Jack's POV

  It was one thing to fight goblins on the third floor, and a totally different thing to fight their floor boss. For starters, it was around five feet, my height, and had muscles like my dad. The strength co-related to the amount of stuff you can carry in your inventory. I had heard that from him a long time ago. But Jensen was yet to talk about that aspect of stat distribution.

  Either way, the floor boss, a green goblin, raised his club to bring it down on my head. But I side stepped it as Jensen had taught me. Simple adjustments to one's feet to glide through the attacks. Anything too explosive, and you tend to leave openings for your opponent to use against you.

  The goblin kept swinging its club, a three foot long, ugly looking piece of wood. A part of me wanted to know what it would be like to get hit by it. It was a blunt weapon, and there was no risk of me dying on impact. At least that's what I thought.

  But Jensen was standing at the entrance of this large den like place. Even though he was a good fifteen feet away. His eyes were on my every movement. There was enough light in that dome shaped room for me to make out the expression on his face. The torches around the circumference of the den weren't bright enough for that. But the way his orb, which was near the ceiling, lit up that place made everything more visible.

  The floor boss kept swinging its club, and I kept side stepping and sliding through its attack. But I couldn't keep doing this forever. The dungeon was about to close the openings to the floors below, and our plan was to clear this floor before that.

  So when the green goblin raised the club over its head. I moved in with the crude dagger in my hand which was dropped by one of his brethren, and plunged it right underneath its chin.

  The floor boss staggered back, giving me the opening I needed. The plan was to kick it hard enough for it to fall. And I did what I had practiced with others. I ducked, and with my right leg. I swiped kicked the goblin's ankle with everything I had in me to make it fall. But that goblin was much heavier than I had anticipated. It not only regained its balance, but also swung the club with one hand.

  Hitting me on my face.

  My vision blacked out as my body lifted off the floor with the sheer force of the hit. But he wasn't the only strong one here. I hit the floor with my back just to roll in the mud and get back on my feet. Hot red blood streaked down my face on the left side where it had hit me, and I growled at it.

  The goblin smiled, showing its canine teeth, and charged at me. Now armed with a club in one hand and a dagger in the other. What followed was me being cut left and right by the dagger while my body tried to avoid the club.

  How on earth was it managing to use two weapons with different reach with such effectiveness was beyond me. My eyes wandered off to Jensen a couple of times. But he stood at the entrance with his arms crossed and watched the fight. To say that he was disappointed in me would have been an understatement.

  I can't let him down, I thought, when I saw that hopeless look on his face. He had trained me, called me his protégé, and had corrected my stance a hundred times in the last five days. I couldn't let all of that work of his be for nothing.

  My eyes moved back to the goblin who was enjoying the fight a bit too much. His chin had stopped bleeding, but it had his mouth open with glee while spit flew out with its every movement. It was still trying to hit me, but I had fought their kind a hundred times. So I knew their movements better than anyone else out there.

  Bam!

  It staggered back a few steps as I punched it in the face. The key here was the timing between it swinging the club and the dagger. The goblin shook his head, unaware of what just happened. But green blood streaked down its nose.

  I may not have a skill. Hell may not have a System while I remain the lord of the dungeon. But I had experience to back me up and had enough strength to take that goblin down.

  The goblin rushed in, and I punched it in the face again.

  It staggered back and rushed in again.

  So I punched it harder.

  My eyes moved to see Jensen's reaction, and the disappointment on his face was replaced with a proud smile. I wished to entertain him a bit longer. But the goblin used its rage ability, making its eyes go bright red. It threw the dagger away and charged in much faster than before. And I charged at it as well with everything I had left in me.

  A moment before the both of us were due to clash. The goblin changed its tactic and swung its club horizontally to catch me off guard. But I slid on my knees on the wet clay that was the dungeon floor. Pulled the other dagger that was tucked on my back and sliced through its leg.

  The moment I crossed him. I spun on my knees with the moment I carried while using one of my hands on the floor as an anchor. Then pushing myself off the floor. I charged in to slash at that goblin again. There was no fancy final move here. I just slashed and slashed until I reduced its health and killed it.

  My arms were heavy, my breathing was uneven, but the blood that was rushing through me kept me going. When I dealt him the final slash, his body fell. I placed my leg on its chest and raised my dagger while screaming at the ceiling at the top of my lungs.

  Ping!

  Floor Boss Slain!

  Reward: Key to the fourth floor!

  Exp awarded: 150xp

  Credits awarded: One Hundred and Fifty Credits

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  P.S As you are the Lord of this Dungeon the xp awarded is reduced by half.

  Note: The credits awarded are a one time reward only.

  Ping!

  "You have killed the floor boss on your own without using a skill"

  System Reward: A big bag full of ppfffttt

  P.S Next time you want to be a lone wolf. Negotiate a condition with the system beforehand for a worthy reward!

  Better luck next time!

  I lowered my hand and stared at that last message. Why even tell me about a reward when it wasn't even going to give me one? I glared at that prompt.

  What a douche thing to do?

  "Damn, you, system," I said, grinding my teeth.

  *****

  It was Jensen's turn to sleep for two hours, and so I stayed awake. We were inside the safe zone of fourth floor. Yes, we had made our way down. And just like the floor above. The safe zone in here had no lights or water. It was a cold, dark space with the green barrier humming at the entrance of the safe zone. Regardless, we weren't at the entrance. We were inside the stone structure at the center.

  With nothing else to do while the bonfire healed me from the boss fight from an hour ago. I zoomed in on the map on the fifth floor. Nearly three thousand people were in the safe zone. All huddled in the middle of the floor underneath us. As a matter of fact. If Jensen were to blast the floor. It would drop us straight to the safe zone underneath.

  A part of me debated whether or not to invest five stat points to upgrade the map and get to see the names of the adventurers. But I decided against it for now. Instead, I chose to look at the xp I had earned and how far away the mark of fifty thousand XP was that would push me into silver rank.

  No doubt, Karaa and mom were already at level twenty four. And if I could arrange thirty thousand credits then I could unlock the next rank for them as well. With all the fighting they do, I bet they already had the fifty thousand experience amassed by now.

  So I needed two things to graduate from bronze to silver rank.

  Fifty thousand xp in total, and fifteen thousand credits.

  From where I stood with my measely seven thousand and change xp, and a few thousand credits. The silver rank was still far, far away. So I wanted to use the stat points now to better our chances of survival.

  But according to Jensen who had read through my penalties while I scrolled for him. At level ten, one of my many penalties will be removed, and he wanted me to hold back before I spent anymore stat points. At level nine, I had a total of fifty stat points, with five being awarded initially for going from level zero to one. In those fifty stat points, I had already used five so far.

  I eyed those stat points on my interface, right next to the credits which sat at some three thousand. I had nearly killed nonstop for five days straight to make that kind of money. And yet, it wouldn't even be sufficient to pay the rent to Tuma's if they were charging us the normal amount for a family of four.

  I sighed and tried to toggle in and out of the map by using the cube, which was on the right side of the map. I zoomed, panned, and spun the whole three dimensional thing around a hundred times before I got bored and closed it down.

  My main interface came into view next. A big ticking countdown for the floor one to be destroyed, followed by a smaller ticking countdown for my quest of killing the nest.

  I ignored them and looked at the rest of the interface instead. It was as if the whole interface was divided into two parts.

  The right side column had everything dungeon related with map, races, and other stuff. Of which only the map tab had been unlocked.

  The left side column of my interface. That dealt with me as an adventurer. Had tabs that related to my growth personally. Of the five tabs that were there for now. The first one was stats, followed by skills, inventory, journal, and map again.

  Most were easy to understand. But I wondered about the journal tab.

  What would I write if the journal tab were open for me? I thought.

  A blank screen opened up in front of me when that thought crossed my mind. The top of the screen read 'Journal'.

  "What's on your mind?"

  Blinked on the first line continuously.

  "I miss my family," I thought, and it was typed out on the second line.

  "I miss my family too," it responded in the line underneath the second.

  My heart almost leapt out of my chest when it responded, and I shut it down then and there. I looked around the darkness of that stone structure, and no one was there except me and snoring Jensen. The orb too had dimmed, and the bonfire had long since died.

  I opened my interface again and hit the journal tab. But it was locked. So I did what I had done a minute ago. I thought of the journal tab and what I could write on it.

  It popped up again, but the old conversation was gone.

  "What's on your mind?" prompted the first line.

  "I miss my family," I thought, and it was typed out on the second line.

  "You said that already," it responded in the line underneath the second.

  I furrowed my eyebrows at that.

  "Who are you?" I asked. "Are you the system?"

  "No," it responded. "I'm the other one."

  "The other what?" I asked.

  "Lord of the dungeon."

  "Jensen…" I called out much louder than I had intended to.

  Jensen jumped onto his feet and looked around, and had a fireball ready in his hand. "Oh, who dares attack the nightmare of the shadow—"

  I had the interface be displayed on his end before he could go on.

  His eyes grew wide.

  "Ask his name," he whispered as if it could hear him.

  "What’s your name?" I asked.

  "How about we meet face to face?" It asked back.

  "No, nope, nada," Jensen shook his hand vigorously at me.

  But I had another plan in my head.

  "Sure," I responded. "Where do we meet?" I asked.

  "How about you tell me which floor you are on currently," he said. "And I come meet you there." There was a pause of a few long moments. "As you are still a new lord to this dungeon. I bet you have started from level one, and if that's the case. Given that it's been five days since the announcement…"

  "What announcement?" I asked the other lord of the dungeon.

  "Close it down," warned Jensen.

  I wanted to. But I had to read the rest of his message.

  "I bet you are still under level ten, and with that mage that you have by your side. You must have reached a safe floor by now. Let's say the fifth floor."

  I blinked at it, as it was too close.

  "Wait, scratch that," he said. "If you were on that floor. You would have been with your family. The elves and dwarves have dibs on the sixth. The shifters have taken the seventh and eighth. So I think you are held up at fourth floor instead. Too many exit points, and too many tunnels to stop anyone from following you."

  I didn't respond, but a sinking feeling made its way to my chest.

  "You must be huddled up in that stone building…"

  My heart rate picked up at that.

  "How about I come there first thing the floor opens up?" he asked. "I'm just a floor above you anyway."

  "What are you doing on the third floor?" I asked.

  I shouldn't have. But I did.

  "Oh, nothing great. Just searching for you," he said.

  My heart leapt up into my throat. We had just left that floor like an hour ago.

  "Shut it down, Jack," yelled Jensen.

  "I saw what you did to those adventurers on the second floor," he said. "Unlike Benzo, you seem fun. He never responded to me, and hid all the way down in thirteenth floor. How boring…" he said.

  "Shut it down," yelled Jensen again. "Shut it down now."

  "I wanna play with you…" He said. "Do you wanna play with me?"

  He didn't even wait for a response.

  "How about I chase you?" he asked. "And if I catch you?" He paused. "I get to kill you—"

  I shut it down.

  My hands shook, and I looked at Jensen.

  "What the hell?" he asked me.

  "He knows," I said. "He knows where we are."

  *****

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