Steven stood at the Red Eye staring into its ruby depths. He was unsure if it worked the same way when teleporting as resetting a floor. He was a little nervous that someone would teleport inside him, so he quickly tapped his implant to the eye and a screen appeared.

Return to Floor 0 [Y/N]

Proceed to Floor 1 [Y/N]

He gripped the small box tightly under his arm, and selected the Y next to Floor 1. The world went black and he felt the expected sensations of nothingness as he was teleported to the next floor.

Steven appeared in a clearing of stone, but without any rocky walls or corridors. It was even absent of the lichen and puddles of water he found on Floor 0. He turned in a circle to survey his surroundings. It was completely flat and empty for as far as he could see, just grey stone and grey sky.

It was just him, and the Red Eye.

Steven thought maybe something had gone wrong and the dungeon had put him between floors, so he tapped his implant to the eye.

Return to Floor 0 [Y/N]

Proceed to Serenity Springs [Y/N]

He selected N and the dungeon screen disappeared, when a thought occurred to him. He found it strange that he was given a yes or no option for each choice the screen presented, instead of simply a list of locations to which he could transport.

“Unimportant,” he told himself, sitting on the ground. “Focus on the task at hand.”

In his hands he held the box he had gotten from the guild. The guild that he had no intention of joining or helping in any way. He felt a heat rise into his face and tried to think back to the conversations he had with the teeth guy. He could remember that he actually had spoken to the guy, and even what he was told.

But Steven could not remember any of the conversation.

He thought back to Nora, and the way she treated him. He could picture her in his mind. Blonde, blue outfit. Innocently doing her job until she had pushed him into the room. He remembered waiting for a while. A knock, then teeth.

All he could see in his mind was an image of a smiling mouth that showed just a little too many teeth. He remembered the imprint recording, and even receiving the box he now held.

That bothered him more than the fact that he had died and been reborn in this drab dungeon. He had only been here a short amount of time, experienced magic, even transformed himself, but there was a man with a toothy grin that could make him do what he didn’t want to do.

Steven looked down at the box and considered throwing it away, but that wouldn’t change the fact he’d been used. He had already registered with the guild. Might as well turn it on them, if he could. It was time to see what benefits he was given.

Opening the box, he discovered that it wasn’t magical. He had expected the insides to be more like that of the buildings, magically enlarged and containing a gleaming suit of blue armor. What he actually found was a leather belt with an attached pouch sitting on top of a folded piece of paper.

He inspected the belt and pouch to find that it was simply a belt with a pouch. Casting identify on either didn’t come up with anything. Steven didn’t expect his skill to work on objects, but it didn’t stop him from trying anyway.

Opening the pouch he saw it contained a small grey marble. The marble had the same depthless look as the Red Eye, so he thought maybe it was something important and put it back in the pouch. Feeling slightly like he had been duped, he set the belt aside and picked up the note to read it.

Welcome to the Guild.

As a new special grade member, your welcome supply consists of 1 x Belt of Suppression and 1x Small Spatial Bag.

Inside the bag you will find your weekly mana salary of 1000 mana. You may acquire this salary once every 200 hours. Maintain a good standing with the Guild to maintain the salary. Perform extra duties for the Guild to increase your salary.

As a special grade, you are destined for great things. As such, the dungeon creates your floors a bit differently. Any strange resources you might find on your journey, place into the bag and bring to the supply counter for appraisal.

Aside from resources for the Guild, the bag is yours to use for your own personal items.

Your implant recording will update automatically, so there is no need for you to return to the main or lesser guild halls after completion of a floor.

Good luck, and may the pain enlighten.

He dropped the note, and quickly pulled out the small grey marble. This wasn’t the real treasure, the bag was, but Steven was excited for a free 1000 mana. That seemed like several hours worth of farming on Floor 0, if he still had enemies there to fight.

The only problem was that the mana was shaped like a small marble, and he didn’t know how to use it. He thought about it for a minute and came to the conclusion that it had to get into his body, therefore he must ingest it. Like a pill. That seemed to resonate with him so he popped the pill into his mouth and swallowed.

With that done, he tapped on his implant and checked his status. His mana counter read 102. He hadn’t really been paying much attention to the counter but knew that it had to be over 1000 now, simply because of the marble. He decided to give time to digest and absorb into his body.

The marble issue currently pending resolution, he picked up the belt and fit it around his waist. This was a Belt of Suppression, but he had no idea what it suppressed. With his identify skill only working on living, or unliving, lifeforms, he had no way to appraise the belt and find out what it did. Maybe if he were some sort of merchant class he would have an appraise ability. What he did have, however, was a process called trial and error.

First he took off the belt and checked his status.

Strength - 9

Dexterity - 9

Endurance - 9

Intelligence - 6

Wisdom - 5

Pain - 1.1

Although not necessarily what he was looking for, he did notice that the pain attribute increased by .1. Steven figured it was most likely due to increasing his floor. On Floor 0, his pain was only at a 1. He quickly saw how this could become a problem. If it continued this way, Floor 10 would have his pain at 2. Being slashed and killed was already incredibly painful now, he could only imagine what it would feel like later.

Then again, he wouldn’t have to imagine for long. He just needed to progress through the floors.

He put on the belt again, and checked the status page. Immediately he could pick out the changes.

Strength - 9 (9)

Dexterity - 9 (9)

Endurance - 9 (9)

Intelligence - 6 (6)

Wisdom - 5 (5)

Pain - 1.1 (.6)

It was very obvious to him what had changed and why. Putting on the belt suppressed the pain by .5. This even answered a question he had for a while now. He will be able to augment his attributes by wearing things. Aside from the belt, now he just needed to get some new equipment to wear. He needed to start with pants and a shirt. He was tired of wearing the tan burlap looking clothes the dungeon had spawned on him.

But that was a task for later. He had finished going through his supplies, having equipped the belt and pouch after ingesting the mana pill. All that was remaining was the shoebox that it all came in. So he put it in his pouch, which was incredibly weird. He just simply put it in, but he couldn’t see the box shrink or the pouch expand. It just went in.

He sat flummoxed about the box, continuing to remove it and place it back in the spatial bag. Nothing about this dungeon made sense, so he wasn’t sure why the box broke his brain the way it did. He began laughing and after several minutes the laughs became sobs.

Unsure as to what was going on with him, Steven lay back and draped his arm across his eyes. He spent several minutes breathing deep and trying to think about nothing.

Back on Earth, when he was alive, he was a nobody. Now dead, in the dungeon, he was still a nobody. But he had the ability to make something of himself. He had the ability to become strong.

Steven sat up, then stood and stretched his arms above his head. He rolled his neck and heard many pops and creaks from each joint. A determined grin spread on his face.

“This is my life now. My death. Time to make the most of it.”

He looked around, his grin falling from his face. Steven still had no idea what the deal was with this floor.