Another week has passed (17 December 2018)… and I began to notice something really annoying… and it was disturbing me quite a bit.

I’m… weaker, than my friends… not by a huge amount, but it was becoming more noticeable… like now as a sword swung towards me, and I was tumbling from having blocked another one just before.

“Ah, cover!” I jumped back, dodging a Lantern Squire (an enemy we had begun to encounter on the third floor) as he swung his sword, and behind me Matt stepped forward, a small smirk on his face at getting to kill another enemy… he would get it right by the way, stabbed it through its chest.

“Arthur, what happened back there?” asked Alice with a curious blink to her eyes as I scratched my hair, annoyed at the fact that it was cut recently (Alice decided to be my hairdresser… it used to be my father… she cut nicely though.) as I sighed, looking at the source of my frustrations…

“…It’s nothing we can solve right away, but I’m working on it.” I stated as I looked into my hand, at the small unassuming Dagger… my second Anima, the Nameless Dagger.

Honestly it was weak and horrible for me to use… it didn’t get sharper or stronger like the other’s abilities, and it was annoying to me, watching everyone else grow and I stay stagnant.

I mean… it’s a part of my soul, so of course I don’t hate it or anything so extreme, but… I’m falling behind. These Lantern Squires? I can barely hurt them with my attacks, while anyone on our team save John can kill them in two or three attacks by now…

Having the second lowest damage dealing ability in the team is a bit hard for my psyche… I mean, it’s not like I support the team like John, or defend the team from the attacks of enemy monsters like Matt (who does in fact have the third highest damage output, not counting the critical piercing damage done by Michael)

Honestly, it’s disturbing that, outside of my leadership position, I feel like I’m not contributing enough to the team… the team that I put together to help me get revenge…

It was barely noticeable though… Alice only noticed it because I happened to trip during this fight, but otherwise I’m actually getting better at fighting at a noticeable rate…

So much so that I can reliably keep two Lantern Squires occupied and kill at least one myself… though that isn’t saying much when Emilia kills three in quick succession…

“Still, I’m kind of glad we’re going to lower floors, the encounter rate is higher here so we get stronger, faster.” John added as I nodded, agreeing with his words, getting stronger in this place was important.

It was true at least, Lantern Squires shared 5 EXP points apiece, and while it didn’t seem like much, when you consider the fact that they either appear alone, in a group of three, or a group of five, it made it worth it… somewhat.

I mean, five of them nets each of us 25 EXP, but one alone was not worth it really, not when we could be fighting three or more… but still, we were almost done with the fourth floor, so we didn’t really feel like stopping just yet… especially not with our EXP being the way it was…

Personal Information

Name:

Arthur Clive

Level:

9

40 EXP

Rank:

L

Anima:

Traveller’s Cloak

The Nameless Dagger

Stats (5):

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 15 (16.5)

Intelligence: 9

Wisdom: 13 (17.7)

Vitality: 12

Constitution: 9

Skills:

Shooting (H), Blade Wielding (E), Tactician (D), Recovery (F), Close Combat (I)

…I know, I don’t have any magic, so why is my Wisdom so high? It’s to ensure that I make the best out of my ‘bad’ situation… and besides… Wisdom was more than just Regeneration of magic… though I’ll explain that later.

But other than that, Dexterity was my main stat, due to the boost it received from my Traveller’s Cloak (a small but noticeable one at later stages), plus it affected my handling of my Dagger and my footwork.

As for my lowest stats… well, Intelligence raised my base amount of Mana (I could actually feel it inside my body, it was a strange feeling of a burn in your chest, thought it was too mild to be painful) which I couldn’t use, and Constitution made hits hurt less… so when do I get hit? Next to never…

Oh, and my Close Combat skill increased when I began using my off hand and kicks when fighting… It gave me more avenues of attack, even if each attack was weaker than my usual… which was already weak in itself… if my Strength stat reached the fifties I might do more damage punching than stabbing…

“Alright, let’s finish this floor then head back.” I stated the thoughts of everyone else and we all agreed, as usual… it felt strange, just a week ago I just started doing this and still found it awkward… luckily no extremely bad situations had happened to us, I mean, I had heard of people who were making a noise while fighting one group of monsters only to attract another group…

Well, Michael did get caught by surprise by a Lantern Squire at one point, and well, John was there to heal him, luckily… his Anima was a Skill type like Alice’s, but the difference was that his was an active ability, not a passive ability.

Oh, and apparently his Anima would eventually lead to extra spells (like soon at level ten he’d get a spell to increase healing rate, and it took less magic but healed the same as his usual, only overtime) so there was that.

But still, in just this one week, other than me getting more comfortable in my role as leader, everyone else has been working hard too…

The growth I experienced was not mine alone, but everyone who entered the dungeons were getting stronger noticeably… and for me, it was easy to see it.

“Ah, Lantern’s coming up, group of three… I’ll take the shot.” Michael’s voice came over as I nodded. Michael pulled back his string, an arrow appearing in place for him, and he calmed his breath… and let loose.

Michael was… quite frankly terrifying lately… he was already a super-soldier guy (he wanted to join the military from a young age) so how was he now?

I mean, I’d seen him at a firing range, but guns and bows were different… but this machine like efficiency of dealing damage was extreme… as evidenced when the Lantern got hit in the chest above its flame.

Ah, to explain the appearance of a Lantern Squire, they had humanoid bodies, and carried needle like swords with wide bases and very thin tips, and in the middle of their chest was a flame inside a glass-like frame. Damaging the Flame hurt them, so it was their weak spot.

Oh, but despite their humanoid bodies, they had no heads (only flames appearing there that took no damage) and no feet (just flames they floated above to glide around) and claw like hands, though the one hand always held the sword and the other usually did nothing (it was rare that it would try and hurt you with its offhand)

But yes, Michael had scored a critical hit and already almost killed that one which moaned in a crackle of flames as it and its two friends rushed at us…

“Matt, intercept right, Alice, behind Matt, wait for a chance, Emilia, you can dodge these guys easily, keep the left one busy, I’ll land last hit on the middle one.” I shot off my orders and we got to work.

Matt was… strange. He was quieter than usual. It wasn’t actually a problem, but it was kind of disturbing for me.

See, Matt was loud, obnoxious and straightforward in that ‘I can’t hate him but I don’t like him’ way (though I always found him a good friend actually, anyone else with a personality like his I’d probably dislike)… but these days, since we had entered the Dungeon…

I can’t quite explain it correctly, I mean, he was still kind of loud- “Yeah!” Case in point, he blocked that hit perfectly though… but it was much more rare… guess he was being a bit more serious these days… made sense, but at the same time, it was weird.

That block really was good though… Matt, despite his thuggish looks and loud nature was actually a pretty deep thinker from what I knew (though sometimes he thought too deep and that’s why he had tons of government conspiracies going on in his head) so he always thought about his blocking methods…

He usually didn’t go and directly shut out an attack actually, normally he’d try and deflect it (he was starting to get the hang of it… slowly… Alice or myself were usually the ones to try and train with him for that.) Or if he couldn’t do that, he’d kill the momentum of the attack by doing what I called ‘sponging’ it.

Basically, he’d allow himself to get hit, but during the moment of contact, he’d lean back, killing some momentum and giving him greater stability… but if he got the timing wrong, he’d get more tired than a normal block… at this point, it was a 50-50 chance. As I had just mentioned, he got it right… and as for his ‘partner’…

“Die!” Alice swung her sword, cleaving through the Lantern and I shivered a bit in fear… yeah… remember how I thought I couldn’t imagine Alice leaping into the fray?

I take that back…oh I most certainly take that thought back, for it was obviously wrong, and I didn’t quite understand it then, but… she could kill anything near her at this point.

“Alright, that was a good swing!” Alice had been getting really enthusiastic about going into the Dungeon, especially considering she didn’t need to go to school anymore… that was her favourite part of the deal, right under cutting things in half and getting money for doing it.

Alice was in fact using a sword now, it was the same sword the Lanterns used actually… I also had one, but I had never bothered using it because I’d need to have one hand free for my Dagger (it was a strange requirement, but it was why Michael couldn’t keep a small knife on him) and when we tried to bypass it the weapons would just give us a small sting of disapproval and fall out of our hands…

It sucked for me, because I’d like to use two hands with a sword, but I can’t quite do that with a sword because of the Dagger, and using a Dagger two-handed is kind of pointless unless you’re playing a certain game involving Souls and fire.

To my side, Emilia kept her face neutral as she dashed forward while leaning so that her upper body was near parallel to the ground… what was she a ninja?

Emilia… I’m pretty sure she could have been one… a ninja I mean, what with how she moves and fights. Were it not so terrifying I’d use the term ‘poetry in motion’.

Emilia had informed me that due to her family she had some semblance of combat training during our own training to get used to our Anima, and that she had only panicked when Chronos attacked due to not expecting monsters.

Oh yes, she also went hunting frequently apparently. It explained why she moved quietly when she tried, and her skill with a knife when it came to ‘dismantling’ enemies. She complained that she usually used a hunting rifle though.

And she showed the proof of that training. While her Blade Wielding skill was F ranked (despite how that sounded, it was good) her Close Combat skill was equally as high, making her a force to be reckoned with, especially when she got close…

Seriously, a buzz-saw would be an apt description to how she attacked her enemies, and with her and Alice, we had two very high damage dealers… hey… The girls on our team were the strongest… scary… women are scary.

By the time I began running, her enemy had died courtesy of two serrated knives being stabbed into its chest and being ripped out viciously… shame.

As for my enemy, it was already seriously wounded from getting hit by Michael (and its weak-spot was hilariously easy to locate, it’s in the centre of its chest… hey, aren’t we humans also designed like that?) so I just had to run up and dodge the first swing, and as usual it was easy to see coming as I dodged and stabbed downward, the knife in a reverse grip.

The knife barely punctured the glass, which I solved by raising my left hand and hitting the hilt of my dagger, forcing it further in, and killing my own enemy. Thank you, Keanu Reeves for teaching me that move via a movie involving a dead dog and the Russian mafia.

[15 EXP Earned!]

We all stopped for a moment, just looking over our own things and nodded to each other. “Let’s continue.” I stated and thus we moved, continuing on our chosen path.

A few minutes after that fight, we had encountered a group of five Lanterns guarding the stairs… the stairs had a black wall similar to the entrance to the Dungeon, and the stairs were made of a material similar in appearance to marble, making it noticeable.

It was interesting to note that the entrance to the Dungeon was pitch black and the stairway was marble, as if the path was always lit up to be followed… ignoring that though-

This fight would be a bit more difficult than the previous one… Emilia, Alice, and Matt each kept one busy by themselves, Michael supporting Matt while John would heal anyone who got hit in any way… as for the last two-

“Why do I always end up with two?” I shouted at my contemporaries as they all seemed to look away as one… ignoring my pain are you?

Indeed, whenever we encountered five Lanterns at once, or even five goblins at once (Goblins very rarely still appeared, but if they did it would only be in groups of five… Slimes had stopped appearing by the second floor already) I always ended up fighting two at once…

Oh and I did get hit, a few times, though they’d always be nicks and the occasional slash. Whenever I took a heavy hit John would be capable of healing me quickly. And as for my fighting, I mostly used parrying to defend myself when I got too close to an enemy, and otherwise I’d sway and duck and twist to dodge the attacks, with my heightened Dexterity, it worked to an extent…

I still did little damage though, and by the time everyone was done with theirs I was still fighting two, albeit damaged Lanterns.

[Level up!]

“So… level up… and why is it that I always end up with two?” I asked making Emilia smile. “We know you’ll survive better than we could.” That’s… That’s…

That sounded kind of selfish, I mean… I didn’t ask Matt and the others to take on two at a time, despite me knowing that they’d be better equipped to dealing damage to the things… unlike me…

“That’s not true… I’m not that strong…” I mumbled to myself under my breath as I sighed. “Okay, we aren’t going to be continuing this now, so let’s assign our stat points and leave.” I added with the group nodding to my plan…

When I finished my stats and such, they looked like this:

Personal Information

Name:

Arthur Clive

Level:

10

140 EXP

Rank:

L

Anima:

Traveller’s Cloak

The Nameless Dagger

Stats:

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 15 (16.5)

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 14 (19.1)

Vitality: 13

Constitution: 10

Skills:

Shooting (H), Blade Wielding (E), Tactician (D), Recovery (F), Close Combat (I)

I really hoped I’d learn how to use magic soon… with the passive boost to my Wisdom, not having magic would be a waste really… I was thinking more long term with that stat though… I also noted that my multiplier for my Dexterity has increased.

With our stat allocations complete (no one confirmed with the others how their stats would look beyond ‘this stat does this, right?’ so I didn’t know how any of my friend’s stats looked… that seemed a bit private for some reason.) we walked up to the stairs, and walked down…

I enjoyed the gap between floors actually, though my teammates thought otherwise with the exception of Emilia. Walking here felt as if we were walking on a marble stairway across the stars due to the small glowing bits within the wall.

We stepped into the fifth floor and I looked around for a bit… nodded, then looked to the group and we turned around again.

Oh we weren’t going to complete the fifth floor or anything like that, we just wanted to have our LEV’s record our floor (they do that for some reason) as well as keep our map as complete as possible. Of course, modifying your map is possible as well, but the basic shape could not be changed.

For instance, my map has one blue line placed on it (the entire map was black and white, with the icons representing my group in green, my favourite colour other than Black) which represented the fastest path between floors. I’d have to adjust it now that I actually knew where the stairs to the fifth floor were, but it helped make things quicker, instead of taking a whole day to move through a floor, we can shorten that to only twenty or so minutes if you know where to walk.

Once we entered the Fifth Floor, I nodded at the standard scenery before raising my dagger and twirling it. “Come on, let’s go back, I’ll record the path.” Michael and the others agreed as we turned around and walked back up the marble staircase.

After two hours of walking (strangely my legs don’t hurt from that, neither do the others, we believe one of the stats is helping) we returned to the surface, where we quickly stepped aside from another group entering. That group seemed a bit… weak…

Judging by their LEV’s I mean. They had the sleeves there ripped off to show LEV 04 meaning they were level four. But beyond that, their group looked like they dressed in costumes (aka Cosplay) often… which wasn’t how our group looked really.

With the exception of Alice and her sword, we didn’t look like we did anything other than go out for the day… I mean, Michael even wore a tracksuit sometimes.

Somehow I didn’t feel professional anymore… but hey, my team was stronger obviously. “Hey, watch it!” one of the other team seemed to try and shove me out of the way as I simply stepped to the side, making him fumble.

“Ah… come on everyone.” I said to the group as we began walking away, the guy who almost shoved me seemed annoyed that it didn’t work, but he noticed something that most dungeon-goers should know by now.

Big brother is watching… aka, there are armed forces and police standing nearby, each of them showing a LEV 05 on their wrists… that didn’t seem like much, but if you considered that they had guns…

Speaking of Big Brother… it’s actually James’ birthday today… I heard he was alive but I hadn’t gone looking for him… I honestly worry now, considering he’s one of only two close family members I had left (Angelica survived due to staying with a friend’s grandma, though she just said grandma) so I actually cared… but his personality grated with mine.

Back to the guns, I mean, maybe we’d someday be capable of taking a gunshot and walking away with our stats, but as they were now, hell no.

See, at some point someone started a fight near the Dungeon Entrance (not this particular one, I think it was one in China or was it Korea?) and most countries now have armed forces to stop any altercations by force if necessary. They also had the benefit of getting to level in groups and thus get strong enough to take on people that they wouldn’t have before.

Another thing of notice was that entering and leaving the dungeon was monitored by these guys… it was very efficient in my belief, that way we’d know who died in a dungeon (and there most certainly were deaths, some idiots tried to fight alone and not rest) as well as providing easy registration of new weaponry and or items coming out of the Dungeon. Though sadly their guns didn’t work in Dungeons…

“Ah, Team Caliburn reporting in.” I walked over to the exit area (they were busy building something to be sort of a gateway to the Dungeon’s entrance to make it seem more official, but for now it was two vans, one for entry and one for exit)

“Oh, you again… so, any new stuff?” the woman at the till (…I asked her if she realized what a stereotype that was, she agreed but said it was a stereotype because it worked) asked as I shook my head.

“No new items, though the stuff we brought last time, we got more of them.” I said, rolling up my left sleeve revealing my LEV 10 making her blink…

…I might have heard someone getting hit on the head from that group that was entering now... “Wow, level ten? That’s twice as strong as most of our soldiers you know?” she asked as I shrugged.

“Eh, I’m sure most will get there soon if they try hard enough. Anyway, a few Lantern Blades, some Soul Gems, and all Worthless grade as usual unfortunately… oh, and a… uh…Goblin Claw?” I blinked at the last item as I held my wrist above a dispenser, and strange motes of lights dropped some of the items out, one at a time.

“Man, your group is the best around here you know? I’ve been talking to the people at other Dungeon Entrances and apparently yours earns the most in the whole city!” I rubbed my hair at that, and then winced at getting elbowed in the spine by Emilia… that hurt, her Strength and Dexterity stats were both high…

“Thanks for the complement.” And here was the fun part about going into the dungeon (other than the getting stronger to kill a being I hate with all my being) as she nodded, looking at the items.

See, not all Anima were combat oriented apparently, and this girl happened to be one of the many who were given a ‘viewer’ Anima.

A Viewer Anime allowed their users to see the status of things, she could only check items at this point but apparently if she got strong enough she’d be capable of seeing the status of other people and even monsters, maybe even seeing the items and Experience a monster could give without killing it.

With her Anima, she, and many others with similar Anima, got drafted to the government to be Till Workers who’d evaluate items and give money in exchange for said items, or would register that we owned that item. Keeping an Item from the dungeon in your inventory was an issue, but they were working on that apparently.

“Alright… let’s see… twelve Lantern Blades worth twenty five dollars each… two Goblin Claws worth ten dollars each… fifty eight Worthless Soul Gems worth ten dollars each… that would be around… nine hundred dollars.” I smiled at the number, taking the stack of money and nodding to my friends as we walked away… and wondering how ‘worthless’ got money.

“Alright, so, nine hundred, divided by six…” I blinked at the words of Matt before I sighed… see, the money had to be divided obviously, but there was also the case of me living with Alice and Michael for now, so money went there…

“Don’t kill yourself, it’s one hundred and fifty.” John joked as Matt glared at him while John appeased him with an awkward chuckle.

“Right, right, see you guys tomorrow.” Emilia, Michael, Alice and I all greeted Matt and John as the two took different ways to their homes (Matt drove in his car, a Nissan 370 Z, also known as a Fair-lady Z, while John either took a bicycle or a taxi) while our small group left for Michaels house.

Emilia didn’t live with us exactly, but she was a near constant presence at the home. If it weren’t for the lack of space, we would have actually just let her sleep there apparently…

“Ah… tomorrow, let’s reach level eleven!” shouted Alice as I gave a small smile at her words… yeah, we should get stronger… I was more than twice as strong as the average human by now if you thought about it…

There were moments where our newfound strength actually did become noticeable, for instance I’ve been slightly… slightly calmer about what happened to my family, a side effect of my heightened Wisdom stat, Alice almost broke her phone when it died on her and Matt claims he got punched in the gut by his sister and felt nothing. (she was hurt though)

The world had already changed, and we were changing with it… I just wasn’t sure if everyone could tell that. Though I had the feeling that the difference between those who did and who didn’t...

It would be the difference between the strong and the weak eventually.