Chapter 62: Dungeon Prep

  Alex made it only a few steps down before it happened. His vision seemed to blackout for a moment, like his brain was quickly refreshing itself and flipped his eyes off, then back on again really quickly.

  Once he could see again, his surroundings had changed. The staircase was gone, and instead Alex stood in a small stone room made of stacked blocks of square stones. It was like he was in a room plucked straight from the imagination of some Dungeons and Dragons campaign writer.

  He couldn’t focus on that too much, as The System deemed it necessary to provide some information in the form of a message screen that took up most of his field of view.

  “Well, this is a new one for sure.” He sighed. It wasn’t good news for Alex.

  Underpowered, no shit. He swiped the message screen away and looked around.

  A low hum vibrated through his feet. Not sound, or aether , but s omething was sending pulsing energy through the stone. The moment he crossed the threshold, the very air had changed. Old, stale, like it was some sort of ancient battlefield and smelling of death, but breathable.

  A faint blue flame flickered to life in the sconces lining the chamber, guiding him toward an open archway. He took the cue and stepped into a small stone antechamber . The room was hexagonal, with six walls and six pillars. One closed stone door faced ahead, carved with the image of a massive dragon devouring a spiral of corpses. Classic.

  The stone beneath his feet thrummed with potential, the energy even more powerful in this room. If he could draw from it here, his cultivation could be amazingly fast. Alex looked forward to working on his [Aether Attuned Body] in here.

  Then—

  The door across from him slammed open, making Alex jump slightly. In the doorway was a swirling mass of azure energy that he didn’t dare try to look at with his [Aether Sight] ability fully active.

  So that answers the question of which doorway it wants me to enter.

  He looked about, finding the room pretty bare bones. Various worktables and tool benches sat against the six walls. If this was the preparation room, then it looked like he had a bit of Glyphcrafting he needed to get done before he approached that portal.

  “Hey Obby,” he placed the enchanter’s plate on a bare table and started to retrieve his tools from inside his bracelet. “You’re my sentient rock of world narrative. So tell me what you know about dungeons. What are these dungeon points? How do you leave a dungeon? Things like that.”

  Obby’s voice vibrated through Alex’s mind like an old shit-box car rattling down the street. He guessed the sentient rock was trying to mimic the dark ambiance of the dungeon prep room. It wasn’t a good attempt. Alex just rolled his eyes and listened to the dramatic retelling, focusing on what was actually being said.

  "No one truly knows the origins or the motivations for the dungeons. Scholars across

  time, and space have tried to unlock the secret, only to find the truth more closely guarded than a jealous narcissistic boyfriend guarding his girlfriend’s social media contacts. The running theory is as follows; Dungeons are crystallized memory-fragments of the Aetherios System itself. Think ‘history’s blooper reel,’ but repackaged into a theme park ride that really wants you dead. They’re not real-real. Just... lethal metaphors. Maybe. Again its all speculation." Obby’s voice returned to normal the longer he spoke, like he too wasn’t buying the attempt and gave up.

  “Great,” Alex muttered, sorting a few blank aether crystals, which Tom-Tom had smuggled for him, out of his bracelet and onto the table. “So a haunted PowerPoint presentation is going to kill me?”

  "Basically, yes. But with more skeletons. And slightly fewer bar graphs."

  Alex sighed and started inscribing a [Flare] glyph into the first crystal. It was his first time trying the process while using the glyph plate, and he was impressed by its use. The faint lines on the plate started to glow as he first touched the crystal with his etching stylus, it seemed to almost soften the material, making the process easier.

  Not only that, but the air in the room was so saturated with aether that the glyph practically carved itself. He could feel the energy humming in his bones like the world was holding its breath, waiting.

  Alex was well practiced at this by now, but he did make a small mistake at some point near the end, one that would drastically lower the crystal’s power. The metal plate flashed brightly a second after the mistake was made, and he watched as the slightly misplaced line he had just etched shifted just a tad toward the correct position and fixing the error somewhat.

  At the end, when he had completed the entire etched pattern, the plate flashed a final time sending aether through the entire pattern. The energy rushed through the lines, not activating the item, but smoothing the channels he had made, strengthening and widening them just so. Once finished, he was certain this crystal was the most powerful one he had made, even if just by a small degree.

  “This thing is amazing.” He picked up the crystal once he finished, and looked down at the plate resting on the table.

  “I told you it was amazing. Don’t get your panties all wet just yet though, that thing is only great for low-level enchantments. It’s not going to be able to help you with more complicated stuff. For now though, yeah, that thing is your new waifu.”

  “ You need therapy man,” Alex pulled out the next crystal and began to work.

  “Oh yes, immense amounts. Hard to find anyone in my insurance network though. Do you know anyone who takes Medi-rock Universal?”

  “ You still haven’t explained the dungeon points, or how I get the hell out of here.” Alex said, ignoring Obby’s joke.

  "Dungeon Points are your score, ” Obby again took on his dungeon ambiance voice once more. “ The System uses them to determine how stylishly you murder things, how clever your solutions are, and how many side-quests you completed without exploding. There’s an arcade-style ticket exchange booth at the end of the dungeon. High score gets prizes. Low score gets an unmarked grave."

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “Great,” Alex said. “So, how do I leave a dungeon?”

  "You don’t."

  Pause.

  "...Unless you find the exit. Or complete the Trial. Or The System decides you’re cute enough to spare. Honestly, your odds are hovering somewhere between unlikely and hilariously tragic ."

  “Comforting,” he muttered, and moved on to his third crystal.“How long have you been waiting to drop that whole ‘you don’t’ line?”

  "Roughly 27 hours, ever since the Chieftain said you’d have to do a dungeon to earn his love and be placed back into the family will."

  “Well, I’m guessing from your answers, you really don’t have too much info on these dungeons? Just speculation?”

  “ Yep. I’m a little limited right now. Someone still hasn’t updated my drivers or increased my temporary memory. There’s this wisdom stat thing—”

  “ Not the priority. Sorry. I promise to work on my wisdom, but right now I’m focused on that whole not-dying thing you keep mentioning.”

  Obby’s insistence on increasing his wisdom stat made some sense. Alex was sure that the sentient rock would have access to even more information if he kept increasing the quality of his soulspace, and thus the connection between the two of them.

  There was just so much more going on that he was worried about. He had not only his own life on the line, but all his friends as well. He was trying to learn so much about his new abilities, wrestling with the gravity of having his core shattered. He was learning [Glyphcraft], [Alchemy], the [Demon Asura Style], aether efficiency and intentional spellcasting. And now there was this dungeon that very well could kill him.

  It was just one thing after another.

  “Fine, fine. ”

  He paused the etching on one of the crystals for a moment. “Thanks, Obby.”

  “Sure thing, meatsack. ”

  Finishing up the last crystal etching, Alex carefully piled them into his bracelet. All in all, he managed to enchant nine crystals with his [Flare] spell. He still had a few mishaps, even with the plate assisting him. He lost four crystals to such mistakes.

  “It could have been worse. Let’s move on to the other ‘gifts’ I received.”

  Alex wiped sweat from his brow, and pulled the unsettling kobold dagger from the loop on his belt. The kobolds hadn’t returned his own dagger, nor its sheath, so having it tucked into his belt was the best he could do. He really wished they’d given him his armor back too, or at least the bracer that housed the aether gemstones. Nothing he could do about it now.

  The creepy-as-fuck weapon hit the table with a wet-sounding thunk. The blade was carved from something too dark to be obsidian, too hungry to be inert. The edge pulsed faintly. The black sinew-wrapped handle writhed like it didn’t enjoy being ignored.

  Alex leaned back. “Well. I think you were right, That’s fucking cursed.”

  "Correct. Grade-A Death Curse. Forged from the thighbone of a kobold chieftain who committed ritual suicide while cursing future users by name. Odds are decent your name’s in there somewhere."

  “Are you serious?”

  “Nah. No idea. All I can say for sure is that thing applies some kind of debuff when you wound someone with it. Good for you, bad for anything you poke. As long as you don’t poke yourself.”

  “And the kobolds just gave me this?”

  "It probably ‘suits your vibe.’ I didn’t ask follow-up questions."

  Alex narrowed his eyes at the blade, then tucked it back on his belt it carefully. “If this thing whispers to me in my sleep, I’m throwing it in a lake.”

  "That’s what the last guy said. He is the lake now, or at least his liquid bits are."

  Ignoring that, Alex pulled out the bone talisman . The carved ivory thigh bone radiated an aura of calm. Simple, clean, and covered in protective glyphs that pulsed a soft glow.

  "Some sort of Bone-Ward Totem. Looks like it will block magic and physical trauma. Also makes you slightly less appetizing to undead. Emphasis on slightly. Don’t lick it."

  Alex paused. “Wait, why the hell would someone lick it?”

  ". ..Next question."

  With the tools prepped and gear reviewed, Alex finally sat cross-legged in the center of the room. There was only one last thing he could make progress on with his current resources. It was time to cultivate .

  He was looking forward to trying the technique Sylvaris helped him create, which Alex had decided to give the name [ Three-Fold Condensing Spiral] technique. It was still a mouthful, but at least it let him distinguish between it and the original [Condensing Spiral].

  Alex closed his eyes and began to draw in the ambient aether. The concentration inside the dungeon room was unlike anything he’d felt before. He guided it carefully through the triple braids of aether connected to his gate and into his body, the energy surging through him like ocean tides, filling every corner of him.

  Once his body seemed to feel full, Alex squeezed down on the aether and compressed it. Then he breathed in deeply, drawing more of the ambient energy. Every cycle pulled the raw aether in tighter, denser. His bones and muscles drank it eagerly, growing more solid, more resonant. Sweat beaded on his brow, his lungs aching and his skin prickling.

  "You're doing great," Obby said. "Just ignore the pain, the exhaustion, and the faint nosebleed. That’s all part of the process, or a stroke. Honestly, it's a toss-up."

  Alex grunted.

  Obby added helpfully. "Don’t forget to unclench your jaw. You do that any tighter and you will bite clean through your tongue and accidentally learn blood magic."

  With a final breath, Alex reached a point of stillness. His body glowed faintly in his mind’s eye, powerful and vibrant. Then the energy dove deeper into his tissue, suffusing every bit of bone, organ and tendon once more. An immense warmth flashed through him and he new he had done it, breaking into next threshold for his ability.

  He felt amazing. The gash to his leg was already healed up and his ribs felt like the bruises were already gone. The stress his body had taken from increasing his attunement was drastically outweighed by the healing of his boosted stats.

  “Second threshold complete. You’ve got enough juice for six spells, maybe seven if you’re feeling spicy. Current bodily aether capacity at 73% and climbing. Side effects may include: dizziness, delusions of grandeur, and spontaneous heroic tendencies. ”

  “How long did it take?”

  “You cultivated for roughly twenty-two hours during that sitting.”

  “ Fuck,” Alex nearly spent a whole day cultivating to progress just nine percent in his ability. The stat point gain made that more than worth it, but he knew reaching thirty percent would take much longer than a single day. He couldn’t make his friends wait that long. He will just have to press forward with what he had now.

  “That little break gave us some massive gains.” He slowly stood and cracked his neck. “So let’s not waste them.”

  He gathered his things. A bracelet full of junk. Nine charged glyph-crystals. A cursed dagger. A talisman blessed by kobolds and a stomach full of dread. The portal across the chamber flickered ominously, casting warped shadows across the stone floor.

  "You’re going to die in there," Obby said nonchalantly. "Probably with your body chewed to death in the mouth of a skeleton with a name like ‘ Bone Daddy ’. ”

  Alex stepped toward the glowing portal, his jaw set. "Then I’ll make sure he chokes on it."

  And with that, he walked into the abyss.