I woke up on a cold and hard floor. No, not floor but ground. Dirt and dust caked my body and tiny rocks poked into my stomach and cheeks. I felt a raging heat at my forehead alongside a wracking headache only dampened slightly by the cool yet uncomfortable ground.

I lifted myself up slightly to get my face off the ground and immediately regretted it as a surge of nausea hit me. I vomited and whatever came out burned my throat and was mostly bile and other fluids. My body dry heaved a few times until it realized there was nothing to throw up anymore. While wiping my mouth I noticed a bowl of food and a drink next to me.

If not to fill my stomach, it would at least give me something to throw up later. The bowl was made of wood and was filled with bread, shelled nuts, a carrot, and a wedge of cheese. Enough for a meal or two. Not a feast but still everything I needed. But before that, I was parched and grabbed the drink, which was a long glass bottle filled with a clear fluid with a stopper on top.

I pulled out the stopper and took a whiff of the contents. Anything that could get rid of my thirst was welcome but I hoped it was water. Instead, it smelt of something with a bit more spirit to it, liquor. I turned away from the strong smell as I was already recovering from drinking heavily the night before. Eventually, I took a small sip to quench my dry mouth and the booze burned every step of the way, a different kind of burn than the vomit but just as unwelcome.

It cleared my head as I closed my eyes tightly and let out a grunt. Strong stuff it was and it had a pleasant nutty aftertaste rather than the harsh spices I'm used to. Last time I drank something of such quality was years ago. Normally, it’d take around twenty mugs of beer to knock me out but a full mug of this was just as likely to blind me as it was to kick me into next week.

My stomach settled down a bit with the warm brew inside, no longer wanting to push itself out of me. So, I ate some of the food while looking around me. I was in some sort of cavern with two exits and a torch on the wall lighting things up. As much as I wished this was an old mine or cave I fell into, I could tell I was in the dungeon.

The torch on the wall was producing no smoke nor was it actually burning. The flames were around it and the wood was not discolored or darkened by it. That and some vague memories about a drinking contest and a bet involving the dungeon floated around my head. The worst possible scenario for me has popped up. I was deep within the bowels of the world itself and surrounded by rooms filled with hostile environments and not so friendly monsters.

This room seemed to be one of the so-called safe rooms. A place where one could rest and not worry about monsters appearing. There was even food and enough space to set up a tent to call the night. If only I had a tent instead of passing out on the ground. Then again, with how drunk I had been, I'd probably have done the same thing even with a tent. Anywhere else in the dungeon, resting for long was nigh impossible as even after monsters were cleared from a room, more would come if one stayed too long. So in a way, I was lucky for choosing to pass out here.

I ate everything in the bowl and drowned it down with another mouthful of liquor. I was very hungry after my stomach settled down. Thirsty too, but I couldn't handle drinking too much of this stuff. A beer I could work with, but even I wouldn't get drunk during the day unless there was some sort of celebration going on. The strength of the liquor was bringing back a headache from my hangover and giving me a buzz already. There was still almost a full bottle of this stuff so I put the stopper back on and slip it into my clothes.

Maybe if I was lucky, the monsters hadn't come back from the rooms I passed through. The way the dungeon worked is that monsters spawned in areas faster if you linger but if you rush through, those areas often have no monsters on the way back. It encourages people delving in to go as far as possible very quickly, often dying in the process as caution is thrown to the wind. Then again, I was passed out for who knows how long and I don't even know which direction I came from. However, sitting here forever wouldn't help so I stood up and bumped into something.

Half a glass bottle rolled away from me, making an obnoxiously loud noise as it did so and it left a trail of some dark brown liquid. The bottom half was broken off leaving behind jagged and razor sharp glass in a circle. It was the type of thing that had claimed the lives of many a bar goer. A broken bottle shank and that dark brown liquid was dried blood, not mine of course. I would've noticed by now if I had a new hole compliments of that piece of work.

Beyond the trail of dry blood flaking off onto the ground, there were more splatters of dried blood every few steps leading in the direction of one of the tunnels. I presumed this is the way I came from and that this broken bottle is what I used as a weapon. Since I managed to make it this far into the dungeon, far enough to reach a rest area, I must have fought monsters on the way and I know no martial arts so it's reasonable I used some sort of weapon. But did I really walk into one of the most dangerous places in the world with only the clothes on my back and this as a weapon. No one would believe it even as a joke.

I started walking towards the tunnel where the blood trailed off from, picking the bottle up on the way because I needed something to use as a weapon the way back if I'm unlucky. As I walked, I felt heavier than usual and a bit awkward, especially around my back. It felt like something with a bit of weight was sticking to it, so I reached behind me and grabbed onto something that felt rough and woodlike. There was also some sort of strap on my chest and over my shoulder that moved as I touched it. So, I pulled it over my head to unravel the strap from my body and found a shield. No, more like a buckler with its small size, meant more for parrying than blocking.

Wood wasn't the best material for a shield and I would've preferred iron even if it was made of slag. I held it on my left arm anyways because it was better than nothing. There was a strange symbol on it like an insignia that seemed like it was glowing. I tried to ignore it, but a part of me was worried it was a cursed item. However, I had used the item the day before obviously since I woke up with it, so it should have been fine to use.

The next room was empty apart from some blood in the middle of the room. There should have been the bodies of the monsters that had been there, but the dungeon had already consumed them and by tomorrow the blood would be gone too. In fact, this entire room might be wiped from existence and replaced with something else. Me with it if I don't make it out of here alive.

If I stayed any longer, I'd risk a run in with a freshly spawned monster. I walked around the bloodstains and traversed to the next room. In the doorways of the rooms, there was this darkness that immediately disappeared and opened up to the next room as soon as it was touched. It was as if each room had portals rather than doorways with all of the rooms disconnected and in limbo deep underground. It was just easier to think of them being directly connected.

One, two, three, four and so on I mentally counted. The danger of the dungeon and the size of rooms got bigger the further down you went. I knew that I wasn't too deep as the rooms were still rooms, small and gave off a feeling of being inside. Apparently around room fifty and onward the rooms got so big that they started to give off the feeling of being outside somewhere and there were so many monsters that things became a battlefield. Rest areas like the one I woke up in would appear only after at least ten rooms and were spaced out anywhere from ten to thirty rooms in between. If I was lucky, I was ten rooms in. If I was unlucky, thirty rooms in and at that point it's pretty much guaranteed I'll bump into monsters on the way back.

Five, six, seven, eight and I was almost out of the dungeon. The rooms were only big enough for three men to walk side by side comfortably for a dozen steps. With it becoming this small, it was almost guaranteed that I'd get out a little after two rooms and not a single monster had respawned in the process. It was a bit unnerving to see the rotting corpses of the monsters as I passed through. They were humanoid yet half my size with gnarly rodent-like faces. I'd probably find an intact version by the entrance, hopefully, dead still. However, since I hadn't found any live ones yet, I was probably safe. I had entered a dungeon in a drunken stupor, killed monsters with a bottle, and made it out alive with a shield and a bottle of strong liquor as my loot.

Nine disagreed with my previous sentence as if the dungeon itself heard my thoughts and wanted me to eat my words. In a room that could barely fit me, I found two monsters, one alive and one dead. The dead one was just bones, completely stripped clean of flesh with several bones snapped in half. The living one was pretty much indistinguishable from a normal rat except much bigger, being able to stand on two legs, brown rather than the usual black fur, and the fact that its hands were big enough to hold a weapon, which just so happened to be one of the dead rat's ribs.

This foul beast had spawned just in time to block my way, or rather just in time to consume the corpse of his fallen comrade then face me. I should've been quicker. Maybe I could've made it past before it spawned if I hadn't stopped to eat and took so much time to get here. Which would be even more terrifying because if that was true then this rat had eaten its comrade within a few minutes. Probably best to just blame it on my hangover making me sleep in.

The rat gave off a squeak which would have been cute if it was coming from a small mouse or rat, but it was terrifying and high pitched coming from this monstrosity. It charged me with the rib raised up in the air. The damn thing wanted to stab me with it. I lifted up my shield to meet its strike. The rib slammed into my shield and shattered, but the impact pushed me up against the wall and the rat didn't back down one bit. It dropped the broken rib and clawed at my shield with both its hands while its head leaned in close to my face and tried biting me. Its teeth snapped shut multiple times centimeters away from my face and I could smell something rotten from its breath.

Something had to be done. All I had was the broke bottle from before in my right hand. Should I stab it or bash it over the head? What am I supposed to do? I haven't ever killed anything before, well not while sober. My hand started shaking and I could barely move as my strength began to leave my body. I closed my eyes and could feel its hot breath get closer and closer to my face. I felt like I was going to die there. Then, I stabbed the broken bottle into the beast, not sure when I did it or where I stabbed it but it let out a shriek and backed away from me. I opened my eyes to see it lying on the ground with its hand over its stomach, trying to stop the bleeding.

It almost seemed human as it curled up and shivered as life left its body. A terrible cannibalizing human being, but it was there nonetheless. I walked closer to it, maybe out of curiosity or perhaps out of pity. For such a foul beast, its death was slow, quiet and peaceful. Except, it wasn't dead just yet and as soon as I got closer it suddenly pounced at me. I instinctively brought up my hands to cover my face and with them my shield. It had gone for my neck but instead found it facefirst with my shield.

I fell over from the impact and my left arm was deeply in pain, either bruised, sprained, or broken. The creature was lying off to the side of me, rolling around and foaming at the mouth while blood sprayed everywhere from its stomach. I lifted up my right arm and started stabbing it with the broken bottle, over and over again as more blood sprayed all over me. Every time I stabbed it, it would let out a shrill cry but it wouldn't die. I kept stabbing and stabbing until finally, I realized it wasn't moving anymore. And this time I was sure it was dead because half its organs and all of its blood were strewn about on the floor and me. Its wounds no longer bled and it no longer made any sounds or movements. My first kill while sober was brutal, gory, and by no means peaceful or quiet.

The dead body beside me began to rapidly decompose and got sucked into the ground within a few seconds. In its place lied a reddish colored rock. Sometimes after a monster died in the dungeon, instead of the usual rotting and slowly seeping into the dungeon at a pace relative to how deep in the dungeon it is, it would disappear instantly and leave behind some loot. The loot was everything from materials that could be sold to items and equipment that could be used. The higher the room count, the more likely this would happen and the more valuable it is. The equipment sometimes was created with a random effect that could be useful or downright harmful. My wooden shield must've been looted a monster deeper into the dungeon and likely had one of those random effects.

As for the rock on the ground, I think it was a piece of copper or iron from the color. Not sure, but I can sell it and use the cash to knock down my tab at the bar. Would make up for the lack of work lately around town. I wish I could rest here for a moment, catch my breath and clean off some of this blood. However, the longer I stay here, the more likely I am to bump into another monster if there's not one the next room over. So, I grabbed the rock and tossed it into my shirt, next to the booze which I drank a sip and poured a tiny bit into my hand to scrub off some of the blood on my hands and face. Then I got up and walked towards the next room.

Which was actually the exit as I left the dungeon and found myself in the outside world once again. The sun bore down on me, feeling especially bright this day. It was around noon, not an unusual time for me to wake up after drinking. Thanks to a light breeze, it wasn't too hot despite being in the middle of summer. Everything just felt so nice in comparison to the dreary insides of the dungeon. Which was odd because normally be swearing up a storm about the sun being too bright or the air being too hot.

The dungeon was on the outskirts of town and people only went to it early in the morning and late afternoon so there was no one around. Looking like this, I couldn't go into town. So, I went off to the nearby river and took a bath. Downriver of town so no one would panic about the blood and so it wouldn't contaminate the drinking supply. Nothing worse than grabbing a scoop of water only to find hair in it. My clothes stuck to my body, glued on with dried blood and I had to peel it off. I rinsed it in the water and tried rubbing out the blood but the clothes were hopelessly stained brownish red.

Hadn't cleaned them in a while so I could probably convince people that this was its original color. My clothes were the least of my worries at this point. There was also the things I brought out of the dungeon. The shield, the rock, and the booze. I left the broken bottle there and I probably should've brought it with me in case there was another room. Now, I had to consider what to do with these things. The booze I could drink it or sell it to the bar since it was so strong to buy a bunch of weaker drinks like beer and ale. I needed to figure out what the rock and shield were before selling or keeping them.

In times like this, the best thing to do was to go to the bar and consult Tom. Tom always has good ideas and is very patient. As the owner of the local bar, he had dealt with a lot of things in his life. In fact, he was most likely involved in me waking up in the dungeon. That's another thing I needed to talk with him about.