## Chapter nine, Rules Revenge, part one

Dungeon time, I thought, for the first time ever. Of course, I’d been in dungeons before, but that was different since it was in games in front of a computer back on earth. And Running with Devils was never one of those games. I had only just started playing the game before I ended up in it. After coming through the tunnel entrance from outside, it felt dark here, but my eyes quickly became accustomed. It was like a waiting room but formed like a cave. In the end of it, there was a quite large wood door with two black handles in some sort of metal to open it.

“Okay, now we do it as planned,” Rondellen said and pointed at Eonde who took the lead, me in the middle and Rondellen taking up the rear. Eonde went forward to the door and took hold of the two handles and brought the door open. She went through it, and Rondellen and I followed after her. The first room of the dungeon was a long, wide corridor that spawned an army of something that looked like armored rabid guinea pigs; they were as small as a guinea pig with armor on their tiny feet, legs and head, but they had no armor on the rest of the body. This affected the kind of skills or weapons best to use, which we had none. I used [Inspect Being] on one of them.

Gronners, level 8, 22 HP

I had [Telekinesis] that could have worked, but it was decided last night that I would not use it.

Playing a game whack-a-mole of sorts, we stomped them out. It was gruesome in the beginning with blood and body-parts filling the floor, but quite soon I got used to it. Especially when it became clear that they weren't in a position to hurt us, and we almost had fun with how macabre it sounded when you stomped on them. They came in waves first 10, then 20 and so on until the last wave spawned. In total, there were 50 of these small rabid creatures. We moved further and further into the corridor. Otherwise we would have had a mountain of dead Gronners at our feet to climb over. I was glad that I had my notifications set to display after the fight and truncate it for me. It took us the better part of a half hour to kill them all.

Congratulations, you have received:

147 experience points

You have defeated 50 level 8 Gronners. Experience earned is reduced due to being in a group. (Total xp of monsters killed/participants in group) x 1,10= your experience points.

Okay so that made sense that you shared the xp, but kinda nice you also got 10% extra. This was probably to get people to group up. I had leveled up. At least that’s what the notifications that started blinking as soon as I read about receiving the experience points seemed to imply. I immediately decided that I'd hold off any leveling until after the dungeon, so I could use it as a battle-heal if I was badly hurt. “That went well. No one even got hurt,” I said and looked around, time to check out if we got anything good. According to Rondellen and Ragnhild, when we talked yesterday evening, you seldom got anything more than Gronner pelts in this first room. Those were worth 10 Silver on a good day. I used [Inspect Being].

Dead Gronner, level 8, pelt.

Loot all

You have received 18 Gronners pelts

“So crap loot as expected,” Eonde said and huffed.

“Yes, no surprise there. Okay, onwards we go. Eonde, take the lead.” Rondellen said with a little smile.

The second room contained Brawlers. They smelled as bad as Goblins and almost looked like them except they were red. Like small devils, And they were as dumb as the Gronners. As their name said, they just attacked with their fists. When the first reached within 50 meters, I used [Inspect Being].

*Brawler, level 12, 30 HP*

They were usually around 40 of them, I'd been told. They all ran full tilt at us. The eerie part was that they were totally silent. Their mouths were open like they yelled their war cry but no sound came out. It was at this point I thought I’d try [Telekinesis] regardless of what we talked about earlier. In the room, there were flat stones laying on the ground. They were roundly shaped stones almost formed as discs. They were as large as a family pizza and as thin as one too. I focused on one of them and used the skill to lift it up into the air over their heads as high as I could. I dropped it by canceling the skill. And it was high time too. My mana bar read.

Mana bar: 10/45

The result? Quite good if I say myself. It dropped right on the heads of three Brawlers and dropped them instantly. It didn’t matter if they didn’t die because they got trampled by the ones coming up behind them.

A new notification started to blink.

Rondellen looked at me with astonishment, but before he could say anything, the rest of the Brawlers were upon us. I drew my sword and fell back in the defensive position that I’d been taught. As the first one reached me, I attacked, slashing into the barrage of Brawlers that ran into us with their fists extended. Eonde stood on my right, slashing and hacking. Rondellen was further up on my left shooting with his crossbows with deadly accuracy. For every arrow shot, at least two and sometimes three Brawlers fell. There was never any time where we felt pressed. It was rather fast we fell into the motion of hacking and slashing, stepping back and rinse and repeat. As soon as the attack had started, it was over.

Congratulations, you have received:

205 experience points

You have defeated 50 level 8 Gronners. Experience earned is reduced due to being in a group. (Total xp of monsters killed/participants in group) x 1,10= your experience points

I helped Rondellen retrieving his arrows. Most of them were still in such good shape, and they could be used again.

[Inspect Being]

Dead Brawler, level 12, 3 rusty copper

Loot all

You have received 43 rusty copper

“No surprises yet, but once in a blue moon they will come,” Eonde said.

I thought, what?? They have that expression in PAERD as well, but I didn't say anything. What I did say was, “next room was the KingaFants right?”

“Yes,” Rondellen answered and reminded me that the next room was where me and Eonde had to be as mobile as possible and Rondellen stood for the kill.

I really felt I needed to get my mana up to snuff pronto, so I was not only a melee fighter. The test in the last dungeon room with [Telekinesis] was successful I felt. In this room, we met KingaFants. As Rondellen just said, they looked like cute stuffed animals in a shade of purple that could fly. Although at their maximum height they reached waist high on a grown adult, so maybe 1 meter or so in the air. They attacked by shooting hot black steam clouds through their trunks. They were weak on their own, but if you let them come in threes or fours, then the damage the clouds did were three double damage. They usually spawned in four at a time, and in total, there were 16 of them. The plan for handling them was that me and Eonde took agro and Rondellen stood in the back shooting them one by one with his crossbows. When I saw the first one, I used [Inspect Being]. Another notification started to blink, I ignored it for now.

KingaFant, level 16, 38 HP, 30-90 DMG

It worked fine at first, but quite fast I ran out of [Stamina]. I had forgotten to turn on the bar for it. I just noticed it when my latest dodge turned into a feeble attempt of avoiding the steam, and instead I met the steam head first. It hurt like a mother.

Damage taken:

30 HP

Damage taken:

30 HP

Damage taken:

30 HP

I turned on all the bars I could. I had been lulled into a false sense of security because in the previous rooms I hadn't taken any damage.

Health bar:

10/100

Mana bar:

20/45

Stamina bar:

1/100

So I had no choice. “Guys, I’ve depleted my stamina, and I’m low on health. I need to level up.” I gasped.

Rondellen and Eonde on the other hand looked like they were just out walking in the park. Must be the difference between levels, I thought.

Eonde just smiled at me and showed with her hand that it was okay for me to fall back.

I focused on the level up notification I knew I had.

Congratulations! You have reached level 14

You have 3 unspent points to spend on your stats. An additional 2 points for being from another world.

It felt like a whirlwind had gone through me. All of a sudden I felt fine. I took a glance at my bars.

Health bar:

100/100

Mana bar:

45/45

Stamina bar:

100/100

Meanwhile, with Rondellen with Eonde’s help, we decimated the KingaFants quite severely so there were only the last four left. I started to run around and pick up arrows for Rondellen’s crossbow. Then we were done.

Congratulations, you have received:

129 experience points

You have defeated 16 level 16 KingaFants. Experience earned is reduced due to being in a group.

Dead KingaFant, level 16, Dark Cloud Spores

“Huh, uhm, Eonde, Rondellen I just used [Inspect Being] and it told me that KingaFant” I pointed to one laying in front of us, “has Dark Cloud Spores to loot. What is that?” Both Ragnhild and Rondellen looked at the KingaFant in question and probably inspected it as well, because…

“Rondellen, have you gotten that any of the times you've been here?” Eonde asked with worry in her voice.

He just shook his head.

I looted everything.

Loot All

You have received 12 Silver, 2 Dark Steam Cloud Spores

I immediately used [Inspect Item] on it.

Dark Steam Cloud Spores are spores that have the essence of dark steam that can be used in potions by Alchemists.

“I got 2 of the spores”, I told the others, and they let me know that strangely they only got Silver. “That is so strange”, I said, and they just laughed and shook their heads and said at the same time.

“Offworlders”.

In the fourth room there was a mini boss called Raidon, usually level 20. I’ve been told it was a mixed race. Its head from a dragon and a body that I realized must be from something like a horse, with wings. It had 20 sandwiches in its saddlebags that it ate but spit out before it swallowed them. It spat them with deadly accuracy and wherever they hit, the sandwich exploded and burned for 2 seconds, taking 34-40 dmg after the initial hit that took the same amount of damage. The quirky thing it did when it ran out of sandwiches was that it flew up in the air and settled close to the ceiling. Then it stayed there for 4 minutes until it had generated the sandwiches. During that time, its HP increased from 88 to the triple, 282 HP, but at the same time it was also defenseless. The tactic was once again that me and Eonde would take agro and Rondellen would shoot it with his crossbows. Here is where I got a bit fed up with not being able to try out my new fancy sword for real. I dodged the first sandwiches that the creature spat at me.Before I ran out of [Stamina], I made my way closer and closer to Raidon. Took a swing at one of his front legs.

Damage given

60 HP

Then I took one more swing and chopped his head off.

Damage given

34 HP

Congratulations, you have received:

22 experience points

You have defeated 1 level 20 Raidon. Experience earned is reduced due to being in a group.

“Not bad,” Rondellen said, looking appreciative at me.

“Yeah, my new sword is Awesome! Anders' sword making skills are outstanding!” I exclaimed.

“Haha, yeah we all know that”, Rondellen laughed, “but just don’t tell it to him. It will go to his head,” he said with a proud smile.

[Inspect Being]

Dead Raidon, level 20, 10 sandwiches

Loot All

You have received 3 Raidon sandwiches

I was about to go on into the boss room when Rondellen stopped me and said, “I think we should pause here and eat some rations. It’s a good time for you to go through all your notifications and level ups. If I counted correctly, you should have level 15 coming up as a notification.” He said as he handed out rations in the form of dried meat. We all drank cool Canfee. Time to go through my notifications.

Congratulations, your skill [Telekinesis] has reached level three. Want to expand the range from 5 meters to 10 meters or raise the strength of the skill? Expanding range is self explanatory. Raising the strength will help you to lift heavier items.

Range.

Range level 2

Next notification.

Congratulations, your skill [Inspect Being] has reached level four.

I was just about to pull up my status and get that mana up when I heard Rondellen say, “Green Raven, don’t put any points in stats just yet. You will understand why, when you reach level 15.”

“Thanks for the tips, Rondellen” I said and read the next notification instead.

*Congratulations you have reached level 15.

You have 3 unspent points to spend on your stats. An additional 2 points for

being from another world.*

*Congratulations you have received a phantom skill. [Copy] level 1 costs 50 mana to activate each time and 10 mana to use each skill you have copied. At level 1 you can copy 1 skill.*

*Congratulations you have unlocked [Settings].*

*Congratulations you have the opportunity to swap [Dexterity] for [Wisdom] so when adding points into wisdom it works the same way as for dexterity, i.e. 1 point to wisdom will now give you 10 points of mana. NOTE: You need to reset all your points for that to work. And you will sleep for 8 hours afterwards.*

“Wow guys, I got my new skill now. It’s a phantom skill called [Copy], what is a phantom skill?” I said with a question in my voice.

Rondellen and Eonde both looked at each other and then at me and then back to each other. Eonde spoke first, “I haven’t the faintest idea what a phantom skill is. Do you know, Rondellen?”

“If my memory serves me right, there was an offworlder a very long time ago, like when I was still not wet behind my ears, that got a phantom skill. The only thing I can say about it is that it’s what comes after legendary skills. Does it say what it does, Green Raven?”

I read what the description of the skill had said to them and said, “I think I can copy others skills like if I see you guys use a skill, then I can copy it, but I don’t know how. Another question, it says I can swap my dexterity for my wisdom. Is that why you told me to hold off adding anything to mana? I also need to reset all my points and that I’ll sleep for 8 hours?”

“Well first thing is first, yes swap your dexterity for your wisdom and reset your skill points. Finding out how your new skill works and how you best use it can come later. I have saved a surprise for you for this occasion,” Rondellen said and dropped.

*Three Wood Wolf sleeping bags*

“These are for you. Rufus made them for you and it is his gift to you. I think now is a good time to try it out. We will stay here until you are ready to move on.”

I was speechless.

I took the offered sleeping bags and put two in my [Inventory] and spread out the third one and sat down on it with a thud. “I don’t know what to say! This is wonderful. You must thank him for me if I don’t meet him again.”

They both smiled and Eonde said “yes, of course we will thank him from you.”

I lay down and brought up my status page.

Status:

Name: Green Raven

Level: 15

Coins: 1795 gold, 47 silver,

51 rusty copper.

Attributes:

Strength 12

Dexterity 12

Endurance 7

Vitality 10

Intelligence 10

Wisdom 45

Available points: 10

Health: 100/100

Stamina: 70/70

Mana: 45/45

Skills:

[Inspect item] level 2/10

[Inspect being] level 4/10

[Telekinesis] level 3

[Copy] level 1

And focused on [Reset stats].

Status:

Name: Green Raven

Level: 15

Coins: 1795 gold, 47 silver,

51 rusty copper.

Attributes:

Strength 0

Dexterity 0

Endurance

Vitality 0

Intelligence 0

Wisdom 0

Available points: 106

Health: 0

Stamina: 0

Mana: 0

Skills:

[Inspect item] level 2/10

[Inspect being] level 4/10

[Telekinesis] level 3

[Copy] level 1

Okay, so let's put all points the way they were for Strength, Endurance, Vitality and Intelligence I thought. and then 10 points in Dexterity.

Status:

Name: Green Raven

Level: 15

Coins: 1795 gold, 47 silver,

51 rusty copper.

Attributes:

Strength 12

Dexterity 00

Endurance 7

Vitality 10

Intelligence 10

Wisdom 0

Available points: 67

Health: 100/100

Stamina: 70/70

Mana: 0

Skills:

[Inspect item] level 2/10

[Inspect being] level 4/10

[Telekinesis] level 3

[Copy] level 1

And last but not least let's put 50 points in [Wisdom]. I need to save a few points and see how it works with dexterity being changed, because looking at my status pages I couldn’t figure out what had changed there.

Status:

Name: Green Raven

Level: 15

Coins: 1795 gold, 47 silver,

51 rusty copper.

Attributes:

Strength 12

Dexterity 10

Endurance 7

Vitality 10

Intelligence 10

Wisdom 50

Available points: 7

Health: 100/100

Stamina: 70/70

Mana: 500/500

Skills:

[Inspect item] level 2/10

[Inspect being] level 4/10

[Telekinesis] level 3

[Copy] level 1

Are you satisfied with your changes to your stats, Y/N?

Yes

I didn’t black out soon enough because the pain that hit me was out of this world. Ironic since I was in a new world, but yes, I fell into a blissful sleep.