“How do you know so much about skills?” I asked.
“I was tutored at a young age. Well not as young as you, but still young. Higher level individuals need less sleep, so I studied up while you were resting. Now, come on. Let’s keep working on your breathing and running while we head towards the Dungeon,” she explained. We left the inn before anyone was up. Our room was already paid for so there was nothing we needed to do before leaving.
This day was a lot like the previous. Running and breathing before coming to a stop at another small village inn. This time I had to work on Meditation skill.
“Stillness is key. Think about blackness if you have to think about something and can’t empty your mind. Even if you itch or feel uncomfortable, don’t move. Focus on your breathing. Also tie this cloth around your eyes. It will help you avoid visual distractions,” she said. I didn’t know if I was improving, but I focused on the skill not what my status would say.
The numbers were distracting when I needed to focus on stillness and blackness. Even if I was curious, I wouldn’t break the rules. I kept my breathing steady.
“Justin,” I heard my name and felt a nudge.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Time for bed. Off with the blind fold,” Squire Jessica said. I took it off and went to lay down on the lumpy straw bed.
The next morning, I asked my next question. “How did my mother pick her Squires? I don’t understand the title, exactly either,” I asked.
“Any adventurer that makes it to the Last Bastion at 20th layer of the dungeon, can request a mentor. As a supreme legend your mother can take up to 3 Squires. She has taken a set of Squires previously. Last I heard two are still alive. One going through the dungeon, the other as a royal guard. Us three, we were picked up just before Jessica got married and had you. A Squire normally serves for ten years and our time is almost up,” she explained.
“And you do what she tells you? What do you get in return?” I asked.
“Yes, within reason. And training on high tier skills. The last nine years have been spent mostly working on some specific high tier skills and helping her fight in the war with Crownsmith. She had planned to use these three months to take us into the dungeon in pairs to push us up some more levels and break through certain skills. But with the curse skill that has impacted you, that has changed. Now enough questions, time to run and breathe,” Squire Jessica said.
We made it to the city of Burnstock that evening. Jessica skipped the line at the main gate with merchants and peasants and went to the other line for nobility and high level individuals.
She held up a glowing metal plate. “Platinum Adventurer Jessica and companion,” she declared to the guard stationed there. The peasants and merchants looked at us, especially me.
“Welcome Adventurer Jessica. Do you have anything to declare before entering the City of Burnstock?” the guard asked. She didn’t have to answer or say anything. It was more of a question of if she was looking to start a fight with someone. If that was the case, the matter would be escalated to someone of greater authority and the fight arranged to occur outside the city if possible.
“No. I am entering the dungeon,” she replied.
“Then I wish you luck, Adventurer Jessica,” the guard replied, and we entered the city without any more hassle.
“That easy?” I asked her and she shook her head. My tutor told that cities were quite strict in monitoring who entered and exited. The same with the dungeon entrances located inside the cities.
“When you become a platinum adventurer, people don’t ask many questions anymore. If it was your mother, they wouldn’t even dare look at her. As for other legends, it depends on their renown,” Squire Jessica explained.
I followed her through the city as she picked out a nicer inn near the center of the city. After some fresh bread and stew we made our way to a much nicer room than the previous inns. “Normally you need to be registered with the Adventurer’s Guild to enter the dungeon, but as a Platinum Adventurer we can skip that hassle.”
I nodded at this. It made sense. The Adventurer’s Guild was set up to maintain the entrances to the dungeon and deal with any monsters out in the wilderness. They wouldn’t let anyone enter who would just die to the first monster they came across. But with Jessica that wasn’t even a question. She would just flash her glowing plate and skip everything that was a hassle.
“No more questions right now. Tonight you are focusing on your Drawing Skills. I want you to try and draw me,” she said and got out blank sheets of paper and a pen. She made another light orb and I got to work trying to draw her face.
I felt each drawing was terrible, but I didn’t give up or complain. Eventually Squire Jessica told me to stop, and I went to bed, unsure if I had broken through with the skill. The next morning, she woke me up and we had breakfast at the inn we were staying at. Apparently, the higher-class places served breakfast.
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Once that was done, we made our way to a fortress at the edge of the city that was still inside the city walls. Squire Jessica flashed her metal plate and we were let through without question. At the center of the fortress behind several gates was a staircase leading downwards.
“The wild entrances are a pain along with the lower entrances. At least surface entrances don’t shift. Stay behind me,” she said, and I followed her down the large spiral staircase underground.
“Who made this?” I asked.
“A god? The System? Who knows? Maybe you will find out one day. Regardless, each layer or level represents 5 levels with the monsters and their individual levels. Around an increase of 50 in their total stats. So, the first layer, levels 1 through 5 from the monsters, perfect for you,” she said.
“I need a weapon,” I said.
“Ah, yes. Here, I got a sword and shield for you. We will start working on those skills while you adjust to the dungeon. If there is anything concerning, speak up,” she said and pulled the gear out of her spatial pouch to hand to me.
“Yes, Squire Jessica.” We continued our descent.
“The dungeon rearranges itself constantly. Hopefully we can get you the tier 2 skill Depth Sense. But it is a bit finnicky. For now, the plan is that you fight until you hit half in one of your reserves. Once that happens we will take a break and have you work on a mental activity. Then once you are full up, we continue,” she explained.
“That’s it?” I asked. I was expecting something more.
“Kid, that is a lot. Trust me. Fighting is mentally and physically exhausting, even with your stats. I won’t let you die, but I am not going to stop things from hitting or hurting you. So, you need to focus,” she said.
“Yes,” I replied a bit more nervously.
“Don’t worry. Even if there is an anomaly or something unexpected, I can handle anything on the 1st layer.”
“What about other people?” I asked.
“We will be moving away from this location. And our entrance was recorded. Higher level adventurers get priority as the Guild manages the number of people entering at once so they don’t run into each other. We skipped the queue, but that is one of the benefits of being strong,” she explained.
“And we can get out?” I asked.
“Don’t worry. Once you get Depth Sense, you can sense where the nearest path to the layer above and below you are. We will be avoiding the path to the lower layer. They normally have guardians or champion monsters with twice the level of regular monsters on that layer.”
“Where do the monsters come from?” I asked.
“Magic? No one knows for sure. Oh, I got to make sure you learn Monster Processing. Not the most glamorous of skills, but important if you want to make money in the lower layers of the dungeon. There isn’t much of value on in the top layers, since everyone clears it of monsters trying to earn some basic coin, but improving the skill is important. Since the higher level monsters have important body parts that are used in Alchemy and other professions,” she explained.
There was a lot of knowledge to think about as we reached the bottom of the stairs. There was a faint illumination everywhere with no specific light source. Even with the small bit of illumination it was still quite dark.
“It is hard to see,” I said.
“You will eventually get Darkness Vision. You have to learn to deal with it. The environments can get much crazier than some stone tunnels the deeper you go into the dungeon,” Squire Jessica explained. We had entered a large stone caravan with multiple tunnels.
“That way,” she said, and I followed behind her down one of the tunnels. “The first layer there aren’t many traps. If I find one, I will have you try and figure it out so you can try and get the Trap Detection skill. Now there are monsters up ahead. When you attack don’t hesitate. That is the worst thing you can do. Kill them and make sure they are dead,” she said.
“What kind?” I asked nervously and she shook her head.
“You need to learn to face the unknown while it is still safe on the 1st layer. Focus on trying to analyze the monsters, specifically weak points, before a fight if possible,” she told me.
I advanced with my sword and shield in hand. In front of me were three humanoid rats about my size. They were only wielding short wooden spears with stone tips. Dangerous, but not overly so.
Rushing forward I slashed down at the back of one of the ratlings. It like out a loud squeal as it collapsed. My sword was stained red with blood. I spun and slashed out, knocking away a spear tip and slashing the throat of another ratling. It stumbled back gripping at its neck before collapsing to the ground with a spasm.
I barely got my shield up in time to block the last ratling. I knocked the spear to the side with my shield and stabbed it through an eye socket. I felt sick as blood poured out as I freed my sword. I checked the first ratling and it was still alive. I stabbed it through the head and tried not to puke.
The guard captain had insisted I see an animal get butchered before training me. He then had me cook the meat. That was where I had gotten Cooking Skills and some initial crafting experience. But this was so much worse. At least these monsters were just things created by the dungeon for adventurers to face and not actual creatures or people.
“Good job for your first real fight. Battle awareness will come in time and with more skills and skill levels. Especially Danger Sense, that is a good skill to have.”
“I don’t feel well,” I replied.
“Don’t throw up on me, but now it is time to harvest. I got you a harvesting knife. The most valuable part tends to be the monster core. It goes up like the color of the rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. You need to sense the mana flow in the creature and dig it out. You are going to get dirty, accept it,” she told me. I already knew most of this, but I wasn’t about to tell her to stop talking.
I was nauseous as I cut into the ratlings. A tiny red bead was in a different location in each of them and I needed Jessica to help me locate them. My Mana Sense skill was too weak. “Are they always in a different location?” I asked.
“Yes. Don’t eat them either. That is raw magic contaminated with the essence of the monster. If you ever see an adventurer with inhuman features, they did something stupid, like eating unprocessed monster flesh,” she explained. “Most don’t survive.”
“Got it. I am guessing these aren’t worth much?” I asked.
“Coppers kid, coppers. Core color increases around every fifty monster levels, or ten layers in the dungeon. Indigo and violet cores are just a legend for the most part. But that is why some people say the lowest level in the dungeon is 34 or 35, since champion monsters are double level. I personally have no idea, and it isn’t worth the brain space to worry about such things. Focus on improving your skills,” she told me.
“Got it, Squire Jessica,” I replied without hesitation. I was really curious about my skills and how they were increasing, but I wasn’t about to break the rules Jessica had set for me.