The wooden ceiling and walls served as a distraction from the truth of the matter that he could die today. Or the next day. Or the day after that. However he was prepared for any of these possibilities, as he owed his life to this family. If they hadn’t rescued him, then he could’ve died or worse been ens-

“Ezra I know you’re awake. Hurry up and join me for breakfast.” A feminine voice spoke through the door of the tavern and walked away. As the sound of her footsteps grew quieter, Ezra rose halfway from the slightly stiff tavern bed. He stalled long enough and Claire wouldn’t appreciate him ignoring her call.

Ezra walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Standing at around 6’2, a young man with brown skin and an attractive face stared back. His short black hair was darker than most, and his purple eyes were an object of immense beauty and danger. It all came together to give him an exotic, wild look. Which is why Ezra opened a vial nearby and drunk a small drop of its contents.

Ezra’s purple eyes gradually changed to a dull green and after observing himself in the mirror for a few moments, he proceeded to get ready to meet Claire downstairs. She was beautiful young woman around 5’6 in height, with short brown hair fashioned in a sleek bob. Her green eyes watched as Ezra arrived in time to eat breakfast with her. Neither of them felt attraction towards one another, due to their sibling-like bond that has developed from growing up together.

“Are you sure you don’t want to use a weapon in there? You know how dangerous it is in the beginning without a weapon.” Before Claire and Ezra left for the Dungeon City, this discussion was brought up on multiple occasions by his family. Although they cared for and adopted him under their name, Ezra had no blood relations with the Wilmont family.

When the family learned of Claire and Ezra’s intended career path, they strongly opposed her decision. Claire claimed her other alternatives were “unsuitable for my personality” and after much debate the Baron finally agreed to send his children off. Of course he made sure to equip his children with a set of leather armor, an iron short sword and buckler (except Ezra), and some money to last two weeks if they were frugal.

“Claire trust me when I say this,” as I grasped her hand making sure to maintain eye contact “you know I wouldn’t do this if I had no confidence.” She looked in Ezra’s eyes for any signs of insecurity, but was met with an absolute confidence. Claire let out a deep sigh and squeezed his hand one last time, before going back to eating their breakfast like nothing ever happened.

The pair left the establishment and journeyed towards the center of the city where the entrance was located. Like a persistent scab the Continental Dungeon has continued to threaten the continent with its incessant monster spawning and mutating.

As Ezra and Claire arrived at the 1st district of the city, diverse groups of adventurers migrating towards an abnormally tall cylinder tower. So tall it pierced the high hanging clouds and even then there was no end in sight. It was made out of an unknown sleek white metal, and as far as the eye could see runes radiating with power were inscribed all over its surface. The tower was perched upon a platform surrounded by rows upon rows of stone stairways.

They both stared in amazement, as the stories speaking of its beauty could never amount to seeing the real deal. Groups of adventurers ignored them, not even bothering to hide their snickering and jeering at their reaction. The tower descended from the sky after a century of chaos, preventing monsters from emerging from the Continental Dungeon. Now the tower simply existed and the world took advantage of this, revolutionizing society due to the powers and treasures inside.

After shaking out of their reverie, the pair followed the rest of the adventurers towards the heavenly tower. Ezra glanced at his sister noticing her hands were clenched, while she gazed heatedly at the grand tower. Of course he was also nervous, but he already prepared himself this morning. Besides he had a little sister to worry about, and he would make sure she wouldn’t die here.

As they arrived closer to the base of the tower, a large dimensional portal gaped at its center standing at around five meters. It pulsated incessantly with a black hue while groups would walk right through the portal teleporting inside.

After finally arriving in front of the portal Claire spoke,

“There’s no turning back from here Ezra, are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” He replied and they both stepped in unison into the portal. Ezra’s five senses were gone for a few seconds, until he reappeared with Claire in a room made of marble. It was bare except for a black obelisk at the center of the room.

Unidentifiable symbols glowed with a golden light, as they continuously shifted across its surface. Its origins were still unknown to this day, however everyone knew that this obelisk granted access to your status.

Claire observed it up and down, before finally approaching it and laying her hand on its surface. Her focus shifted elsewhere as Ezra followed suit, and a blue screen appeared in his view.

General Information Attributes Class Name Value Name Rank Progress Name Ezra Wilmont Strength 11 None Race Human (Amazon) Physique 11 Age 19 Agility 10 Sex Male Perception 11 Guild Spirit 11

Ezra had no idea what “Spirit” was or how to obtain a class, nor how he compared with the average human. It seemed as if the powers behind this blue screen were boundless, as Ezra and Claire were busy inspecting it for any hidden secrets.

Loud booms caused the siblings attention to return to the room, as a set of descending stairs magically appeared allowing them access to the dungeon. Claire and Ezra stared at the stairs for a moment before she spoke,

“My highest stat is Agility with a 12, while I also have an 11 in Strength. The rest are all 10. What is your status looking like? We could either get a feel for the dungeon or head back now. What do you think?”

“I have an 11 in everything besides Agility.”

Claire widened her eyes in shock as she eyed her brother suspiciously. “That totally sounds fair. Anyways we can do a test run of the dungeon or we could head back now. It’s up to you Ezra.”

“I’m sure escaping shouldn’t be that hard, so why don’t we see how it works.”

They journeyed down the stone stairs, its descent shaped into a spiral. Torches flickering endlessly were their only source of light, and after a few minutes they finally reached the first floor. They were greeted by a wide stone cavern, as three dark tunnels presented their only options for proceeding forward. Stalactites were sprawled over their heads while they observed and created a plan.

“It feels and looks like an actual cave. To think one dungeon can generate areas like this infinitely…” thought Ezra as he felt the rocks on the wall. He glanced behind and saw Claire was waiting near the tunnel to the left. Ezra made sure to grab one of the torches on the wall, before they journeyed inside the passages.

It was wide enough to fit them both side to side, and they soon approached a spacious clearing. The floor smoothly transitioned from bare stone, to vibrant grass filled with various flowers. They didn’t have time to admire the area though, as a group of five goblins bared their teeth at them.

The monsters were the size of young children with shades of green skin ranging from olive to sickly. Splotches of bumps scattered on their faces, their yellow eyes honing in on Claire’s figure. They barely had any clothes, except for the loincloths that covered their genitals. One of them yelled in their native tongue, making wild gestures at the two humans. Lust was evident in their expressions as they all picked up their shoddy weapons and charged.

Ezra and Claire both escaped towards the tunnel in an attempt to make it an even fight, and as Ezra glanced back he quickly pushed his sister down and ducked. A spear whipped by their heads as they finally got deep enough in the tunnel, forcing the goblins to approach in pairs of two. Claire equipped her sword and buckler, while Ezra put his hands up as they both got in their fighting stances.

A goblin thrust his stone spear at Ezra, its screeching cackles reverberating throughout the tight passage. Ezra easily took advantage of the goblin’s sloppy movements and disarmed his opponent with a grab and jerk. It stumbled but adjusted itself to swipe at Ezra with its lengthy claws, however a powerful side kick slammed into its face causing the goblin to fall on its ass.

Ezra spared a glance and saw Claire already in another fight with a second goblin, this one equipped with a small rusty dagger. A shriek snapped his attention back and the same goblin he kicked jumped towards his face.

Ezra thrust the spear out and the goblin impaled itself with its own momentum. He smirked with confidence, however another goblin snuck up and stabbed his leg with a dagger. Ezra did his best not to scream as he fell onto his knees. The new goblin smiled devilishly as it raised its arm preparing to stab Ezra to death. Claire rushed with her buckler, smashing the side of the small shield on its face. It collapsed on the side of the tunnel unable to move.

“Are you alright Ezra?!” Claire roared as she stood in front of her brother, threatening the last goblin with her sword. It shrieked in fear as it ran back to the grassy clearing. After making sure the goblin fled, Claire rushed to help her brother.

“That little fucker got me bad…it hurts so much.” Ezra could barely reply as his face was locked in a tight grimace. Claire slowly helped raise Ezra as he stood on his good leg. She realized how foolish they were enter the dungeon alone and unprepared.

“Do you think you can walk?” She looked at the deep gash on his leg, the leather armor offering minimal protection against the knife. “It’s all my fault he’s like this…” Ezra’s reply shook her out of her self-deprecation.

“I think I can walk… if we take it slow…but we need to get out of here.” With Ezra leaning his weight on Claire, they slowly headed back towards the entrance. The sounds of grunting overshadowed the noise of their steps, as Ezra tried not to scream from the excruciating pain. This was nothing like the beatings from the guards, it was a real fight with deadly consequences. They wanted to live just as much as Ezra and Claire, so they fought with their lives on the line. The practices with the guards were just bouts, and they were never truly serious in the first place.

His overconfidence and inexperience almost cost him his life, but thankfully they would reach the surface soon where he could get some real medical attention. When they finally got back to the previous room, instead of a spiral of stairs heading up they were greeted with a room connected with more tunnels.

“What the fuck…” Ezra muttered as despair slowly entered the siblings’ eyes. They looked at each other then back at the three new tunnels. Claire felt more and more of Ezra’s weight pressed onto her body, as his eyes slowly became duller by the second.

“No…no no no this can’t be happening!” Their exit was gone and Ezra was bleeding out. As Claire looked back at the trail of blood that came from his wound, the gravity of the situation truly sunk in. She never stopped the blood flow from Ezra’s leg, and it never occurred to her that they’d be injured during a quick trip.

“Ezra stay with me don’t fall asleep!”

She lied him on the ground while she tried to figure out a solution before her brother died. She quickly stripped the upper half of her armor and ripped the sleeves of her undershirt into a makeshift bandage. After undressing Ezra’s lower half, she applied pressure to the wound but the blood easily soaked the material.

Ezra was starting to faint from blood loss, the blood soaking her former shirt sleeves. While Claire was wallowing in her misery, multiple pairs of footsteps could be heard from a tunnel. She searched for its source before yelling “HELP! SOMEONE COME HELP QUICKLY!”

Tears were welling up in her eyes, as the figures of the fellow adventurers appeared. Ezra would be safe, and Claire promised she wouldn’t let her foolishness risk her brother’s life again.