Robert gave them a map to the dungeon that had been passed down from his father. Jen tried to pay him for it, but he wouldn’t accept even a copper.

It took Jen and Sam two more days to travel from Robert’s farm to the dungeon entrance. Jen could have followed the unusual mana trail straight to the dungeon even without a map. Robert was also correct about the beasts, their levels were so low, none of them even tried to attack Sam and Jen.

Jen was kind of disappointed as she looked at the dingy cave entrance, and she said, “I know this was my idea, and it looks like we might have wasted our time, but like I said, I can feel an unusual mana coming from the cave that I hope will make it worth the trip.”

They watched the dungeon entrance from cover and concealment for several hours and didn’t notice any signs of anything going in or out of the cave.

“That’s the problem; we should have seen some animals or at least signs of animals using that cave. Don’t get relaxed; something is not right here.” Sam said to Jen.

A few moments later he asked her, “What’s the plan, Boss?”

“Stay alert, stay alive!” Jen said as she left her overwatch position and headed towards the dungeon.

Sam kept his rifle trained on anything that might jump out at Jen as she approached the entrance. “All clear!” Jen said to Sam, as she then kept her rifle trained on the surrounding area, to cover Sam as he approached her location.

She continued to keep watch as Sam placed several enchanted mana blocks around the entrance that would sound an alarm if anything came in the dungeon behind them.

They both cast their night vision skill as they entered the cave. Almost six intense hours later, after they cautiously and tediously explored every tunnel of the dungeon, and placed enchanted mana warning block alarms at every junction behind them, they arrived at what they believed to be a cavern at the very bottom of the dungeon.

“This is where the mana is originating from. According to the stories I’ve heard about dungeons on this world, if there were a boss monster in this dungeon, it would be up ahead in that cavern,” Jen texted to Sam’s onboard.

“Cover me.” Jen said as she slowly inspected the open chamber while staying on the inside edge of the tunnel. “Clear! I don’t see anything or sense any mana traps. The only mana I feel at all is the same mana stream that’s been flowing from the cave.”

Sam slowly walked backwards to meet up with Jen at the cavern entrance while keeping their rear covered. Sam suddenly scream-whispered “What the fuck!” as he jumped about four feet to the other side of the tunnel. The fattest black and white tuxedo cat, out of nowhere, had just purred and rubbed up against his leg scaring the shit out of him.

Sam almost shot the fat pudgy cat on instinct. “Should I shoot it?” he asked Jen, as it waddled towards her.

“No, give me a second,” she replied. While focusing her psych skill on the cat, Jen was thinking to herself, “Why did my psych scanning skill not pick up any emotions, sounds, or mana signals from the presence of this knee-high adorable cuddly cat? He looks so cuddly!!!!”

The cat then looked at Jen with intelligent eyes and used its own psych skill and said in Jen’s mind, “Of course you can’t sense me unless I want you to; I’m a mana cat!” The cat then walked a little closer to Jen, looked utterly exhausted from waddling around, collapsed to the ground, rolled over on his back and said, “Tummy rub pleeeeeease!”

Jen’s jaw dropped open, but she was speechless after hearing the cat ask for a tummy rub! She then looked at Sam before approaching the cat, and said, “Keep me covered. You won’t believe this, but this cat just talked to me through my onboard, using a psych skill.”

“What the hell?” replied Sam.

“He says he’s a mana cat, whatever that is. I can’t crack his stat sheet to see his level either.”

Sam kept his weapon trained on the cat but also kept his other focus through his peripheral vision on their surroundings, “Are you sure about this Jen? This is fucking weird. We don’t need to take this risk.”

Jen kept her eyes on the cat as she replied, “I’m not sure, but I have a feeling about this cat.”

Sam’s gut was not warning him, but his stomach was still in knots as he watched Jen kneel down and start petting the cat’s massively fat and furry stomach. The cat simply purred, stretched, and rolled so that Jen could also scratch his side and back.

A few minutes later, Jen said to Sam, “Long story short, he’s been in the dungeon for about 100 years. He’s a mana cat and came down here with a group of adventurers who were controlling him with a slave collar. The strange mana in this dungeon interfered with the collar, breaking the control of the slavers. He immediately killed all the slavers, but the strange mana keeps him trapped in the cavern, and he can only go out about 20 feet down this tunnel before collapsing from lack of mana. He says that over the last 100 years, we’re the first people or beasts that didn’t try to immediately kill him, and the dungeon hasn’t released any monsters since he’s been here.”

Sam replied, “OK, what does ‘Slim’ want us to do about it. Everybody always wants us to fix something for them!”

Jen looked up at Sam with “that” look and said, “He’s been a slave to either people or this dungeon for over 100 years. Are you saying you don’t want to do anything about it?”

Sam grumbled, “No, you’re right. It’s just, why is it always us?...Wait, don’t answer that. I need to quit bitching. Let’s get this done. What does Slim say?”

System Message:

The Greater the Risk, the Greater the Reward!

==

Gambling Quest: Enslave the cat and escape the dungeon!

==

Requirements: Demand the slave collar from the cat in exchange for his freedom from the dungeon!

You have 6 hours to meet the quest requirements – odds of failing 99% Reward of 20 ability points and euphoria for every ability point gambled, maximum bet of 3.

==

Accept: Yes/No

==

They immediately rejected the quest, and Sam said, “Ask him why the gambling quest has a 99% chance of failing.”

Jen looked at Slim and a moment later replied, “Because he would kill us rather than give over the slave collar and continue to be enslaved, even if by people instead of the dungeon.”

Sam shrugged and said, “No worries there. How do we go about getting him out of here?”

After a moment, Jen replied, “He says that I need to use my mana to shield and block the dungeon’s mana from his mana system until we get out of the dungeon.”

Sam was surprised and asked, “Is that something you can do?”

Jen nodded her head and said, “Yes, I can do it. It won’t be “hard,” but it’s going to take ALL my focuses. His entire body is literally made up of mana channels. That’s not all. He says the dungeon has stored up a lot of energy, and once he is disconnected from it, the dungeon is likely to release a lot of monster mobs that will attack us.”

Sam bit his tongue in an effort to keep from bitching about what they were going to do. He then said, “OK, wait here. Right now, there are no mobs in the dungeon. I’m going to go and use some of my enchanted grenades to cave in all the side tunnels to keep the mobs from coming at us from the sides.”

Jen looked at Slim and then said to Sam, “You don’t need to do that. Slim says all the mobs will spawn in this cavern. We just need to get back out of the entrance before the mobs overrun us.”

Sam walked over and knelt down next to Jen, and while absently scratching Slim behind the ears said, “Give me all your rings, except the one with your guns. We are going to go the very edge of Slim’s tether. When you get his mana system blocked off, I want you to run, and don’t stop running until Slim is out of the dungeon. Then come back for me. I don’t know how far I will be able to follow you before the mobs catch up, and then I’ll have to cover your escape.”