City of Munt… (3 days ter.)

  With her butt again aching, and probably battered bck and blue, Nox crawled from the covered wagon. Literally. Nor did she care who saw her. That the people of this world thought of this as a legit way to travel spoke volumes of their proclivity for brothels. They were all sadists, or masochists, and needed that many to fulfill whatever twisted carnal desires those sadists and masochists had.

  Do I need to see a healer about my poor broken butt, the young woman wondered while trying not to break down and sob and beg for an ambunce. No, that might be pushing it a bit too far, she admitted. Maybe a week of bed rest.

  Retrieving her bnkets, the young woman stood outside the city of Munt and looked around. The ground was pure mud, with a forest off in the distance to one side of her, and the city wall on the other. With a bnket under each arm, she walked through the throngs of people entering and leaving the city. As far as she could tell there were no guards at the gate checking the people who flowed through it.

  Her first stop was one of this city’s alleyways where a woman by the name of Mi stood guard, selling the usual rat bread. She paused to briefly chat with the woman, then found a pce for her bnkets.

  “I heard entering the Dungeon of Mockery is free,” Nox asked, going back beside the woman.

  “Well, the city never has anyone there to collect the fees,” Mi replied. “It wasn’t worth it with no one dungeon delving in the dungeon.”

  Nox nodded.

  “How does the dungeon work,” she asked.

  “You enter, go through the safe room, and then enter the inner room where there’s a single monster,” Mi expined. “Kill it and a pilr bearing a pque will appear. Solve the riddle on the pque and the room is cleared. There are no rewards for clearing a single room, but for every 50 rooms there's a reward.”

  “I see,” Nox mused, again nodding with her lips pursed.

  “That’s why no one goes there,” Mi added. “To get a reward, you need to clear 50 rooms. Odds are you’ll run into a puzzle you can’t solve before reaching that point.”

  “How many rooms total?”

  “A thousand,” Mi answered. “I take it you’re going to give it a try?”

  Nox nodded. “I am,” she affirmed. “Question is if I can handle the monsters.”

  “What’s your Blessing,” Mi asked.

  “Prostitute,” Nox admitted with a cringe. This time around she’d decided to not keep it hidden. As Verdant had told her, hiding it back in Lunk had only drawn attention to her.

  “Hrm. Why would a prostitute be trying to conquer a dungeon,” Mi asked.

  Nox shrugged. She could tell her whole sordid story, but people got Blessings based on what they did and loved the most. The woman wouldn’t understand.

  “Well, I wouldn’t recommend a prostitute to face any sort of monster,” Mi added, frowning. “You’ll get yourself killed in there. Guaranteed. Just because there’s no entrance fee doesn’t mean you can just waltz on in there.”

  Again pursing her lips, Nox solemnly nodded. That was indeed a likely outcome. Nor, if no one was even attempting to dungeon delve in the Dungeon of Mockery, could she have someone drag her. At least not without paying them.

  “How deep are your pockets,” Mi asked.

  “Not very, but I do have a bit of coinage saved up,” Nox admitted. Sure, she now had a fair bit of money, but if she was to spend it frivolously, it would quickly disappear.

  “Hrm. There are a few soldier types and guard types in the alley,” Mi mused. “Even for low pay they might be willing to hire on with you. After all, their whole purpose at this point is to level their Blessing, not to make coin.” Her gre at Nox suggested that’s what she ought to be doing—hiring on at a brothel to level her Blessing as fast as she could so she could make a proper living.

  Nox gave it some thought. So long as she didn’t have to pay an entrance fee at the dungeon… she might be able to hire someone. “Anyone you can recommend,” she asked. “Preferably a woman.”

  “Why a woman,” Mi asked.

  “In the dungeon I want to focus on the dungeon… not having people propositioning me. I had enough of that at the st city I was in.”

  Mi gnced at Nox’s bald head.

  “I hadn’t shaved my head back then,” Nox expined.

  “If you want someone who won’t proposition you, and who can deal damage, then I recommend Marcus. He’s a level 10 mage who knows mana dart, mana surge, and mana efficiency. As for an actual guard, I would recommend Janet. She’s a level 10 guard, and knows swords, shields, and trip.”

  Hmm, Nox mused.

  Mana dart is a spell that shoots darts composed of mana. The number of darts is based on level, while the damage each dart does is based on intelligence. Given this Marcus guy is level 10, his intelligence will be 110, so the darts won’t be super powerful. And at level 10, the spell will cast two darts at a time. Not too shabby.

  Mana surge is a sort of critical strike with spells. Based on intelligence, there’s a chance to double the striking power of a spell, and with his intelligence being 110, for him that chance will be 11 percent.

  As for mana efficiency, spells cost mana and for mana dart the base value would be 5 mana per casting of the spell. When the spell is maxed out, as is normal the cost drops to 4 mana per casting of the spell. Mana efficiency drops that even further, down to 3 mana per casting.

  “Marcus is a guy’s name,” Nox pointed out.

  Mi nodded. “But unless you’re a guy, he won’t proposition you.”

  “Oh,” Nox mused, and considered the skill of the woman’s other recommendation.

  Swords is a skill that many types of Blessing can learn, she noted, lips again pursed. Thing is, like spears it doesn’t teach the use of a sword, but when fully learned will double the damage a person does with a sword. Think of it as an enhanced damage type skill, but just for swords. So, how good she’ll be depends not just on the skill, but on how much practice she’s put in sword training. That and her strength.

  Shields simply means that based on her strength, she’ll be able to take stronger hits against her shield without getting knocked off bance. Basically at strength 100, a hit on her shield would feel normal—like it would for anyone using a shield to defend. But at strength 200, the impact of a strike on her shield will be halved.

  As for trip, that won’t teach her how to trip anyone, but when she does trip someone the damage the trip does is multiplied based on her strength. A strength of 100 means normal damage, while a strength of 200 means double damage. Oh, and it can add a very minor stun affect.

  Of course, they’re both level 10, like me, so their stats won’t be all that high. Marcus will have 110 intelligence and wisdom, while Janet will have 110 strength and constitution. All their other stats will be 100. That’s unless they have a rare Blessing, or extra titles, which is unlikely.

  “I wouldn’t trust either of them alone against a dungeon monster,” Mi added. “But together, they should be able to handle one.”

  Nox nodded. “How much,” she asked.

  “They usually hire out for 20 coppers each, per day,” Mi stated.

  “Hrm. Last dungeon I was in, things usually ended in less than an hour,” Nox pointed out. “I don’t need their services for all day. At the most it’ll be for an hour or two. After that they can seek other part-time jobs for the rest of the day.”

  Mi frowned. “Thing is, most job they’ll find will want them avaible for the whole day. If they hire on with you, it’ll reduce their other opportunities.”

  Nox could see that. “Even so,” she replied. “It’s one monster a day, and at most two hours.”

  “The Dungeon of Mockery doesn’t stop you from visiting more than one room a day,” Mi expined. “Once you enter, you have half-an-hour to solve a riddle. If you can solve it in less time, you can go on to the next room. So, if you’re good at solving those riddles, Marcus and Janet might have to face multiple monsters a day. Of course… Well, few people are good with those riddles, so most likely it’ll be one monster a day until you give up on the dungeon.”

  “What if I fail at a room, and got to try it again the next day,” Nox asked. “Will the riddle be the same?”

  “No, it’ll change,” Mi answered. “It means people can’t work on them outside the dungeon, or ask others for help.”

  “I see,” Nox mused frowning. “10 coppers each for an hour a day,” she then decided. “If I got to go past those that hour, it’ll be another 2 coppers per additional hour. Of course, being in a dungeon does give them a chance to gain extra experience… which is what the lower levels of Blessing are all about. Plus, should they ever want to work guarding adventurers who are dungeon delving, they’ll be able to cim previous experience at the job.”

  Mi scowled, but turned and bellowed out, “Marcus, Janet, get over here,” as loud as she could.

  A woman who looked to be eighteen and who was dressed in crude leather clothing, dashed over to stare at Mi with hopeful, puppy dog eyes.

  There was a moment of silence, then a man rushed into the alley exit from some pce outside of it. Dressed in crude leather clothing, he too looked to be around eighteen. Like the woman, the man stared at Mi with hopeful, puppy dog eye. Nox figured he came from one of the alleyways dedicated to men, but was surprised the city would allow one so close to an alleyway for women.

  “It’s 10 coppers for a single hour, plus 2 coppers per hour after that,” Mi stated. “The job will be to escort this idiot through the Dungeon of Mockery.”

  At being called an idiot, Nox blinked. Nor, as far as she could tell, had the term been used in a friendly, jesting fashion.

  “The usual pay is 20 coppers a day,” Janet stated.

  “It’ll be a single hour per day,” Mi reiterated. “Nor will a single monster take more than a fraction of Marcus’ mana, or your stamina, so you’ll be able to find additional work after the dungeon. … Well, that’s what she cims.” The woman nodded at Nox.

  Marcus frowned, while Janet pursed her lips.

  “How long is the contract for,” Janet asked.

  Mi looked at Nox.

  “For a day-to-day basis,” she decided. “After all, I just want to take a peek in there, and will probably give up once I see what the puzzles are like.”

  Neither of the two looked happy at that.

  “Okay, say five days then,” Nox suggested. “Renewable after that if I’m making progress.”

  Still not looking happy, the two agreed. On the not looking happy part, Nox agreed with them entirely. While they didn’t expect her to get anywhere with the dungeon, they would still be fighting one dungeon monster a day. Then again, she wasn’t exactly happy either… and was finding she missed a certain quarrelsome and irritating beastkin girl.

  “As I said earlier, I wouldn’t trust either of them alone against a dungeon monster,” Mi emphatically stated, “but together they’ll get the job done.”

  Nox nodded. She figured that was the way it would be. Janet would defend, while Marcus would cut the monster down with his mana dart spell.

  Reaching inside her jerkin, she brought out 2 silver coins and handed them over to Mi who she knew would now handle the details of paying the two each day. If there were disputes, she would also mediate.

  Frowning, Nox studied her two new recruits to the dungeon delving business, while they in turn also studied her with equally dubious expressions.

  Janet was a short, well-muscled, athletic-looking woman who boasted dirty-blonde hair and eyes the same color. As for Marcus, he was tall and also well-muscled. He possessed pale-blue hair and eyes to match. It wasn’t a natural hair color Nox had ever seen back on Earth.

  “What’s your Blessing,” Janet asked, demanded rather.

  “Prostitute,” Nox admitted.

  Both Janet and Marcus blinked at that and gave Mi questioning gnces.

  The older woman gave a helpless shrug. “What she wants to do with her life is her business,” the woman answered.