Waking up, Mark was excited. It was the day he would enter a dungeon for the first time. Although he was excited, he was also somewhat scared and anxious. What if something happened to him? Or if he froze up in fear when he was about to be attacked? Shaking these thoughts off, he opened his menu.

Focusing on 'Stats,' the menu expanded.

Physical Stats Magical Stats Miscellaneous Stats Strength - E- Magical Potency - F+ Aura - F Endurance - E+ Magical Capability - F Concealment - F+ Agility - E-

Nodding his head at the progress he made, he felt a bit more confident. Next, he opened the 'Abilities' menu.

Abilities

Enhancement - The ability to temporarily enhance an aspect of yourself.This ability has two sub-abilities.

Enhanced Physique -Temporarily enhance your physique, increasing your strength, endurance, and speed.

Enhanced Regeneration - Enhance your natural regeneration, recovering from wounds and exhaustion quicker.

Locked.

Reach 100% to unlock.

Current percentage: (0%)

Locked.

Reach 100% to unlock.

Current percentage: (0.7%)

It seemed like every five meals he cooked, it unlocked a little of his ability. Admittedly it wasn't much, but hey, progress is progress. Some day he would unlock it and he would soar through the skies! Or so he hoped, but it likely wouldn't be too op.

Some good news though, over the course of the training his Enhanced Physique ability improved a bit! Instead of a 1.1x boost, it now gave a 1.15x boost! He didn't notice any increase in his Enhanced Regeneration, though. He hoped it would scale with his mana, but another possibility he feared is it would increase with the damage he took.

Seeing his improved stats made him feel better about his chances. The stronger he was, the less likely he would die. Strength is all that matters in this world; well, aside from how cunning you were. Anyways, enough of that train of thought.

Getting ready for the day, Mark took a shower and headed to go make some omelettes. Quickly, he decided to check the time.

11:00

Since the dungeon slot they had was at 15:00, they only had four hours left to prepare everything and enter the dungeon. Walking past the living room, he saw Ryan was already awake and checking out his weapons. Hearing Mark's footsteps, Ryan turned around and said,

"You finally up? We have four hours until the dungeon, so we still have a lot of time. Make some breakfast and we'll train some more, that way you won't cramp up while we are fighting."

"Mhm. Omelettes sound good?"

"Sure!"

Mark went to the kitchen and whipped up some omelettes. He sat them on the table and called Ryan. When he sat down at the table, they both dug in and swiftly finished breakfast. Washing the dishes, Mark decided to check out the slightly curved dagger that they bought a few days ago. Feeling its sharp edge, Mark felt reassured. It is serrated on one side and sharp on the other, suitable for all kinds of monsters. The dagger is made of Verisite, one of the more durable low-end ores.

Swinging it around for a few seconds, he stretched and they walked back to the gym. Entering a private room in the basement, they said goodbye to the assistant and worked out for the next hour. During this time, Mark's strength increased.

Strength has increased (E- > E)

"Hey, my strength increased!"

"I'm glad, you'll need all of the extra strength you can get. Dungeons can be tough."

"How well do you think I can do at my current strength?"

"You can probably kill a 3⭐ monster, give or take."

Mark nodded and pondered for some time. Monsters and dungeons both share the same difficulty system; they each contain tiers. Monsters are graded into tiers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Each tier further splits into five star levels (1⭐, 2⭐, 3⭐, 4⭐, and 5⭐.) Dungeons, however, are only graded into the five separate star levels.

Let's take monsters in a 1⭐ dungeon as an example. Every monster in a 1⭐ dungeon is T1 (tier 1), following the star count of the dungeon. As the dungeon's difficulty increases, so do the tiers of the monsters. A 2⭐ dungeon has T2 and T1 (tier 2, tier 1) monsters, and a 3⭐ dungeon has T3, T2, and T1 monsters.

The strength of a monster nearly triples for every ⭐. For example, it would take three 1⭐ fish to kill a single 2⭐ fish of the same tier.

Ryan, seeing Mark in a daze, gave him a few seconds and then said,

"Alright, well since we only have 2 hours and 30 minutes left, we need to head home and rest. Can't be sore in the dungeon, since it affects your fighting ability."

"Head home, rest, then dungeon?"

"Yep."

Walking home, they talked about the dungeon some more. Ryan briefed Mark,

"Alright, let's review what we know about the dungeon. What is the terrain and name of it?"

"Serenity. The terrain is grasslands, with one lake in the center, along with a few forested areas and rivers."

"Good, now what kind of monsters do we expect?"

"1⭐ Wyrms, 1⭐ Water-skippers, 2⭐ Buffalo, 2⭐ Barracudas, and 3⭐ Bears."

"Great memory. Do you remember what each creature looks like and their strengths/weaknesses?"

Mark rubs his chin for a moment, than replies,

"Hmm... Wyrms burrow under the grasslands and like to attack you from below. They have weak undersides and mouths, and you can spot them leaving a trail when they are digging through the ground. Water-skippers... they live in the lake and rivers, but I don't remember their weaknesses. The buffalo like to live in herds and commonly stampede through the grasslands; they avoid the forests. As for the barracudas... they are found in some of the deeper rivers, as well as the central lake, and they have fragile bodies but are very fast. The bears live in the forests, and they have weak stomachs, eyes, and butts."

"Good, though you forgot water-skippers. They are somewhat fast with thin legs, and have weak spines."

"Ah! I remember now!"

Ryan rolled his eyes, "Sure you do... uh-huh."

"Shut up! I just needed a quick refresher."

"Sure... Sure..."

"Hey!"

They both laugh and arrive back at their house, resting for the next hour.

14:00

Mark's woke up to his alarm ringing, refreshed after a quick nap. Sitting up, he heard Ryan yelling for him.

"Mark! Hurry and get out of bed, you lazy turd! I need help packing so we won't be late!"

"Alright, coming!"

After fixing his bed-head, Mark ran out of the bedroom. Ryan was already packing in the living room, with a pile of food, water, a lot of first-aid supplies, and a small water purifier in case they needed water from the river. He had a pile of extra clothes and a couple blankets and pillows for extra measure. Helping Ryan pack, they stuffed it all into a few bags and then put it all into a spacial bag.

Spacial bags compress the space inside of them, allowing for thrice the amount of items to be carried.. It also had the extra benefit of reducing the weight by 35%. Higher-end spacial bags could even reduce the weight by a whole 75%, and increase the carrying capacity twenty-fold! If you were to spend even more money, you could get spacial rings which had small rooms compressed inside of them. This would allow a large carrying limit with 99.5% weight reduction.

Finishing packing for the dungeon, Ryan strapped on the backpack and they walked a quarter of a mile to the nearest bullet train. Bullet trains, ever since mana entered the world and technology boomed, were one of the most common forms of transportation. Bullet trains could reach an astonishing 550mph; that's around 20mph less than a Boeing 747.

The speed, coupled with the vast bullet train network that reached every corner of the country, and the relatively low access fee of 10U/month, made it the dominant mode of transportation land-wise.

Hopping on the bullet train, it only took them a couple of minutes to arrive near the dungeon. Walking another five minutes, they reached a heavily-guarded, mana reinforced chain link fence. All dungeons were heavily guarded, requiring a reservation at least 7 days in advance to enter. Some dungeons are entirely off-limits, however. While a lot of dungeons are owned by the government, about a third of the dungeons known are privately owned, either by companies or powerful families.

Walking up to the gate, they felt multiple gazes on them. One of the guards came up to them, asking for their reservation. Ryan took out a reservation card from his pocket. Reservation cards are small cards with nano chips implanted in them. They served as proof you had a reservation.

Scanning the card, the guard nodded at them, then took them to a side door.

"Enter through here. When you enter, follow the path and take the first right you see."

Memorizing the path, Ryan replied,

"Got it, thanks," he turned to Mark, "Mark, let's go."

Mark nodded, then followed behind Ryan absent-mindedly.

'My first dungeon...I wonder what it will be like.'

They soon arrived in front of the entrance to the dungeon. Snapping out of his daze, jaw dropped. The sight he was seeing was unfathomable.

The entrance was a massive, green orb of pulsating mana. It had a diameter of what looked to be fifteen feet. It seemed to be around twenty feet tall, towering over Mark. Even with how low his mana abilities were, it felt like the occasional pulses of mana swept through every fiber of his being. The surface of the orb looked like rippling water, moving constantly.

"It's your first time seeing a dungeon in person, how is it?"

"It's... beautiful. Amazing."

"Heh. When I saw one for the first time, I felt the same way. Still, they never get old.."

Mark was unable to move for a few more seconds, then stepped forward. If this was only the entrance, what would the inside feel like?

"Mark, are you ready to enter it?"

Determination surfaced on Mark's face. He looked at the orb again, then replied,

"Yeah, let's do this."

Walking forward, he reached out towards the orb.

Dungeon detected.

Would you like to enter the dungeon 'Serenity?'

Yes No

Mark stared at the message. He steeled himself, then focused on the 'Yes' option.

Received input. Yes chosen.

Preparing entry.

1%...

53%...

99%...

Entering dungeon.

Mark suddenly felt like he was in the center of a tornado, lifted off of his feet. Then, all of his senses disappeared. He felt nothing; not even his own body. The only thing he could see was a single message.

Welcome to the dungeon.