Sleeping on a soft bed in a mostly completed house built with his own hands was a nice experience. It wasn’t all that secure since there was no roof, but it was still comforting to have walls around you and furs to snuggle into. Alan checked in on his plants in the morning and found some small sprouts for some of the berries, but none of the trees had shown anything yet.
Today the workout would be tai chi again. The daggers remained in their sheaths as he was already feeling much more comfortable with them. Instead he wanted to experience the traditional movements once again. This also seemed to make cultivating easier as well. Something about the connection between his movements and the energy in his body was more helpful than yoga. Maybe the mystical mumbo jumbo the experts had espoused was not so worthless after all.
With the workout finished it was time to put the rest of his clothes on. Then he was finally ready to set out for the dwarven dungeon. It was kind of exciting trying to imagine what it would be like now that it had upgraded. To get there he followed the stream back east for a ways before breaking off and heading south east to the mountains and then down through the scraggly borderlands until he found it again.
On the way he saw that stone tower again. It was much closer this time and he could see it even had glass windows in various places. It would definitely need checking out soon. The dwarven dungeon was just where he remembered it and when he checked, the time dilation had increased to 5:1. That was nice on its own, but it was with anticipation for the new challenge that he stepped inside.
New Quest: Dwarven Encampment
[Make your way to the dwarven mining camp.]
Well that was a let down. “Tamee, this quest seems lame.”
“Patience, this is just a way of getting you to go where it needs you. I’m sure you will get a quest update when you reach the camp. If a quest told you everything you needed to know at the beginning it would take all the suspense out of it. Dummy.”
Ok, that one he deserved. Setting out for the camp he was eager once more to see what the dungeon had in store. Again his expectations were shattered. When he emerged from out of the tunnel and looked to the camp, Alan found chaos.
Quest Update: Attack on the Dwarven Encampment (50)
[The camp is under attack by kobolds. Drive them off and help resecure the camp.] [Upgradeable: Daily]
The gate closest to him was secure, but there was another entrance to the camp, one by the mine shafts, and it was under assault. There was a group of around fifteen kobolds by the gate. At the same time another group of kobolds that were carrying something was headed back into the tunnels. There were a few dwarves trying to fight off the ones at the gate but it was clear they were losing that battle. Small columns of white and black smoke were signs of attackers throughout the camp. As Alan watched, taking in the scene, one of the dwarves was cut down.
Without even thinking his feet were moving and he drew his daggers. As fast as he was, the four light bolts he cast out were even faster. From this distance there was no way to achieve the kind of accuracy that would allow those attacks to be damaging. Instead they were meant to distract them enough to help the embattled defenders hold on just a little longer. Long enough for him to get there. The attack was more successful than he could have imagined because a group of five broke off and headed towards him. They might slow him down, but it also cut the attackers numbers by a third. That still left ten kobolds for the four remaining dwarves, but their odds were dramatically improved compared to just a moment ago.
Last time Alan had faced these things it was four on two and he had felt some pressure in that fight. There hadn’t been much damage done, but the fight could have easily gone against him if a few things had gone differently. This time there was no doubt. As the distance closed he almost entered a trance. Alan had a mission to accomplish. He had to save his, if not friends, then allies. Thadrick wasn’t a guard, but he was in that camp somewhere and so were more attackers. Until he got through these five and the others at the gate he couldn’t get inside to make sure his one time mentor was safe. The kobolds seemed like they were expecting him to charge into them recklessly, but just before contact Alan used his heightened dexterity to come to a complete stop.
This allowed their momentum to bring them to him. They all tried to slow so that they could face him together but it was too late for that. As the first stumbled past it swung awkwardly to cut Alan’s head off. Kneeling down, he allowed the scimitar to pass just over his head and then his left hand shot up and drove the pugio through its jaw and into its brain. Rather than pulling the dagger out he pushed hard with it as he stood, forcing the dead kobold to slide back off the blade and allowed that momentum to move him out of line of a thrust from another kobold. Ignoring that one as its attack was already spent, he sliced with his seax and disembowelled a third.
The one who thrust at him was now moving past and sticking out his foot, Alan tripped it. Within three seconds he had killed two and knocked another out of the fight, but he still lamented the time wasted. As the startled creature went tumbling the last two managed to slow their rush and moved on him together.
He had to give it to them, they knew how to coordinate their attacks. When fighting two opponents, if he had a larger weapon like the dwarfs favored, he could have tried to block both with one move if they attacked at the same time from similar directions. Instead they slightly staggered their attacks so that one would get through no matter what. Unfortunately for them he didn’t have a larger weapon, and he also had two of them.
It was simplicity itself after his many skirmishes to use both blades to deflect the attacks away from him. By staggering their assault all it did was allow him to focus on each hand for the necessary time to deal with their attack since he was still not totally confident in his dual wielding. He should have been.
It turned out it was fairly easy to split his focus now, more so than he could remember from his time in combat on Earth. Situational awareness was a thing, and something about his current state gave him a preternatural understanding of the space around him. After blunting their attacks he kicked one in the stomach causing it to drop its weapon and clutch its guts to keep from vomiting.
The one that had been tripped was still on the ground so he focused on the last one standing and armed. With two quick moves his seax sliced it across the neck. A shower of blood coated him but he didn’t let that distract him as he stabbed the vomiting kobold in its head. Turning to the fallen one it was just starting to get back on its feet. A foot to its backside sent the kobold tumbling again. Two stabs in its back and he turned toward the contested gate again. That brief slaughter had cost him ten seconds.
While he was distracted the dwarves had killed two more of the kobolds but one of the dwarves took a nasty slice to its leg and collapsed. He was only about twenty meters away now and closed the distance in two more seconds. As he neared he cast minor healing on the dwarf who had just fallen and the blood stopped pumping from his leg, potentially saving his life. Then it was time to deal with the remaining attackers. Safe in the knowledge that their now deceased companions could deal with Alan they foolishly had their backs to him.
Slashing and stabbing his way through the enemy, his first attack left two corpses and several deep lacerations. Between Alan’s reckless assault and the staunch defense of three remaining dwarves the kobolds were shattered. Together they finished off the other eight in less than a minute. All of the defenders were wounded but he had exhausted his mana with that last healing spell and it would be a while before he could use his magic to help them.
As they stood assessing the situation, screaming from inside the camp alerted them to a new problem. Ten more kobolds were running toward them carrying three unconscious or dead people in their arms. Spotting the defenders, four raced ahead while the remaining six continued on with their burdens.
Turning to his three allies he gave them a plan, “I’ll take these guys, you get the captives.”
There was no argument as he stepped out to meet the oncoming blockers. The dwarves flowed around them as the four kobolds were forced to focus on Alan. He was a little surprised that they didn’t even try to stop the others, but they seemed drawn to him like a magnet. Two of them moved to flank him while the remaining two moved together to keep his attention. They needn't have bothered, he was totally focused. The state of awareness he had entered earlier hadn’t faded and he could read their intentions in the shift of their weapons or the strain of their muscles.
Of the two kobolds before him, the one on his left swung its sword before the one on the right was in position. He punched out at its wrist, connecting with his fist rather than his dagger. It numbed the creature’s hand and it dropped the sword. At the same time Alan punched forward with his pugio aiming for its heart. His aim must have been true because it collapsed instantly. The second was now enraged and seemed to forget it was carrying a scimitar. Instead it tried to slice Alan’s face open with its claws. Easily dodging its clumsy attack, he punched both of his daggers into its head.
Now for the two on the flanks. The improvement to his peripheral vision and his newfound situational awareness made it easy to watch both of them at the same time. Studying their movements he waited to see how they were going to attack. He was reluctant to give up the initiative but his blitz had hit his stamina and he needed a moment to recover some. The creatures finally committed, the one on the left was going to thrust and the one on the right was going to try and cut him in half at the waist.
When the moment came a step forward placed him in front of the thrust. At the same time he brought both of his daggers around to block the other's vicious slice. Using the momentum from the strike he performed a spinning kick to the head of the left kobold. This sent him reeling, and then a short combination of strikes overwhelmed the one on the right. It collapsed with two large puncture wounds in its torso.
The left kobold had recovered its balance by now, but it was obviously a little disoriented. It was clear these things didn’t stand a chance against him by themselves, and certainly not without its full capabilities. After dropping that one as well Alan looked to see how the others had fared. Hampered by their burdens, the six kobolds had not done well and the last was being dispatched as he watched.
With a moment to breathe he checked in with the defenders and learned that the raiding party they killed was the last in the camp. Several groups had already left and there were at least fifteen people missing. It turned out that the dwarf he had healed on his way in was Urpo. When he checked on him the surly guard was still not friendly with Alan, but it could be because one of the dwarves who had fallen at the gate was his partner Groundim.
Two of the captives they had saved turned out to be people he knew as well. Both Thadrick and Eile, in addition to another secretary from the guild, had been captured by the kobolds at the mining tower. From what he could gather, about half an hour before Alan arrived, a large group of the little dragon looking humanoids had stormed the gate. The guards were already on alert because of his and Thadrick’s earlier warning, but they were not ready for such an intense attack. They were quickly overwhelmed and raiding parties poured out of the mining tunnels and through the gate to spread throughout the town grabbing anyone they could find.
Including the missing miners they already knew about and after doing a quick head count of those remaining, over forty people were missing. Another fifteen were killed in the raid. That left only ninety-eight people in the camp, and many of those had no class. Only a few were healers and their mana pools were soon exhausted treating those injured in the raid.
Alan was also out of mana but this was what he had trained for in his old life. He didn’t have the medical bag he would have relied on in the field, but some things could still be managed. Runners were sent to fetch anything they could use for bandages. Splints and tourniquets were made from the wreckage of some of the smashed houses. The worst of the untreated injuries were at least stabilized until the healers recovered.
The villagers who were lucky enough to escape serious injury were put in charge of putting out fires and cleaning up the dead. The kobolds were thrown in a pile outside of town to be dealt with later. The dead villagers were laid out in rows outside of town as well, but far away from the kobolds. They would have buried them, but being in a cavern inside a mountain made that difficult. Eventually they would be placed in rock cairns, but unfortunately the living took precedence and there were many things that still needed doing.
Several people were sent to scout the tunnels to see if they could find where the kobolds went with their prisoners. Their family and neighbors were envisioning cook pots filled with their loved ones and wanted to rescue them. It hadn’t taken him too long to help those he could so he had volunteered to go with the scouts. However, lacking darkvision or a knowledge of the tunnels he was assigned to help with repairs instead.
They had just finished repairing the gate that had been destroyed when several of the scouts returned at once. One had already come back with news that they had located the trail, but this group was sprinting and the fact that it was a lot at once did not bode well. All of those who were working on the gate gathered to listen when they made their report to the head guard, a dwarf named Kespar.
“We located their trail easily and started to follow it. We didn’t get far though before we encountered another attack. They killed Gusly before we realized what was happening and we rushed back as fast as we could. There must be at least a hundred of them and it looked as if they were headed this way.”
Kespar looked shaken but he announced in a loud, clear voice “Another attack is incoming. Let every person take up a weapon and help man the wall. Warriors, I want you spread out on the side facing the tunnels. Our walls aren’t high enough to keep them from climbing over, so if they try to go around we will have to spread ourselves out. Those of you without a class. Form into groups of six and I’ll assign you a dwarf to follow. Go where they tell you to go, and if you see a warrior fall, try and hold the gap long enough to drag him back and get a healer to help them up.”
Alan was assigned a section of the wall near the gate he had helped protect and then repair earlier. There were fifty warriors left in the camp, so they were looking at two to one odds at best. The walls, while not high enough to block the kobolds from attacking, should provide an advantage that would even the odds. A friendly face had been assigned the spot next to him.
To try and distract his partner from what was coming he decided to strike up a conversation. The dwarf looked tense. “How are you feeling Thadrick, did the healers get you good as new.”
“Aye, they did a fine job, but I don’t know that I’ll ever be ok. Too many people I know were taken from me today. I just hope I get the chance to give some back to those filthy beasts.”
His words were almost prophetic as he soon got his chance. Pouring out of not one, but three of the mine shafts came the kobold swarm. There were at least a hundred coming out of each tunnel and the horde didn’t even pause as they charged the walls. Alan was now weiding one of the fallen kobolds’ scimitars in his right hand with his pugio in his left. It wasn’t the most well maintained blade, but it had a much greater reach than the seax. That would be important when fighting over the wall. He had debated switching the seax to his left hand since it was longer than the pugio, but he wanted to keep a stabbing weapon, and honestly it felt more comfortable using the familiar weapon for his off hand.
Stolen story; please report.
The kobolds charged directly at the wall, with the largest concentration near the gate he was defending. They probably hadn’t planned on it being repaired already and were hoping for an easy breech. At around one hundred and twenty centimeters tall they would be unable to attack directly over the two meter wall. However, in the least sexy chicken fight ever, many of them were climbing on the backs of each other and then charging the wall.
Turns out these were the distractions as a second group ran up while the defenders engaged the stacked attackers and knelt down just before the walls. Then the last group of kobolds which had been hanging back ran forward and stepping upon their kneeling brethren, launched themselves over the wall.
Most of the warriors on the wall were busy fighting the piggyback attackers and could do nothing to stop them from landing behind them inside the camp. Luckily these creatures were not acrobats and many had bad landings. They would need a moment to get back up and enter the fight.
Lots of these were killed by those citizens who had been held back in preparation for filling gaps. They might not be warriors, but they were quick to seize an opening and almost fearless in the face of the destruction of their town. That still left about twenty kobolds who were inside of the wall and they started to move together to make a concentrated force. They couldn’t allow that to happen.
“Thadrick, I’m gonna go help out inside, you hold our spot here.” And with that Alan blasted the two attackers in front of him with a pair of light bolts each before stabbing out with both of his weapons and then hopping down from the wall.
“Give 'em hell Alan!” Thadrick called out to the younger man as Alan moved to prevent the kobolds from joining forces.
There was a group of four near him so he ran over and attacked. He led with the scimitar. It wasn’t really designed for stabbing so he swung it at the first kobold hoping to cut it open. It blocked with its own blade and so he sliced its arm with his pugio. The other three stepped around their injured comrade as it stumbled back and he took the fight to them. There wasn’t time to mess around, he had to stop the intruders from becoming a threat in their rear, and then get back on the wall.
Two more quick light bolts to the heads of the middle and left kobold almost bottomed out his mana pool. The right one sliced down at him with its sword and Alan stepped right while deflecting it away with his pugio. A follow up lateral swing with his scimitar cut deep into its side. He tried to pull the blade back out but it must have become lodged in the things spine. That kobold was dead or dying anyway so Alan let go of the sword and drew his seax. He wasn’t on the wall anymore so reach wasn’t as much of an issue. By now the other two had recovered but they were set upon by one of the groups of defenders. They had already taken care of the one he had disarmed earlier, and seeing that they were handling the others, he turned to find the rest of the kobolds who had gotten inside.
There were fifteen of them facing off against an equal number of defenders. Alan would give the heavy advantage to the dwarven warriors in an equal fight. Unfortunately, the people here were not warriors, and they were not faring well. Many had some martial training, but their classless bodies didn’t have the speed or especially the power that the kobolds did. He started towards them but it would take him several precious seconds, and every second could cost another villager their life. Hoping to draw some of the kobolds’ attention he shouted out “Come get some you pathetic lizard spawn!” It wasn’t very clever, but trash talking had never been Alan’s strong suit.
In anycase, it proved fairly effective. No fewer than seven of the kobolds broke off and came at him. He wondered if this was his taunt talent showing its worth? He was no longer worried about facing these things. Alan had taken their measure and found them wanting. Even at seven to one odds he was confident he could deal with them.
Twin daggers flashed and formed a cage of iron. The kobolds tried their best but slices were deflected, thrusts were avoided, and gaps in their defense were exploited. It took less than three minutes to finish them off. The regular villagers were doing well and had killed half of their opponents without any serious injuries. That left four, which shouldn’t take long. Alan took a step to help but his leg collapsed on him and he stumbled to his knees.
Panicking, he checked his status and found his stamina had been emptied again. It was something he kept forgetting to pay attention to. He had gone from one furious attack into another and hadn’t given himself time to recharge. Stamina came back quickly, but he had to give it a chance to recover. It was crushing to watch while others fought and there was nothing he could do. As quickly as it rose compared to his other pools, it was still almost two minutes before his stamina was up to a third full and he felt he could reenter the fray. He had to be more conscientious about how much energy he spent on his attacks.
Instead of rushing in, he walked quickly to save stamina and stabbed one in the back. This was enough of a distraction that the others were able to team up and kill the last three. Now it was time for Alan to get back on the wall. As he turned he noticed one of the people there had a large bloodstain on the side of their shirt and was covering a wound in their side. They were trying to hide it but he could see the blood welling out through their fingers. He had just enough mana to cast minor heal on them and then it was back to the wall. By the time he hopped back up, not worrying about finding the stairs, his stamina was over half and he took stock of the situation.
“Nice of you ta join us. Just in time for the final push,” drawled his neighbor.
It was easy to see that Thadrick was right. Most of the kobolds outside had been killed, but their bodies left a macabre ramp that the remaining attackers could use to climb up and fight from. The problem for the kobolds was that there were only around thirty left so it was almost a cooldown for the remaining warriors to finish them off. The fact that they had fought to the last creature was telling. It could be the dungeon messing with their minds, or that there was something they would rather die than report their failure to back where they had come from.
A notification was trying to get his attention, but it went ignored while he dealt with the aftermath of the fight. The first stop was helping the healers. Magically he wasn’t able to do much, but Alan could cast his healing every three to four minutes which was at least a little bit of a help. Also, using more mundane methods he was able to keep most serious cases alive until they could be fully healed.
“Tamee, why aren’t there more healers? It's not just here, it was in the elven town as well. I have found it to be incredibly helpful myself, so why wouldn’t more have it?”
“You have to remember that most people in our universe do not get the opportunity you have had. They have to earn their class stones somehow and usually they can only get their hands on a common stone. This means they only have one class, at least to start. Healers, while incredibly useful and highly rewarded, do not get much chance to use their abilities in combat since they would be so vulnerable.”
“I get that, but wouldn’t they still be able to grow their class from healing outside of combat?”
“Yes, but the strain of combat helps you grow faster. Also, life is peaceful for most towns and cities so even outside of combat they don’t see many chances to use their abilities. One or two good healers are usually enough for a decent sized town. The martial classes are by far the most popular.”
It made a kind of sense, but if Alan was ruling a community he would make sure more people could become healers. It would also be a good idea to include some mages. He had only seen one other person using magic to attack the enemy and they were very effective with an area attack that blasted groups of kobolds at a time.
After the last of the major injuries were healed, Thadrick suggested that he go lay down at his place for a little while. It took Alan some time to find it again as the camp had been drastically altered in the earlier raids. When he finally found it he sat in one of the chairs not wanting to get blood on the dwarfs only bed. He finally checked his notification.
Quest Completed: Attack on the Dwarven Encampment
[You helped the camp to fight off an overwhelming attack. You also went above and beyond and saved the lives of many who would otherwise have been killed. Reward: Fighter talent stone, random talent stone, and 50 dungeon points.]
“I assume the random talent stone is the type you were talking about where it could be for any of my classes?”
“Yes. How are you feeling? That was pretty intense. Many people get overwhelmed by their first large battle.”
“I’m fine. A little wired still, and sorry that I couldn’t save more, but that wasn’t my first battle. It was the most I have ever killed with melee weapons, but I long ago popped my cherry when it comes to pitched battles.” He had to admit, the weariness in his voice had him a little worried. Maybe this style of combat took more out of you than he thought. Most of the people he had killed in his old life had not been up close and personal. Well, it always felt at least a little personal.
“I finally have enough for those pants. It will be nice not to have my junk hanging out.”
“You should not call it junk, I am sure someone will appreciate it even if it is so small.”
“Ha ha.” First the fighter stone was absorbed and he got the talent Fury. Tamee was excited, but once again couldn’t share why. So far it seemed like these stones were giving him talents related to what he had done to earn them. It would be accurate to say Alan was furious during the battle.
Tamee explained when he asked about it. “You are right, it does seem like your rewards are personalized and based on your Path to earning them. This is why so many strive to be adventurers and not just buy the stones they need. Often the ones they find themselves resonate more with them than the ones they can find to purchase.”
“What defines an adventurer? Is it someone who just goes out and fights, because then couldn’t everyone do it?”
“Most cultures do not consider you an adventurer unless you have at least three quartz classes. Anything less and you are not well rounded enough to deal with the challenges you might find in dungeons and in wild zones.”
The random stone was next and he received a talent for his hunter class called sixth sense. Alan wasn’t sure if this meant he would one day be able to read minds or if he had some kind of spidey sense. He was kinda hoping for the tingle, but time would tell. While sitting he ate some more of the boar that he had cooked previously and then stored in his pouch. It was still as hot as when he put it in there. You had to love spatial storage. He really needed to get more.
An hour or so later Thadrick found him and shared the bad news. Another ten warriors and eight regular villagers had been killed in the fighting. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but every death felt like defeat. The older dwarf thanked him for helping, but it felt hollow. With a sense of failure, Alan told him he had to be going and Thadrick just nodded and placed his hand on the younger man’s shoulder.
“I know I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t a’come, so thank you. I wish you well in your travels. May your pick always find ore.”
While the villagers had lost a lot and Alan felt like he should have done more, perhaps he had gained a friend. On the way out he checked his status to see what he had gained from that mess.
Alan Taylor
Race: Human [W]
Class:
Fighter (78%) Quartz
Guardian (60%) Quartz
Healer (71%) Quartz
Hunter (53%) Quartz
Mage (60%) Quartz
Rogue (92%) Quartz
Scholar (62%) Quartz
Seeker (46%) Quartz
Health: 194 (19/hour)
Stamina: 178 (36/minute)
Mana: 156 (16/minute)
Dungeon Points: 230
Stats:
Strength: 16
Dexterity: 18
Perception: 13
Focus: 13
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 17
Constitution: 14
Spirit: 8
Skills:
Aura Reading: 18, Blunt Weapons: 25, Cooking: 6, Daggers: 45, Dodging: 21, First Aid: 20, Harvesting: 10, Herbology: 10, Identify: 16, Mana Drawing: 3, Mana Enhancement: 4, Mining: 3, Running: 13, Sneak: 9, Swords: 3, Tracking: 20, Two Weapon Fighting: 38, Unarmed Combat: 18
Titles: [Top Recruit]
Talents:
Fighter: Fury, Parry
Guardian: Hammer Blow, Taunt
Healer: Mend
Hunter: 6th Sense, Charm Animal
Mage: Light Spinner
Rogue: Quick Hands, Stealth
Scholar: Understanding
Seeker: Sensitivity
Spells: Minor Healing (common), Light Bolt (common), Light (common)
Wow, it turns out pitched battle really is good for the soul. His classes and stats had all made huge improvements, except for seeker. Rogue was by far the winner going up almost thirty points. Many skills had also made insane progress and he even picked up a new one, swords. That was good since he had gone back and grabbed a couple of the kobolds’ scimitars before leaving. He still preferred fighting with his daggers, but it was nice to have options.
It was great to see his stamina had increased, but it hadn’t gone up by much. Maybe he should try and work on his guardian class to increase constitution more. All of this was great, and all of the improvements would help when he finally had to deal with the other races in the next zone, but the thing that helped get him over some of the trauma from the battle was the number two hundred and thirty. Alan finally had the dungeon points to get some frickin’ pants.
Stepping out into the ‘real world’ again he expected to find sunshine on his face. Instead he was greeted by clouds. It was the first time he had seen clouds in the sky since being placed on this disk. Perhaps this new zone meant that weather would be a thing? Enough stalling, there were pants to be had! He couldn’t do this before because the exchange only worked outside of the dungeons. He had been in there for half a day, and combined with the travel to get here it was almost evening.
Opening up the dungeon exchange gave him a little shock. It had changed! At first he panicked when he thought the pants were gone, but then he found them near the bottom of the list. In fact everything that was there before was still there, but a bunch of new things had been added.
“Tamee, what is going on? There’s a bunch of stuff on the exchange that wasn’t there before.”
“Every few days the system will add more items to the list. They tend to get better as time goes on.” Alan shared the new options with her and she shared her thoughts.
“I know you were loving the idea of pants, but I think you should work on getting some of these other items. I see several spell scrolls that could be useful, the stat fruits are useless to you, but the talent stones are also great.”
There were four spells in the exchange, fire bolt, stone spear, shield, and light bolt. He already had the last one, but the other three would be new additions if he could afford them. At a cost of two hundred points each, though, they weren’t cheap. Honestly, firebolt wasn’t that interesting as it sounded like a slightly different version of light bolt. Stone spear might be interesting but shield sounded like the best of the bunch. From the wiki he had learned that shielding was one of the things healers could do. It would be easier to protect people if he could literally put a shield around them.
There were also two random talent stones for three hundred points each. He hated to admit it, but Tamee was right. “Looks like you get to enjoy the view a little longer,” he told her. He was going to have to skip the pants. Since there was not really anyone to judge his declining wardrobe Alan would just focus on getting stronger. The dungeon dwellers might give him strange looks, but they probably wouldn’t remember it anyway. And even if they did, they were living on a planet he would probably never even hear of, let alone visit. The talent stones were more dungeon points than he had yet, but he could get a spell. He deliberated briefly, but decided to wait for a talent stone since he also didn’t have anyone to shield yet, unless of course you could shield yourself. Tamee wouldn’t tell him and the wiki had been vague on the specifics.
There was still some daylight left so he made his way to the tower he had passed twice now. It had to be a dungeon and like the towering redwood, it seemed too cool of an entrance to ignore. Once he was closer he could pick out some details. The stones appeared to be rather raggedly assembled, with many sticking part way out, but that there were no gaps between them. It was made of gray stone and had a conical roof made from some kind of dark wood. There were a couple of windows scattered around its circumference, but they were well out of reach and impossible to see through.
If this wasn’t a wizards tower he would eat his non-existent hat. The tower was at least ten meters across, so it was big for one person, but small for a large group. On the west side was a door. This was different, all of the other dungeons had just been a shadowy opening, but this was an actual door. When he grabbed the handle he got a message that only one person could use this dungeon. That wasn’t a problem for him so he pulled the door open. There was the traditional dungeon entrance. The time dilation on this thing was 100:1! Every 100 days inside would be like one on the outside. Alan was definitely doing this dungeon.
With the door opened wide he stepped into the portal of shadow. Alan could have sworn he heard a quiet but excited “yes” as his world shifted into his newest adventure.
