Roses words turned out to be true. Before my body could become a smear at the end of this vertical tunnel, a strange force slowed my fall significantly. It was as though gravity had been reversed for several seconds, though my collision with the ground was still a little too speedy for my liking.

“Nothing broken, as promised” A low pitched voice echoed out of the darkness. “So, care to tell me why a guide like yourself felt the need to invade my dungeon?”

Before I could answer, Rose appeared beside me. Her ghostly form hovered several inches from the floor, but such a sight wasn’t new to me. She folded her arms in a huff as she glared out into the dark.

“Your dungeon? You’ve been set as the caretaker of this place, nothing more.” She smiled wickedly. “You have no more power here than I do.”

“Wa-wait! That’s not fair!” The dungeon cores menacing voice raised in pitch as it spoke. “You promised you’d help me. If you can’t, I’ll just send you out. See how you like that!”

“You can’t. I locked this place down already when you pulled us over. You messed up.” Rose giggled heartily. “Did you really think you could outsmart me? Don’t you know who I am?”

“Wait… you’re Rose? The alpha-guide!?” The cores voice wavered. “You lied to me! I sealed the dungeon, I kept my promise! You said-”

“I didn’t lie. You helped us, so I’ll help you.” Rose ignored the core as it muttered to itself as she turned to face me. “You didn’t have time to go through the stuff you stole from the bandits yet, right? Why don’t you take the time to bind some of the useful things to yourself? Might as well make use of the safety of this place.”

“Oh. Right.” I pushed myself up and stared into the darkness. “Where is this ‘core’ you’re talking to?”

“Mr. Core, can you turn the lights up. You missed your chance to be mysterious already.”

The core grumbled to itself as the area around us was illuminated. The light didn’t emanate from any specific point. It was as though he had turned up the brightness levels of the whole room rather than turning on a specific light. In the distance, a small crystal showed up as the darkness retreated. It shined a dull red in the light as it hovered towards us.

I guess that makes sense. This is technically a virtual world… ish.

I ignored the thought as I riffled through my inventory. If I died here again, it really would be the end of me. The same could be said for any of the people who lived here. For us, this was as real as any other place.

The first thing I pulled out was obvious. The Drakelords Finest Overarmour set dropped onto the floor in front of me. I had tried to equip it directly, but the inventory had ignored the request and dumped it on the ground instead. Maybe if I gained some more skill, I could hot-swap weapons and armour.

Oh god, if I tried that with a sword, it might have dropped it on my head. I should be careful going forward.

“Wait, how did you get that?” The dungeon core spoke as the armour appeared, each word causing the entire thing to pulse gently. “You’re only level twenty-five, how did you get an advanced rank set?”

“Jealous, are you?” Rose piped up from beside me. The dungeon core ignored her as it continued to speak to me directly.

“You should be careful. If you show that to anyone else, it will bring down a disaster on your head. High-level users would happily travel half a continent to steal it from you.”

“Not if he binds it to himself, right?” Rose answered in my stead. I ignored their conversation as I picked up the chestpiece and scanned it. As my eyes roved over its surface, the voice spoke in my mind.

**Analyse (basic) skill unlocked.**

A quick scan of my guild card revealed the details of the skill. It would be supremely helpful to me going forward. This was a skill that people gained when they investigated a large number of items. The only logical reason it had been gifted to me now was due to the rank of the item I had found.

Analyse (basic) - Allows user to investigate base statistics of items. As rank increases show more details. Additional details are shown for any items bound to user. Items are bound permanently and cannot be equipped by other users.

After the skill confirmed that binding items was permanent, it only took a moment of thought to decide on my next path. I lifted the chestpiece above my head and dropped it down. It slid over the top of my armour and settled on my shoulders. The armour seemed to reform itself to match the contours of my body.

**Do you wish to bind Drakelords Finest Chestpiece? This will be permanent and cannot be undone in any way.**

“Yes!”

The armour glowed for a moment before it settled down. No new power rushed into me, but the chestpiece seemed to grip onto my body. It was as though it had become a second skin as its weight vanished.

“Oh my, you actually did it. You two are insane…”

I repeated the process with the rest of the set as the core became more and more irate. Rose enjoyed herself as she poked and prodded at the unseen caretaker of the dungeon. It only quietened down after the last piece of the set had been bound to me.

“Well, that was a waste. You’re level twenty-five, it won’t give you much benefit yet.” The core’s voice hovered on the edge of heartbreak as it spoke to me. “You could have sold it and lived like a king… What a waste.”

“If I tried to sell it, those ‘high-level users’ you mentioned would have stolen it before I saw a single copper coin.” I looked myself over with a smile. “If I need a higher level to gain the full benefit, that just means I have another reason to push myself. That’s a positive thing, so chill out.”

“That’s true.” Rose stepped beside me and stared at the armour. “Go on, tell me what effects it has. Only the user it’s bound to can see them.”

“OK.” I used the Analyse skill on the armour. What I saw shocked me, but it also proved that what the core had said was true.

Overall, the benefits of the armour were large. The main increase was in my defence, but the offensive gains and the utility skills were the main draws for me.

Strengthens all buff effects on user by 15%. Increases duration of all buffs by 33%.

Increased force of all attacks by 15%. Increases effect of strike abilities by 15%.

The overall increase was insane. Each increase wasn’t huge, but overall my Buffed Strike, under the effects of my current buffs, would hit over 50% harder. I had gained the power at level 10 to fight against a moderately strong level 50 user.

I should duel Bryan again. As long as he doesn’t use any abilities, I should be able to fight him without being on the back foot. If he uses his skills, though…

The last time we had fought, I had used my abilities and had still only managed to get him on the back foot once. This time, he would have to use his full suite of abilities to keep up. But that was only if I ignored the utility skills. The first was active, but the next two were greyed out. They would unlock at a later level, but Analyse didn’t reveal how long I would have to wait.

Drakentounge - Allows user to converse with any species of drake or dragon.

Dragon’s Luck - User gains increased luck due to affinity with dragons. Luck affects every action taken. Chance of effect activating increases with skill level. - LOCKED

King of Dragons - User abilities have increased effectiveness if used on drakes or dragons. Abilities used by allied drakes or dragons have increased effectiveness. - LOCKED

Well, I guess it could be helpful. Kind of hoped for something like summoning a dragon to fight for me. I guess that was a bit too optimistic.

“Wait… Do you want to tell him my level, or can I?” I turned to Rose with a grin. Needling this crystal would help me push away the disappointment at the armour skills. Rose held a finger to her lips as she turned to the core.

“You keep parroting that he’s only level twenty-five. What makes you say that, core?”

“Well, the skills he used are those a Supporter gains between level ten and twenty-five, though they did seem like they were high-rank versions. If he was higher than that, he would have used the next tier of skills.” The dungeon core spoke in a dull sing-song voice. “Also, he passed his advancement. I’ll ignore the logic of how he managed it, but that means he should be at level twenty-five.”

“Good reasoning, but you’re wrong. Guess again.”

“Wait, he’s not level fifty is he?” The core tilted to one side quizzically. “That would explain how he defeated the monsters in my dungeon so easily. They’re only twenty-five at max, so he had a massive advantage-”

“Wrong.” Rose shook her head softly. The core blinked several times before it spoke again.

“He’s… at level one-hundred? How is that possible? He should be weakened massively in this area… Why-”

“Wrong again.” Rose patted my shoulder gently. “Go on, put him out of his misery.”

“I’m level ten.” I smiled as the core froze in place. “Sorry, I’m not as strong as you guessed. I hope you can forgive me.”

The core remained silent. It’s glow faded to a dim spark of light as it floated to the floor. The revelation of my level had hit it so hard it had shut down. Rose sighed as she moved beside it. At first, I thought she was going to help it up, but that was before she kicked it.

“Oy, wake up. You can’t just sulk, we need your help too.”

“… He’s really is a marked one, isn’t he?” The core scraped on the floor as he turned to face me. It was odd to think of a crystal as male, but he had not argued in the slightest when Rose called it ‘him’.

“Yes, I am. Is that a problem?”

“Not really, no. I just don’t trust you.” The core picked himself up and moved towards the far wall. “You marked ones are all the same. You don’t care about this world or the people in it. You just take, take, take.”

“Wait, you’ve seen other marked ones?” I stepped towards the core, but it slid along the wall to avoid me. “Please, when did you see them? Can you tell me where they went?”

“Heh, no way.” The core glimmered slightly as it spoke. “The last one I saw was over two hundred years ago. If he’s still alive now, then you wouldn’t want to see him.”

“Oh.” My short burst of excitement settled down. The idea I could speak to another person in a situation similar to my own was attractive, but this avenue had been cut short. Maybe I could run into someone later if I was lucky. “Anyway, I’m not like that. I’m actually here to save your world.”

“Really?” The core turned to Rose. “Is he telling the truth?”

“Yeah.” Rose nodded softly, though a small frown did show up as she continued. “Technically, the world will end if he doesn’t do well. Does that help you make up your mind?”

The core pulled itself of the wall and shot in front of me. I didn’t have time to move back as its light shone into my eyes at close range. As I blinked furiously, the core pushed itself against my chest.

“Why didn’t you warn me about this, Rose? How did you let a tracker get in here?” The core moved back. As it hovered away, a thin line of light was pulled out of my armour. At the end sat a small, carved disc, which was on the verge of breaking apart.

“Oh no.” Rose ran towards the disk, but before she could get to it, the whole thing broke apart and turned to dust. “Damn it!”

“Wait, what was that?” I took a step back from the pair. “What do you mean, tracker?”

“It was probably Clive. He paid someone to put a tracker on the armour. If someone stole it, he would be able to trace it to a certain extent. The distance would be limited, and the duration would only last a day or so… but if they bound the armour…”

“Like I did, you mean?” I glanced at the small pile of dust on the floor. “Tell me, how bad is it.”

“This Clive person knows his armour was taken, and he knows someone has bound it.” The dungeon core shook slightly. “I blocked the directional signal, but he’ll be pretty mad right now.”

“Oh, perfect.” Despite the situation, a small grin showed on my face. “I needed a reason to pull out the Bandit King, so this should work.”

“If he doesn’t find out and kill you, you mean?” Rose closed her eyes and shifted back inside my mind. “I need to sleep this off. Try not to annoy another person in charge of an army while I'm gone, please.”