to return, and to leave here for the day.

It took a moment for the system to recognize each of my commands, and to respond. But then, there was another flash of light, as the magic of the dungeons took me back to the entrance that I had come in through a little while before.

As my eyes slowly began to recover once more from the sudden transportation, all that I could think about was the memory of the extraordinarily pleasant day that I had just experienced, as I clutched each of the treasures tightly in my hand, and delighted in my great good fortune, and the fine start that I had managed to make to my whole life as an adventurer.