“This is stupid.”

At this point, the fact that your patience would be running thin was a given.

For almost 2 hours we were left to twiddle our thumbs while we waited for Tyrone to complete his [Quest].

2 hours that I partially spent revisiting my [Spells], which included double checking that everything run with [Syphon], and altering [Kenny]’s look to appear more like his name-sake. It didn’t seem to mind, and I only moved its mass around, which wasn’t hard, since [Modify] didn’t seem to have any problems changing something alive that I had created; but if I tried to use it on someone else, like making myself taller, it suddenly was all like ‘nope’, and refused to comply.

All in all, my [Spell-Weaving] took less than an hour, so I was left with nothing to do for the remaining time… until Merga tried to rope me in on some exercises that were related to making contracts with [familiars], which prompted Vanessa to immediately butt-in, followed by the rest of the Humans, and the [Witch] easily complied to their demands, happy to have grabbed the attention of everybody.

Which gave me the opportunity to avoid being at the center of it, for once.

The lesson was a retelling of what I had already learned, but with more ‘practical’ tidbits performed by Merga herself, and her [familiars], which included her ‘calling’ a cat made of shadows from some kind of [Realm of Twilight] (I wonder why that feels familiar).

Finally, heavy steps were heard coming from the bottom of the stairs to the [Dungeon], and soon Grog’s ugly mug poked out of the hole in the ground. After his head came his shoulders, where a limp, and bloody, person was being carried like a sack of potatoes.

“One out of two”, said the Orc, unceremoniously dumping the poor guy on the ground.

And even I was forced to think about the prick sympathetically, because his condition seemed just that dire.

“Goodness, Grog, do you have to always have to bring them back in such a condition!?” Said our [Teacher], interrupting her lesson, and rushing to Tyrone’s side.

She briefly checked for his pulse, his breath, and opened both his eyes, then she pulled a bottle out of her sleeve, pulled the cork on it, and dumped the cherry-colored contents on the face of the man.

Once the pouring was over Tyrone snapped his eyes open and sat up in a jerky motion, raggedly gasping for air.

“Wah app’n?” Were the first words out of his mouth, which he kept moving almost as if he felt it was filled with cotton.

“You passed the test, congratulation: you are now been bestowed with the [Job: Adventurer]”, said the Abaan.

A purple light briefly emanated from Tyrone, who had just the time to mumble “cool” before fainting again, and Merga prevented his head from hitting the ground by catching it before it did so.

“Is he ok?” Asked one of the other [Humans].

Perplexed by his condition I scanned him, but he only resulted exhausted.

“He’s fine, it’s just that the potion I used didn’t clear his [Fatigue], so he’s still dead-tired”, responded Merga.

After another bit of fussing the next person went into the [Dungeon], deciding to bring the Witch with them, and, once again, I thought that the decision was too rushed, since there is supposed to be some kind of hidden meaning behind the fact that we could choose who was supposed to follow us.

“Also, Grog said ‘1/2’ as soon as he stepped out of the [Dungeon], and the [Quest] has two tasks… is there some kind of hidden objective that you can accomplish for a better reward?”

The “0/2” was not meant to be displayed originally, but I thought it unusual and decided to show it anyway.

In hindsight, I realize that it was meant to be a “secret condition”, which was supposed to only be revealed afterward, and that is corroborated by the fact that the Orc said “1/2” in a different language, probably so that you Humans would not understand it.

Also, I concur that there is something behind the choice of Teacher that you bring along, but the details about it still elude me.

Those were all good things to know, and they gave a bit more to work with. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t keep me occupied long enough until it would be my turn, which indubitably will be in the late evening, if not in the dead of night, at this point.

* * *

I was bored out of my mind, and even when we took breaks for both lunch and dinner, or at least those that could still move did, there really wasn’t anything to do other than eat.

Those that had already completed their [Quest] were asked to not talk about it, so you couldn’t even pass the time chatting about it (not that they would have done so with me), and the [Teachers] were in ‘business mode’, where even Merga holds back on her usual teasing.

Thinking about how the others fared in the [Quest] I was perplexed that none, until now, had yet to do better than ‘1/2’, no matter who accompanied them.

Since I had all this free time alone with my mind, I started to wonder about unpleasant topics: Would I be left alone once I started as an [Adventurer], now that those that were supposed to be the closest to me seemed to despise me? Was the choice in escort into the [Dungeon] as significant as I thought? And, most of all, why can’t I make any ‘self-buffs’!?

That was a sore spot since I came to the [Guild], because it seemed that I could do anything with my [Class], but apparently what comes most easily to everyone else, ergo creating a [Skill] that momently boosts the most important attribute of their [Class], seemed to be impossible for me.

Everyone could do it: a [Warrior] could, a [Dancer] could, and even those with non-combat jobs like [Priests] could too… I mean, even an [Accountant] could do it, and yet here I was, completely incapable of it.

On that note, I experimented on applying buffs to others, and that also failed: It seemed that this was the only failing point of my [Class], not being able to ‘bestow’ bonuses upon living things…

No, that was wrong. I could enhance [Kenny], a living thing, with [Modify], and I felt that wouldn’t take much to make a [Spell] (or [Skill]) that would expedite the process; so it was either that I couldn’t ‘enhance’ biological beings, or only those that I didn’t create, at least.

This was a problem, because it meant I would remain squishy and slow, and the only way to counter that was to acquire some high-quality rings and [Enchant] them with ‘attribute-boosting’ effects.

Why rings? Because the fact that [Enchantments] could disrupt one another reared its ugly head again, pleased to tell me that it applied also to equipment that was too close to one another, which meant that I couldn’t [Enchant] different things with different effects when they were touching. My clothes and cloak were already pushing the boundaries, and it had only worked because the ‘high-end’ [Enchantments] I put on them were the same, and the only one the cloak had extra, that the clothes didn’t, wasn’t ‘heavy’ enough to matter much in this case, given its relative simplicity.

“I can’t wait to have some more money and be able to experiment with the limits of this concept.”

* * *

It did end up being almost night when my turn came, and now I only had to wait for the last person, that had gone in, to come back out, probably looking like they had survived a war and with only a “1/2”, like the rest of the others; in the meantime, I had decided that laying on the grass and observe the sky would be the best use of my time until then.

I must say that I was not disappointed: At times I forget just how ‘alien’ this place is, even with all the different [Races] walking around, but a look at the multiple suns and moons quickly brings it into perspective every time. Also, the way they all seemed to emanate Mana made pretty patterns in the sky, and the fact that the others probably weren’t even aware of it made it all the more ‘special’.

I was brought out of my reprieve when Skortch came back with the body of Vanessa in a fireman's carry.

“Also 1/2", he simply said, while delicately laying her on the ground, so Merga could drop the option on her face, like with the others.

“Mhh, then I suppose we must have saved the best for last. What do you say, Mr. Dulcet?” The [Guild Master] said, turning then to me with a crooked grin on his face.

“I say that this could have been handled differently, to waste less time for everybody, and that I choose Eddd: since he’s the only one I wouldn’t have qualms with punching in the face”, was my response.

“Excuse me!?” Said an outraged [Sorcerer].

“Oh, please, at this point it’s obvious that we are either supposed to spar with who we brought along, or escape their attacks during our return, after completing the primary objective”, I said dismissively.

The [Teachers] looked to one another, and then turned to me once more.

“And just how have you figured that out?” Asked the [Guild Master], inquisitively.

“By matching the type of wound that the others came back with, with what I learned was your specialties, and observing that it corresponded with who escorted who. Also, at this point, I’m afraid that the other [Humans] would call the fact that I was the last one to take this ‘test’, giving me the opportunity to analyze all of this, some other form of favoritism”, I said everything that there was on my mind, since I was thinking that a bit of honesty couldn’t hurt now.

“We already thought about that, and we decided on separating you all into 2 groups, with them going in a more ‘newbie-friendly’ place, and you just getting the chance to start over where nobody has any prejudices against you”, related Abaan.

“Not that you would be able to fit anywhere”, muttered the old Elf.

“You know, I realize that I wouldn’t be able to beat you-“, I said to Eddd, who smiled victoriously at me, “-but I’m sure as hell going to give you the biggest headache that your empty nogging has ever experienced!”

He frowned at me, and before he could say anything I headed towards the opening into the [Dungeon], and just started descending the stairs without much fanfare, which caused the grouchy raisin to hurry after me, while saying some ‘unkind’ expletives that I chose to ignore.

* * *

You are now entering the [Dungeon of the Rodent’s Mine]

The fact that I got a notification at all that I was within the confines of the [Dungeon] proper was nice, because it meant that you couldn’t simply stumble into one unknowingly. What wasn’t nice was that the place seemed to ‘eat’ the light from outside, and I was quickly surrounded by darkness.

“Also… Rats? Again? Really!?”

I [Invoked Kenny], and his light seemed to be able to pierce the surrounding shadows just fine, showing me that I was descending into what looked like an abandoned mine shaft, complete with railroad tracks on the ground, and piles of rocks amassed on the side of the path.

Eddd wished me to unironically to ‘break a leg’, and then ‘cloaked’ himself in darkness, disappearing from my sight… or at least he would have if I couldn’t still see him through the exact same [Spell] he had wrapped around him just the same as before, with my [Demiurgic Sight], and still be able to detect his presence with [Unavoidable Detection]… and also feel where his intentions were coming from with my [Precognitive Aura].

“Man, I’m already ‘broken’.”

I decided to not further aggravate him with the knowledge that I could still see where he was, and instead exploit that fact when it was time for him to ‘ambush’ me, which should have been either right after defeating the [Mini-Boss], or on the way back out of the [Dungeon].

I casually strode forward, relying on [Precognitive Aura] to warn me of any dangers, and it provided itself immediately useful when, after just a couple of steps, it warned me that there was a trap ahead of me, which I quickly ‘detected’, and subsequently avoided, which elicited muttered a “just beginner’s luck” from behind me.

Moving forward, I had to maneuver around another couple of traps, before finally hearing a noise in the distance.

“Is that the noise of a pickaxe hitting stone?”

I wasn’t a [Miner], but I played enough games to be able to recognize the stereotypical sound.

I squatted low, readied my staff in front of me, and told [Kenny] to quell the light a bit, since we were getting closer to a bend in the path that would definitely end up getting us closer to whoever was the source of the noise, and with my ‘unfueled’ [Skill] I could only tell it was on its own.

Stealthily moving forward, I used [Unavoidable Detection] towards the source of the noise, and what came back surprised me as much as it annoyed me.

1 hostile Monster detected, of the Ratton variety

“My first [Delve] has one of those ugly things as my first enemy? Just my [Luck].”

Through your prayers, you have been warded +1 [Serendipity]

“And, of course, that’s what I get-”

My feeling towards the [Goddess] had to wait, since the rhythmic sound of the pickaxe suddenly stopped, and my [Aura] warned me of the [Monster] getting closer.

Deciding to play it safe I told [Kenny] to momentarily ‘kill’ the light, and summoned two [Pizza Launchers] and a [Totem].

I was done with my preparations not a moment too soon, since the [Ratton] sprinted around the corner right then, charging immediately my way, as if it knew exactly where I was, and given that it was connected to the [Dungeon Core] that wasn’t too unlikely; it was brandishing a rusted pickaxe above his head, its glowing red eyes already locked on my position, and squeaking angrily my way.

Name:

Ratton Miner

Affinity:

Nature; Earth

Danger:

Low

I barely had enough time to [Inspect] it before my [Turrets] turned it into minced meat, demonstrating just much stronger I was compared to a couple of days ago, when I would run away in fear from these things.

The spectacle was as grotesque as I imagined, so to avoid keeping on looking at it I opted to just move on, delicately stepping over its dead body. But while I was doing so, I noticed its body turning into a greyish smoke, which was absorbed by the nearby walls, and only a small fraction of it was the purple [Aether] that I’d come to know, which my body greedily took in.

“So that’s what the books meant when they said that the [Dungeon] recycled its [Monsters] upon defeat…”

Could I do the same with my [constructs]? Probably, and it was something that I definitely had to test out.

But not here, and not now: There was a [Dungeon] that I had to explore.