(Jamie)

"Morning," Adam greets me as I step out of the room. "Ready for your first experience in a Dungeon?"

"White Zone?"

"Yeah," he nods. "We'll need to get you a weapon, first. What kind of weapon would you prefer to use? Or would you rather learn magic? I can help you with martial arts and swords training, but haven't really used any other weapons in my life, so you'd be on your own for using those."

I'm going to be killing stuff, right? I've never really used any sort of weapon before, though I'm assuming the System assists with learning a little bit. If it doesn't, apart from gaining Skill Levels, then at least Limitless Adaptation will probably assist me in that.

"I'll go with a sword, too," I say, and he nods.

"Let's go get you a sword, then," he says.

We leave the inn and make our way to the crafting district. There are adventurers of a wide variety around here, some wearing tattered rags, others wearing fine armor, and many wearing something between the two, their gear scuffed, scratched or dented, their clothes a little worn-out. Many look exhausted, but quite a few also look happy, and there isn't a relation between gear and level of happiness or exhaustion.

They still give Adam sideways glances and nervous stares, but he ignores them. I can't believe his ability to pretend that nothing bothers him. He just seems happy, as if he doesn't even notice them.

Either he's oblivious, or there's an Acting Skill that he's got a few Levels in.

"Here we go!" Adam enters a blacksmith's shop, the sound of a hammer pounding away ringing from the back.

A bell rings when the door opens, then again when it closes, and I look around at the racks of weapons and stands and crates of armor. It all looks to be of relatively low quality, but still also durable and sharp.

Sharp for the bladed things, that is.

A dwarf stares at Adam as my, I guess friend, starts looking through things, picking up various weapons, muttering to himself, then putting it back down.

"It's so weird," Adam says after around thirty minutes of that. He looks sat me. "I swear I can smell something good in here, but I can't find it. Too many weapons clogging up my nose."

Okay…

Adam resumes looking through equipment until he eventually pulls out a short sword. Plain blade, hilt, and sheathe, but he examines it closely, then sniffs it a few times. A full grin forms on his face, and he looks at me, holding it out.

"This one!" He declares. "This is perfect for you! Its balance is just right, it's durable, and it's sharp! It's also resilient to nicks and dents, so with proper care, it'll last you a fair bit into your training! It probably won't last you until you hit Red, but it'll take you damn near close enough!"

He turns and practically skips to the dwarf, who's now looking at him with amusement in his eyes. He may or may not be grinning, but I can't tell past that beard.

"He'll take this one!" Adam drops a few silver coins on the counter. "Here you go! When we're stronger, we'll come back for better weapons, since it's best not to use weapons beyond your level before you have skill. What use is a powerful weapon in the hands of someone who doesn't know how to use a stick? Thanks, Mr. Dwarf! Bye!"

Adam spins around and walks out, and I can't really do anything but stare at him. He reaches the door and opens it, then turns and looks at me.

"You coming?" He asks. "It's time to go kill rats and stuff!"

I look at the dwarf, who just stares back at me, then I turn around and follow Adam out.

He leads me to the edge of town, where an archway crafted of green stone and filled with blackness rests in the edge of a cliff. Adventurers of all types are entering or exiting through the massive gateway, and I look at Adam.

"That's the entrance," he tells me. "We'll enter in the White Zone. You can go past it if you want to fight stronger stuff for a chance to advance your stuff faster, but you should probably stick to the White Zone for now.

"Oh," he says. "And also – stats aren't a flat comparison. It's dependent on a variety of things, so two people with the same STR might have two different effective strength. Stats are more like amplifiers – they enhance what's already there. Because of my draconic heritage, I'm stronger than, say, you. But, you could also train your body to be stronger than me, if I wasn't training my muscles.

"For Squire," he says. "You just need to gain one of the Swords Mastery Skills. We can go for either one-handed or two-handed, though since that's a short sword, one-handed is better."

"Alright," I say. "How do you advance a Class?"

"You don't," he answers. "Each Class will give you Stat Points every time it gains a Level, and it starts at Level 1 – you get the points for that, too. You can take on more advanced versions of a Class, but you don't necessarily have to have mastered the previous version. Knight just requires Level 5 Squire, Shields Mastery, and at least Level 4 in a Swords Mastery. I think. I'm not entirely sure on that, so I could be wrong."

"So we're just going to go in?" I ask. "Even though I don't have the Skill for the sword?"

"Dude," he hands he me the sword. "Grip the hilt with one hand, and put the pointy end in the rats. That's about all you'll need to do in the White Zone. It's more time-consuming to reach Level 10 than it is actually difficult. Generally, the White Zone of a Dungeon is easy enough for someone to work in by themselves. Once you get near the Red Zone, the monsters start getting tougher."

"Okay," I say. "So you're thinking we should train separately?"

"Yeah," he nods. "The two of us have vastly different combat abilities, and I'd have to drag behind for you to kill monsters with me. We'd both grow stronger faster if we trained separately."

"Alright," I say, fixing the sheath to my belt.

Adam helps me adjust it so that reaching for the hilt is a natural movement, not an awkward one, and I test the sword, making sure it slides easily. Getting it back into the sheath is a different matter, and I'm a little clumsy with that.

"Don't worry," Adam tells me. "You'll get used to it. "I'm heading in."

"Alright," I say, then follow him into the Dungeon. He tosses me a stone the size of my fist, which is glowing with runes. "What's this?"

"For when you need to leave," he answers. "I meant to give it to you earlier. Since you don't have the dungeon map memorized, just use that. Activate it when you're ready, and after two seconds, you'll appear out front."

"Got it," I say. "Thanks."

"Meet you out front when we're done," he says. "Though you'll probably be waiting longer than me."

I nod, then we split off down different paths. After a few moments, I realize that I don't have anywhere to store the stone.

Then again, there's a System in place. Does it have some sort of inventory?

Inventory.

Nothing pops up. Shrugging, I examine the stone, to see what it says.

Stone of Warping Requires 1 Mana to activate Teleports you to the entrance of whatever Dungeon you are currently in, and can only be used within a Dungeon Send to Inventory: Yes No

Yes.

The stone vanishes.

Inventory.

Stone of Warping 1

I close the screen, then walk a bit more until I come upon a rat scurrying down the hall. It's about three times the size of a normal rat, but still not that large. I draw my sword, stumbling a little bit as I do, then approach the rat.

The rat stares at me as it approaches me, not bothering to run away from the giant person with a sword approaching it.

Rat

Thanks for the help there, Appraisal. I hoped for a Level or something, but either it doesn't have one, or my Appraisal needs a higher Level to show it.

The rat is almost to my feet, and I stab down with my sword, killing it. I draw the sword out, blood dripping off the tip, and stare at the rat's corpse.

Guess there's no loot.

The corpse fades to dust, the blood on my blade doing the same. At least it cleans up after itself.

I seek out more rats to kill, and most of them are around the size of the first one. Their total range, that I can find, is somewhere between twice the size of a normal rat and five times the size of a normal rat.

After probably two hours of stabbing rats, some of which could actually bite me and take out a point or two of Health, I come across one that's roughly two feet in height, and around double that in length, including its tail.

Rat Boss Appraisal is now Level 2! Rat Boss 2

This is a Level 2 Rat Boss, and it looks dangerous.

It lunges at me, and I cut at it with my sword, nicking it as it dodges. It watches me warily, then lunges again, ducking under my blade and biting into my leg.

-10 Health!

I stab it with the sword, the blade barely penetrating its hide, and it squeals, releasing me and taking several steps backwards.

-1 Health Bleed!

Dammit.

-1 Health Bleed!

I'm losing 1 Health every three seconds. Hopefully, I'll heal enough that it'll stop bleeding, this is the first one that caused a bleed injury. If it doesn't, then I need to bind it up with something before I run out of Health.

I need to kill this thing first, though.

The Rat Boss charges me again, and I manage to keep it at bay with my sword, giving it several small cuts. At some point around 15 Health remaining, the Bleed stops.

New Skill! One-Handed Swords Mastery Passive Skill with wielding swords one-handed.

The moment I gain that Skill, it's as if I know a little bit more about wielding a sword one-handed, as if I'd trained with a one-handed sword for a bit, and know the basics.

Class Available! Squire +1 STR per Level +1 END per Level Accept Decline

Yes.

Class Acquired! Squire +2 STR! +1 END!

I feel my body grow a little bit stronger from that boost.

The Rat boss hisses at me, then charges again, and I deftly stab it with my sword, strong enough now to push through its hide, this time, killing it.

Exhausted, I sit with my back against one of the tunnel's walls, letting the sword rest on my lap as I recover from the fight. I gained an item after killing the Rat Boss.

Token of Courage The tail of a powerful Rat, this shows that you have courage

Do I need to give it to a dragon living in an underground cave on an island to advance a Class, or something?

Once my Health has returned to full, with only a couple of smaller Rats passing by, along with other adventurers, who mostly ignore me, I stand up and stretch, then get back to work on seeking out more Rats to kill.

I don't fight any stronger Rats, and none of my Skills, nor my Class, go up a Level. By the end of the second hour of training after the big fight – roughly five total hours here, factoring in the big fight and my recovery after - I trigger the stone. Two seconds later, I find myself standing in front of the Dungeon.

I don't see Adam around, so walk a little ways away from the entrance and sit down, closing my eyes.

The next thing I know, I'm being shaken awake, and look up into the azure eyes of my half-dragon friend.

"How'd training go?"

Adam Half-Dragon Half-Human

"Alright," I stand up. "That must have wore me out more than I realized."

"It'll do that," he nods. "You'll probably be out fast tonight, when you go to bed. Let's go get something to eat."

"Did you gain any Levels?" I ask.

"No," he answers. "Though it probably won't be long before Squire or One-Handed Swords Mastery goes up for me. I've been fighting with a sword enough for it to do so."

"I'm so sore," I comment.

"You will be," he smiles. "Anyone who trains hard is sore at first. Give it a few days of training, and the soreness will start to fade."

We walk back into town, and to the restaurant we ate at yesterday. They seat us, and we're silent as we wait for our food, then consume it. Today was really exhausting for me, and I just want to eat and sleep. It's barely afternoon, too.

Once we finish eating, Adam asks if there's anything I wanted to do.

"To be honest," I say. "I wouldn't mind going back in. I'm starting to feel a little bit better."

Still exhausted, but I'm sure I can push through for a few more hours of training.

"Alright," he tosses me another stone. "I could probably manage two or three more hours in there, myself, now I'm stuffed."

We make our way back to the Dungeon and part ways again. I don't come across any stronger monsters, nor do I increase my Skills or Level, but I do start to gain Rat's Tails as an item.

Rat's Tail The tail of a rat, this shows your ability to just kill Rats over and over

Well, okay, smartass.

After about three more hours, I'm starting to really feel the effects of the day's training, so activate the stone. I walk a little bit away from the entrance, but before I can sit down and wait, Adam appears out front. He approaches me.

"Let's go sell our loot," he says. "Unless you want to keep any of it."

"Nah," I say.

As we walk to the Trading Post to sell our loot, he explains to me that there are eight coins: bronze feathers, bronze wings, silver talons, silver eagles, gold royals, and gold crowns. Twenty-five of one to make the next.

At the Trading Post, we stand in line at one of the counters, and I look around. There are a dozen counters, each with an elf behind it, all with some sort of trader Class, Adam tells me. It seems like each counter does the same thing.

Adam is in front of me, so he reaches the counter first, and plops a dozen or so Rat's Tails on the counter, the elf looking quite nervous.

"Hi!" Adam says. "I'd like to sell these, please!"

"Yes, sir," the elf does her best to hide her fear as she collects the tails, placing them into a drawer, then a moment later, pulling it open and removing bronze feathers. Feathers are the size of nickles, with a feather design on each side of it.

"Thanks!" He grabs them, dropping them into his pouch, then stepping to the side. "Your turn, Jamie!"

I step forward and place the eighteen Rat's Tails I collected on the counter, along with the Token of Courage.

"Whoa!" Adam grabs the Token of Courage. "Uncommon Loot! You don't want to sell this – you can sell it to an alchemist or other craftsmen for even more than they five or six feathers they'd give you! How'd you get this? Common Loot is rare enough that getting Uncommon Loot like this when fighting the few monsters that'd drop is is pretty damn rare!"

"I fought a Level 2 Rat Boss, and it dropped it," I answer.

"You have no idea how rare that is," he tells me. "That's pretty damn amazing, Jamie! You don't want to sell this yet – put it back in your inventory."

I do, then the elf exchanges the eighteen tails for eighteen feathers, and I scoop them up.

"Oops!" Adam says. "We forgot to get you a pouch for your money! Let's go buy you one. It's on me. I can hold your money until you've got it."

I probably shouldn't, since I only met him yesterday, but I give him the feathers, then we leave. From what I could see, the Trading Post does sell basic items, so I'm a bit curious to know why he decided not to get one from there.

He leads me to a general store, then starts going through various pouches, occasionally sniffing one. The worker behind the counter looks at him with disgust, and says something to another worker, who leaves through the front door.

"This one!" Adam holds up a small leather pouch. "It'll be enough to hold your coin, for now!"

He walks up to the counter and sets a couple of talons down.

"I'd like to buy this, sir!" He says.

The bell rings, and the worker looks relieved. I look behind me, and find the worker who left returning, along with three large, imposing soldiers.

"Alright, beast," the soldier in front says, ignoring me as he walks forward, approaching Adam. "Playtime's over – get out of here."

"Huh?" Adam looks him up and down, then shrugs and turns back to the clerk. "Come on – I should get six wings for change. My friend needs a pouch for his coins."

These soldiers are here to evict Adam, and he just shrugs them off and looks back to the clerk. He does realize these guys can probably force him out, right?