Jarod was in a stony atrium, thick green vines hugged the walls and the distant drip of water was his only company. Steel came in next, his palm rested on top of his sword's hilt.

"Hm, more damp than I thought." He mused.

Chen came into the room last, his fists were raised in a brawler's stance.

"Alright, let's get this over with." Chen said.

Steel, without really listening to him, walked to the rickety wooden door at the edge of the room. He placed his hand on the door, thick vines weaved through the planks. He grabbed the handle and gave it a yank, causing dirt caked around the edges of the door to fall as it swung open.

"Well, are you coming or what?" He looked over his shoulder. Jarod was still wondering, it didn't make sense for this magic item to just be waiting in the cave for them. Didn't make sense at all. He snapped out of his confusion. Best keep safe, he thought. He walked up to steel.

"Can you help me get a board out of this door? It's a better weapon than my fists."

Steel shrugged at that, and unsheathed his sword. It was beautiful in its simplicity, a dark grey, smooth, and light piece of metal. With a flick of the wrist he cut some vines from the door. He seemed skilled enough, and Jarod was curious. So while trying to pry a board loose, he tapped Steel.

Steel Greentoe

Class:

None

Stats:

Strength - 3 Endurance - 2 Agility - 3 Willpower - 0

Hm, that low willpower might come in handy later. Just then, the board popped loose. It was a bit longer than the practice wooden swords they used in the academy, but would work just fine.

The three of them entered the next room, lit by an unseen light source, there was a knot of vines in the center of the room, with roots that spread like a thin net up to the walls. Chen was about to take another step forward when Steel put his hand out to stop him.

"Even weak dungeons can be dangerous, this is either a trap or a monster and I don't want to find out the hard way." Steel said.

"Then why not find out the easy way?" Jarod said. Steel immediately realized what Jarod was thinking. He smiled, then nodded.

Jarod crouched down and tapped the edge of the roots ever so slightly. At a touch, they curled up and whipped about in place, Jarod jerked his hand back. Dangerous, but he got his analysis.

Trap: Whip vines

"It's a trap, whip vines. I can't tell much else about it."

"No soul then. You have fire, right?" Steel said. Jarod did indeed have fire. In response, he created a small fireball and tossed it at the knot of vines. They caught fire unnaturally quickly and the entire net burned up in a puff of smoke that seemed to dissipate quickly. Jarod didn't even smell it.

As soon as the entered the next room, the three were met by a shrill battlecry. Three creatures sprunk at them. They looked like acorns that had sprouted arms and legs, with unmoving smiley faces that looked like they were carved by preschoolers. Each was about knee high. Steel sprung forward and deflected one's attack with a primitive hatchet made from stone and stick. Chen ran up and grabbed one's spear before he punted it across the room. That left Jarod, and one with a small spear. It was at that moment that Jarod realized he didn't know how to block. He hopped back and forth, just to dodge the thing, and he couldn't think about attacking. Only keeping himself alive.

It was then that Jarod tripped over a root. The thing hopped onto his chest and rose its spear for a killing, or at least incredibly painful blow. Then a sword poked through from its face. Steel stood behind it, his sword pierced through its back. He scowled as he pulled the corpse off, then wiped the sap from his sword on Jarod's robe.

"Thanks..." Jarod said as he stood up. No matter if he didn't like him, Steel had just saved his life.

"It's what we destined for the order do. I don't respect you, Jarod, but I understand that you can be a useful tool for good." He turned back and walked to the wall and crossed his arms as he leaned against it. What a strange man, Jarod thought. He looked to Chen, who was sitting on the ground catching his breath. Next to him was one of the monsters, with its face caved in. He shrugged at Jarod.

Jarod leaned forward and touched the corpse.

"Spirit harvest."

He was in the mindscape, as he had taken to calling it. A swirling ball of green energy was bolting around, up, down, left and right it couldn't stay still. Accompanying it was a mad jibbering, like it was angrily speaking as fast as an auctioneer. Jarod approached, and the green energy lashed out at him, a small tendril whipped him across his face.

"I'm not here to hurt you, at least I think." Smooth, Jarod. Smooth.

He felt like an idiot. The green bolt shook in place for a moment, then crashed into Jarod like a tackle.

Jarod woke up, no spirit in hand, but the monster's body wilted away.

"It didn't work..." Jarod hadn't thought that something that dumb seeming could fight back, but he really didn't know how the ability worked anyway. The other two people watched him intently. Jarod walked to the next one, and again touched it.

"Spirit harvest."

Another angry bolt of green energy shook around.

"Hello! Hi! I'm here to harvest you I think!" And again, it tackled him.

Jarod was on his ass again, no spirit.

"What's the problem, outsider?" Steel asked.

"I don't know what to do! They fight back and I just don't know how to respond to them." Jarod was frustrated. Here, he had magical freakin powers and still was a loser.

"Be more assertive, you look pitiful right now and I bet you aren't asserting enough willpower." Steel said. Real rich coming from someone with 0 willpower, Jarod thought. Though, strangely enough, he felt like Steel had a much more forceful will than he did. None of this made sense, and these stats were feeling more and more like nonsense.

"Fine!" Jarod said, fed up. He stomped over to the last monster, its face caved in by Chen's fists. Chen pat Jarod on the shoulder.

"You can do it. Just gotta let that funky acorn man know who's boss." He said with a smile. Jarod tapped the monster.

"Spirit harvest."

"You!" Jarod exclaimed, the bolt of green energy stopped jibbering for a moment, and it floated in one place, but it was still jittery.

"I have come to harvest your soul! You are mine!" Jarod shouted. The spirit stopped jittering, then hesitantly bobbed towards Jarod. He reached out to grab it.

Jarod held a small glass bottle with a floating green light within it.

"Aha!" He jumped for joy a little.

"I bet if you eat that one, you'll get something out of it!" Chen was excited at Jarod's success. Steel smiled like it was him that overcame the problem. Jarod popped the cork off, then ate the spirit.

Consumed: Acornite spirit

Endurance increased to 1

Knowledge Obtained!

You now know how to craft primitive weaponry from natural materials

"It worked!" Jarod didn't really feel more durable, but he took the info box's word for it.

"Alright, now that you're done celebrating we're probably at the last room. Since this dungeon is so weak its going to be short, and the boss should be weak but still might be dangerous." Steel said. It's as if he had done this before.

"Boss?" Jarod asked.

"All dungeons have a boss. Once you kill them, they drop the dungeon's artifact. Now come on, we've got a fight to get over with." Steel said. He pushed the door open and stepped forward. Jarod and Chen followed to find themselves in an empty room, a dead end. They all paused for a moment. Steel stepped forward, swinging his blade at the air as if to fight an invisible enemy. After some time, he sheathed his sword and scratched his head.

"When I saw nothing, I thought it was invisible. There should be a boss here..." He seemed confused, and defeated.

"I'm sure there's more to dungeons than we understand Steel. Hell, I'm technically from one." Jarod said. Steel sighed.

"Well, no point in staying here then. And at least someone got something out of this. What a waste of a good seed."

"Waste of a good seed?" Jarod asked. Steel sighed.

"I didn't find it, if it wasn't obvious enough. I heard about your powers and wanted to see it for myself, so I asked for a seed to be sent from home. Here I am." Steel grinned. So he planned to put us in danger. That's shitty of him.

The three walked out in silence, each stepped through the door one by one. When Jarod stepped through it, it felt different from when he was pulled into this world. When he entered, it felt as though liquid metal was clinging to his skin before he broke through a membrane. This felt like he was walking through nothing. When they all got through, the door faded slowly. Different again from when he entered.

On the other side, there was nobody waiting in the cave.

"I guess the others left to go to bed, huh?" Chen said

"I guess so." Steel shrugged. The three walked back to the citadel in silence. It's tall spires watching over them with harsh judgement. But when they arrived they heard the telltale sounds of Kalem's drills.

"Crap! We're late!" Chen shouted. Crap indeed, Jarod thought, as the three of them ran to the courtyard and saw the others standing on their logs, swinging their blades. Instructor Kalem was waiting, his arms crossed. Everyone on the stumps turned to face them. Each had a mild scowl.

"We, uh, well we were-" Chen tried to come up with an excuse on the spot. Jarod could feel his heart in his chest. Kalem would have their heads.

"We were in a dungeon. Lost track of time." Steel said. He kept a stiff upper lip, and as Kalem approached, all three of them cringed for blows.

"I must be honest." Steel mumbled. Jarod closed his eyes, waiting for a blow that didn't come.

"It shows initiative! If you all are tired, you can rest." He said. Jarod had never heard him be so nice. By the way his fellow dungeon delvers reacted, neither had they. He patted Steel on the back and led the three of them to their quarters, where there were freshly laundered robes on their beds. Jarod was still expecting this to be some sort of test by the time he left, that he was still waiting to get hit long after Kalem left.

"Something isn't right. We were late, that shows we didn't follow procedure. We should be punished." Steel was in disbelief.

"I don't feel right either." Jarod said. Chen was already laying on his bed, snoozing.

Jarod and Steel stared at eachother for a moment.

"I'm going back to practice." They said in unison. Both were surprised. In fact, for the same reason. Neither expected Jarod to want to go back to practice. They walked through the halls together, ready to see Kalem again. When they entered the courtyard, the other students turned to look at them. Normally Kalem would whack them for turning their attention away, but he seemed to be in a good mood. He approached the two.

"I thought I told you two to rest!"

"We want to keep training, sir." Steel said, then made a half bow. Jarod followed in turn. Kalem put his hand on both of their shoulders, and pulled them up to standing.

"Don't worry about that right now, go rest." Kalem said. Steel looked mildly uncomfortable, but Jarod could feel his heart stop all of a sudden. He felt cold and clammy all of a sudden. He sweat in fear, because a text box had just appeared.

Monster: Minor Shapechanger

Stats:

Strength - 8 Endurance - 3 Agility - 9 Willpower - 2

Special:

This monster can take any form, though its base stats remain the same.

This is a minion monster! Minions will continuously spawn until their boss monster is slain!

They were still in the dungeon.