Steven woke up feeling refreshed for the first time since he died. There was no way for him to tell how long he’d been asleep, since he forgot to check his timer before he crashed in bed. Not feeling particularly groggy like after a good twelve hour sleep, he had the impression he was out for a normal amount of time.

As comfortable as the bed was, he realized that he had to get up. With a room like this that cost only 200 mana every 800 hours, which added up to just over a month, he could spend eternity lazing about and getting by with the bare minimum.

But that really depended on how much food cost. He had a sneaking suspicion that the glass countertop in the corner had something to do with the Matron saying he could order food in his room, and he had to figure out if his suspicion was correct.

When he placed his hands on the glass, the counter lit up with a menu, confirming his previous thoughts. It was almost like a magical tablet. He wondered why the attendants in the guildhall didn’t have these things all over.

The menu contained foods that he was used to seeing back on Earth. Rather, back when he was alive. There were also pages that contained dishes in other languages and all the prices seemed incredibly reasonable. He could order an entire 10oz steak with mushrooms and fries for only 3 mana. It seemed completely unreal.

But he wasn’t in the mood for steak, surprisingly. He needed something quick and easy to digest, and ended up ordering a bowl of banana cream oatmeal with a glass of orange juice. It cost 2 mana total.

A moment later the glass on the countertop slid into the wall, and his order rose up on a magical dumbwaiter. Excitedly retrieving the meal, he sat naked on the desk chair and finished his breakfast within a few minutes. Unsure what to do with the dishes, he set them back down on the dumbwaiter and watched it descend into the abyss while the glass slid back out of the wall.

In the bathroom now, he grabbed the bar of soap from the shower and scooped his clothes off the floor, placing them in one of the sinks. He spent the next half hour scrubbing the grime out of his clothing. When satisfied, and now quite glad the clothing wasn’t white, he hung them inside the shower to dry.

Now that he was awake, fed, and relatively active, he needed a plan. He had enough time before his clothes dried to figure out where he stood. He tapped on the implant and pulled up his status.

Strength - 19

Dexterity - 17

Endurance - 18

Intelligence - 9

Wisdom - 8

Pain - 1.1

He was concerned for a second when he didn’t see his adjusted attributes, but realized quickly enough that he wasn’t wearing the belt at the moment. His attributes had made far leaps in the past few absorptions. His mana counter read 43, and he mentally subtracted 2 for the meal.

He needed to figure out how to pay for the food and any of the other services in Serenity Springs. And why the pill didn’t work. That would have to come after finding help out of the situation on Floor 1. Looking at his timers for the first time in a long while he saw he had spent over 47 hours in the dungeon total. 23 of those hours were on his current floor.

That didn’t seem right at all, and he tried to think back through the past few days. The time didn’t feel right here, so he was unsure as to why he even had timers in the first place. He made a mental note to ask the Matron as often as he can when his rent was due.

Putting those thoughts aside, his first impressions of Serenity Springs had not been very good. He attributed that to the reception he received from the guards and the surprise detention. This second visit has been surprisingly pleasant and uneventful. It was exactly what he needed.

But now he needed to get his clothes exchanged first. For everything else, he guessed he needed to visit the bulletin board.

He got up and checked on his clothes. They were still dripping from the wash, so he made his way over to the bed wishing for a TV to watch. As soon as he plopped down he sprung back up and felt like an absolute moron.

The shower had a drying feature. There were no towels, otherwise he’d be wearing one.

Minutes later he was dressed in his dried but heavily stained and torn clothes. He’d slipped on the shoes that he forgot to clean and was surprised at how disgusting they felt. He tried to put it out of his mind. Soon he’ll be wearing a new dashing outfit, ready to defeat the dungeon.

He was disappointed to not see the Matron at the bar when he made his way through the lobby, but the kind older gentleman on duty showed him how to pay for the services that Serenity Springs had to offer. It was actually quite simple. The man retrieved a short rod that reminded Steven of a metal detector. He input the price of the meal and waved it over Steven’s implant. He couldn’t see anything happen, but the man reassured him that the meal had been paid off.

The next stop had him standing in line at the receiving end of the supply counter with close to 80 other individuals. He felt lucky he wasn’t selling anything to supply as the other end of the counter was packed full of enough people he couldn’t count. When it was finally his turn, he was called forward by an attendant in blue.

“I’m newly dead and was told I could exchange this,” Steven plucked at his shirt, “for something a bit better.”

The attendant nodded and retrieved a small square piece of glass from under the counter.

“Pick what you want from the magitab. The selection’s not as great as other places, but free is free. If only once,” the attendant said, handing him the device and moving over to help the next person in line.

Steven stared at it. It was awesome, and he was just thinking earlier that such a device would be of great use. He touched the screen and it came to life. It looked much the same as the menu from his room, so he had no difficulties browsing the items.

A few minutes later he had finished his selection, and the attendant returned and took the magitab from him, placing it in a dumbwaiter similar to the one in his room. He watched the tablet go down and back up, but with it was a basket of clothes and a pair of hiking boots that Steven chose.

“You can change in one of the changing rooms. When you’re done, leave the basket and what you’re wearing on the table in there. May the pain enlighten,” the attendant said and indicated where the changing rooms were.

“Thanks,” Steven said, and he went to the nearest changing room. He locked the door and set the basket on a small magic table inside. The attendant said the selection wasn’t that great, but Steven was not disappointed in the slightest from what he could see on the magitab.

After stripping off everything he was wearing, he put on a new pair of boxer briefs and was thankful that this afterlife even had underwear. He had spent the last few days commando, which led to some uncomfortable scenarios.

Over that went a pair of brown cargo pants. He picked the brown because he remembered a line from a movie he once saw that said something about red pants concealing blood. Next he donned a simple black t-shirt, put on his new ankle high athletic socks, and his black nylon and leather hiking boots.

The most exciting feature of his new duds was the self-cleaning magic that had been cast on them. It wouldn’t help with any rips or tears, but over time the clothes would slowly sap away a small amount of his mana to somehow clean themselves. He assumed he could probably find some better clothing with different enchantments if he knew where to look. The attendant had hinted that, at least. It would probably cost an arm or a leg.

He tried to thread his belt through the belt loops on his pants, but was unable to remove the pouch. It ended up just being fastened around his waistband. He was happy to find that his selection of socks and underwear came with a second pair each which found their place tucked inside the box in his pouch.

After placing the old clothes inside the basket, Steven left it on the table and wound his way through the crowd to the bulletin board. The board was massive. It was covered completely from top to bottom in small notes. The notes at the top were completely unreachable without the help of the ladders connected to the board.

He decided to spend some time looking over the side of the board that held the notes offering help before moving to the other side to post his own, and reached out to pluck off a small note at random. It seemed to be magnetically fastened to the board, but without magnets.

Robert Williamson

Level 47 Jester

Willing to help on Floors 20 - 30.

You ain’t never had a friend like me!

Found at Reilnaut Estate, Western Block.

Steven gawked at the note, hands shaking. It was obviously a pseudonym, but this man was a legend. It would be an honor to meet him. He put the note back, wishing he could quickly make it to Floor 20 to discover if the note was real.