Author's Note

Hey there everypony!! Here is the newest chapter to this story and boy is it a long one, probably the longest chapter I've written yet so far. Special to my editor Codex92 for helping with it. So i hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I'm still getting used to writing like this trying to make it seem like a real isekai story. I'll try and make sure that I don't drop a lot of things for you guys to learn right away, I'll gradually add stuff so as to not overwhelm you guys.

p.s while i was checking to make sure the images would show some were invalid, but i managed to link the image of the pics to the words so keep an eye out.

There aren't any new ponified charters in this chapter. and as always please leave a like and a comment down bellow to show your support, I'm hopping to get this story featured at least one time.

Day 2

I slowly began to wake from my blissful slumber as I felt the sun’s light against my eyelids. I groaned, feeling too comfortable to leave my apartment to go to my boring job. “Mmm. And I was having such a nice dream, too.” I whined as I remembered my dream of me being sent to another world and became an adventurer. “Oh well. Reality calls.” I swung my lower body to the side to touch the ground and used the momentum to help me sit up. As I stretched my arms out and let out a long yawn, I could feel the cold wood floor against my feet…Hold on. “I have carpet floors, not wood.” As I opened my eyes, rubbing away any eye crust that I had in my eyes, I saw that I wasn’t in my apartment. Instead, I was in the room that I had rented out in my dream, though I guess it wasn’t a dream after all. “Then I really am in a whole other world.” I guess any normal person would be a bit freaked out by this, but then again, I’m not normal. With a bit more pep in my step, I jumped off my bed and let out a happy sigh as I stretched out my whole body. “Today is a new day!!”

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After getting dressed, I made my way downstairs into the tavern. This time around, I saw more adventurers and maids than I did last night. Some of the other adventurers were either eating or talking amongst each other about their stats or their victories in battles. I would have liked to sit down and listen to them, but I had my own adventures to go on myself. The only question is what kind of adventure will I go on today? My stomach lets out a small gurgle, meaning that it was breakfast time. It is one of the most important meals of the day, after all.

I took a seat at the counter and looked around for a menu. I spotted them written on a chalkboard that was behind the counter, where there seemed to be two separate menus. One side had food that cost under ten bits while the other had food costing over two hundred bits. If I had to guess, one must be for normal food and the other was for trying to raise your stats. And after last night’s feast, I think I can afford to pass up on trying to raise my stats. “Well, good morning.” I looked to my left as I saw Mama Mia walking over from the back room. “Looks like you got plenty of rest. You here to get some breakfast?”

“Yep. I’m gonna need all my strength for whatever adventure I decide to go on today.” I said with a chipper tone, which was kind of new for me since I was never the kind of guy to be this excited in the morning. I guess it must be the fact that I’m currently living my dream life now.

“Oh, is that so? Well, did you have any ideas on what you might do today?” I hadn’t given the idea much thought since I just woke up, but now that raises the question on what I should do today. I guess she could tell that I was a bit stumped as she let out an amused chuckle. “Tell you what. Why don’t you go ask Tiff what he thinks you should do? I’ve known the guy for quite a while, and he might have some ideas that can help a rookie adventurer like yourself. Plus, as a blacksmith, he would know the best kind of gear to use for certain quests or that best fits your fighting style.”

There was the sound of a bell ringing that caught her attention, making her leave to her work and leave me to my thoughts. ‘She does have a point. Tiff has been reliable in his suggestions and what kind of equipment I should use. Maybe I will see what he thinks I should do next.’ While I was deep in thought, I hadn’t noticed Mama Mia had put down some stuff in front of me. It was only when my nose picked up the delicious aroma that I took the time to snap out of my thoughts and look down. There was a plate with two strips of bacon and two sunny-side up eggs with some boiled broccoli. This was also accompanied by a small bowl of soup and a small bowl of salad. I looked to Mama Mia, who was walking away to probably go help some other customers. “Umm, I haven’t ordered anything yet.” I called out.

She just waved it off as she continued walking away. “It’s on the house.” She called out.

I was a bit surprised, but it wasn’t like I was gonna pass up free food. I gave thanks for my meal and started to dig in. And dear lord was this the most delicious breakfast I’ve had, the bacon was nice and crispy, the eggs were perfectly cooked, the soup warmed up my insides, and the salad had fresh vegetables that made a nice crunching sound as I chewed.

After finishing my meal, I let out a content sigh as I stood up, feeling completely rejuvenated, like I could take on whatever this world had to throw at me. “Look out, world, cause I’m coming for ya.”

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I made my way through town, taking in the crisp morning air and basking in the sun’s light. I noticed that I had gotten quite a few awkward stares from the residents, but I guess that is to be expected when you’re the only human in this world. Or at least I think I’m the only human. I didn’t really care since thinking too hard about it wouldn’t do me any good. Eventually, I had made it back to Tiff’s shop and walked inside. “Hey, Tiff, you here?” I called out as I walked over to the counter.

“Oh, hey there, kid! I'll be out with you in a minute!” Tiff called out from the back. I didn’t have to wait long before he came out while wiping his brow of sweat with a cloth. “How did it go with getting a room at the inn?”

“Wasn’t too bad. I sold enough of the rabbit meat to rent out a room for twenty nights. Although, I think I got tricked into buying a three-hundred-bit meal.” I stared at him, seeing that he wasn’t making eye contact with me while whistling a tune. “You knew about the special menu thing, didn’t you?”

He just laughed it off like it was no big deal. “Yeah, sorry about that, kid. But did you at least manage to finish off whatever it was she gave you?” Seeing as it wouldn’t do me any good to get all bent out of shape about what has already been done, I pulled up my stats and showed them to him. He let out an impressed whistle as he took a closer look at them. “Not bad there, kid. Looks like they went up a considerable amount.” I was still giving him an unamused glare, which seemed to be working as he was sweating a little bit. “Okay, look, I’m sorry for tricking you, but come on. In the end, you did manage to get a considerable boost for it and a really delicious meal, too.”

Rolling my eyes, I leaned back against the counter with my arms behind my head. “Yeah, well, I will admit that it was pretty amazing. And I can’t really be pissed since I did get my stats to go up, which I get the feeling is important here, right?”

“Definitely. If your stats aren’t up to par with certain areas, then you're as good as dead. I’ve seen too many rookies die just because they think that after beating one monster that was one level higher than them, they think they can take on the whole world.” Tiff had this sad look on his face that just says regret. “There were times where I felt like if I had just told them some important information, they may still be around to this day.” A lone tear trailed down his cheek as he had this spaced out gaze.

“Is that why you give me so much advice? So that I don’t end up like them?” He gave a small nod. To be honest, I felt bad for the guy. In his mind, he feels as though their deaths were just as much his fault. “Hey, I think you shouldn't beat yourself up over that. What matters now is what you can do for any adventures that come to you now. In fact, if you hadn’t given me those potions yesterday, I’m fairly sure I would have been dead by now.” Though he was still bummed out a bit, he perked up a bit at what I said. “And speaking of helping adventurers now, is my leather armor ready yet?”

His mood seemed to brighten up a bit when I mentioned my armor. “Actually, I went and did you a little favor, kid.” He ran off to the back before I could ask what he did. I didn’t have to wait long as he returned with a box made of wood, setting it down in front of me. “Seeing as you had leveled up and raised your stats up, I figured that basic set of gear wasn’t going to cut it anymore. So I took the liberty of making you a whole new one.”

“...How much?” I asked, getting straight to the point. I didn't even need to look inside the box to know that this was going to cost me.

“Well, since I figured you’d say that, I bought back the old set and put that toward this set, which knocked off a hundred bits. So in total, three hundred bits.” I honestly should have seen this coming; he does run a business after all. I agreed to the prices and paid up. In total, I only have four hundred bits left. “A pleasure doing business with you. I made sure to keep your stats in mind when making this, and I think it will work out great for you.”

I took the set into my inventory and then equipped the set. Unlike my previous armor, this set covered almost my whole body sans my head. The first layer was chainmail that thankfully didn't feel uncomfortable against my body. Next, there was some blue light armor that covered mostly my arms, legs, and chest. And to complete the set, I gained a larger shield then my buckler, and a one-handed longsword. I won’t lie and say that I wasn't completely geeking out as I looked over my new gear. I had always wanted to wear armor like this, but never had the money to buy it or find any use for it should I have gotten it. But now, I was as happy as a clam and couldn’t wait to see what my new gear has done to my stats.

HP 1010 SP 500

ATK 410 DEF 380

M.ATK 95 M.DEF 80

STR 300 AGI 280

END 200 LUC 15

I saw that most of my stats had gone up a good amount, though my magic attack and magic defense hadn’t gone up by much. Maybe that is due to the fact that this is still basic gear and doesn’t have much in the way of great bonuses. I did a few stretches to see if any of my movements would be restricted by the new gear, but much like my leather armor, it felt easy to move in and barely weighed anything. “Wow. Another perfect fit, Tiff. I had no idea that armor could be this comfortable. I always thought it would feel heavy as hell and would be a pain to move in, but this is something else.”

He was stroking his beard, looking mighty proud of the praise that I was giving him. “Well, thank you kindly, kid. I did put a lot of effort into making it. And I should tell you that your sword and shield have some incredibly unique skills.” Glancing at the shield in my left hand and the sword on my hip, I had thought they were only normal pieces of gear. “Your shield has an ability where if you block at the right time, you can knock back your opponent's weapon back enough to give you a chance to strike them. As for your sword, it can deal double damage. However, I should mention that those odds are based on your luck, so in your case, it’s about fifteen percent.”

“Hmm. Hey, I’ll take any chances if I know there is at least one percent in my favor.” I boasted with my chest out and my head held high. Surprisingly, that got a good laugh out of Tiff, which wasn’t exactly the reaction I was going for, but hey, making someone laugh is good enough for me. As I waited for him to finally catch his breath, I remembered the advice Mama Mia had given me earlier. “So Mama Mia said that I should ask you for advice on what I should do next as an adventurer. Do you have any you can give me?”

After wiping a few tears of joy out of his eyes, Tiff took a moment to give my question some thought. “Well, normally most adventurers would take this time to try and raise their ranks. See, around here, having a higher rank means a big deal.” I leaned on the counter as I listened more closely. “An adventurer’s rank tells more than just a position in the guild; they also have its benefits. A prime example would be the rank that is after porcelain: obsidian. Obsidian ranked adventurers get a five percent discount on item repairs. And as your rank gets higher and higher, the benefits will also get better. Moving up in the ranks is the best way to live a better life.” This was something new for me since most of the anime I had watched did have some moments where they did mention rankings, but I don’t think any of them ever mentioned special benefits for certain ranks. “But if you want my advice, I think you should try to level up and raise your stats a bit more. See, while you’re only allowed to only take porcelain ranked quests from the guild, some of those quests will be slightly harder than most, and this is where my advice comes into play. You’ll first level up and raise your stats high enough to where you can take the hardest porcelain ranked quest and clear it on your own. If you accomplish this, the guild will recognize your potential and will possibly bump you up to obsidian quicker.”

I was rather impressed by Tiff’s plan. Not only did it make sense with a simple goal, but the steps I’ll have to take to achieve it will benefit me in the long run. “Okay, so what’s the best way for me to earn exp the fastest?” Once more, he went back to thinking while stroking his beard. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his atlas compass, and opened it. This time around, I got a better look at his and saw that he has covered more areas on these islands than I had originally imagined.

He scrolled through the different landscapes until he found what he was looking for. “Here we are.” Lowering his compass down, he showed me an icon of a stone door. “This is a dungeon that I think will be the best place to try and gain experience, even some bits. On the island, dungeons are spread out all over the place. There is a catch, however.” He tapped on the icon making it grow and made what looked like a rating system pop up next to it. “Once a dungeon has been cleared enough times, the difficulty and rarity of the items goes down. This one used to be a two-star level dungeon with tons of item chests, but after being completely cleared out, the dungeon went down to one star. You would be lucky to find even one chest, and even then, it might have some generic items like weak armor or weapons and maybe some bits. But if you’re not looking for loot, this will be the best place to up your stats and hone your skills.”

While I know it’s important that I level myself up, I was kinda disappointed that I wouldn’t find anything cool inside, I mean, half the fun of searching a dungeon is all the possible loot you could find. But like he said, I wasn’t looking for loot; I was going to level up. “Well, you make a fair point. Is there anything I should know before going in?”

“Yeah, a little bit. The dungeon is about two floors down with a boss room at the end of the second floor. The monster on the first floor ranges from levels three to five, while the monsters on the second floor go from seven to ten.”

“Anything you can tell me about the boss monster? The more I know, the better I can prepare myself.”

Tiff shook his head a bit. “Sadly, I don’t. The boss monster tends to change around, so you never know what it is until you face it. But I do know that the boss’s level could range from ten to fifteen, so if I were you, I’d make sure you don’t go in until you’re at least level ten.”

“The boss is always something different, huh?” I asked aloud. If I was going to go into a dungeon, I’ll need to buy myself some essential items. “Do you have any more potions you can sell me? If I’m going to go down into the dungeon, I’ll need some for when I’m in a pinch.”

“I’ll do you one better, kid.” He ducked down behind the counter as he rummaged around for something. I leaned over the counter, trying to see what it was he was getting. “Ah! Here it is!” He came back up with a small crate, around the size of a shoebox. “I’ve been wanting to sell these things to the guild for adventures to buy, and I think you’ll be the perfect adventurer to test it out.” He opened it up, revealing the contents of the box to me. Inside were a couple of leather satchels. I tapped on one to see what it was.

Small Dungeon Exploration Kit

Potion x5

Ration x1

Whetstone x2

Flash Bomb x2

Escape Crystal x1

“Wow, these are pretty cool, Tiff.” I lifted one out to better examine it. The bag itself was rather amazing: it had two holsters on either side with a small pouch pocket in the front of the bag.

“I’m glad you think so. And best of all, I made it so you can equip it on your person rather than look through your item inventory for the items. You can even attach it to the back of your hip. Why don’t you let me open it up so I can tell you about the items inside?” I passed him back the packs as he pulled out one of each of the items inside, starting with a vial with a red liquid inside. “Obviously, this is your standard potion, which can recover 50 HP.” Next, he pulled out a canteen and some pieces of dried meat. “Your ration of water and dried monster meat. Don’t worry, I’m told it tastes pretty good.” Then he pulled out a flat stone. “This is a whetstone. I’d recommend that you make sure to check the blade of your sword every once in a while, because a dull blade won’t do much damage.” Next came a metal cylinder with a pin on the top. “These are your flash bombs. They’ll blind anything within range for up to 30 seconds. That includes you if you’re not careful. Now to the most important item in the whole pack.” Finally, he pulls out something that I instantly recognize. It was as if it was plucked straight from the show. In Tiff’s hands was gold and blue rectangular crystal. “This is a escape crystal. Besides their weapons and armor, this is an adventurer’s best friend. Although, there is a downside.” I watch as he put everything back in the pack. “You can use the teleport crystal anywhere, even in a dungeon, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that. When you do use it while inside one, any items or bits that you acquire are lost, but you still keep the exp you earn. This one adventurer came into town one day after teleporting from a high-level dungeon, boasting about how he raided all the chests without taking any damage or even taking on the dungeon boss. When he went to show off his inventory, he found that none of the rare items he was bragging about were there. That’s when he got a notification telling him that using a teleport crystal while in a dungeon will strip him of his items and bits that he got from there. He broke down crying like a little bitch.” Tiff chuckled a bit as he wiped a tear out of his eye. “It sure was funny, and it taught us all not to do the same thing.”

I honestly felt bad for the guy in the story. Who knows what he went through to get all that stuff, only to lose it all in a flash because he didn’t know about that rule. Well, there was nothing I could do about that, but there was something I did remember. “Putting that all aside, how much does this kit cost altogether?” I asked, getting straight to the point, knowing full well that this was going to possibly cost me a lot.

“Hmm. Well…I was planning on selling these things for three-hundred bits each.” Someone better go pick up that phone, cause I fucking called it. “But since you're going to be my tester, how about I bring it down to two-hundred bits?” I let out a sigh as I knew that was the best deal I was gonna get, and I didn’t feel like haggling. I paid the man...er, stallion, now only left with a hundred bits. No one said being an adventurer was going to be easy. “Seeing as you did spend a lot of bits here today, I think you could use a reward.” Before I could ask what he meant, he pulled out a cloth bag and emptied the contents of said bag onto the counter, and what came out were some rather cool gems. There were six different colored ones in total: red, blue, brown, green, purple, and yellow. “These bad boys are elemental crystals, and they can tell you what your element affinity is.”

Something about the element affinity rang a bell, but I couldn’t think of what at first. Then it hits me. Opening my profile, I scrolled down to see that under my stats was the word “affinity” with some question marks next to it. “Is that what goes down here?” I ask while pointing at the question marks.

“Yep. There are six base elements that adventurers can use. They are fire, water, earth, wind, darkness, and light. Now, every adventurer who comes here has a natural affinity for one of these six elements, and depending on your affinity, that will be the element that you can use more easily.” I watched as Tiff summoned a fireball in the palm of his hand, much like he did yesterday. “Since I’m an earth pony, my affinity is earth, but as you can see, I’m still able to use fire magic. The reason why is because you can learn how to use any of the base elements, but depending on what element you have can affect the difficulty of learning others. Hang on. I think I have something that can show you what I mean.” He reached under the counter again and pulled out a paper that had the elements on it.

“The heart in the center represents the adventurer.” He then tapped on the symbol for earth with his finger. “Do you see how close earth is to fire?” I nodded my head for him to continue. “Well, since it’s the closest one to my affinity, it’s slightly easier for me to learn.” He then points to a green symbol, which must represent air. “Since air is the opposite of earth, that would be the most difficult element for me to try and learn. This is basically how affinities work.” He then started to rearrange the gemstones until they were on top of the symbols like in the picture. Oddly enough, the earth gem didn’t match the color on the piece of paper, but I shrugged it off. “Okay, kid, go ahead and place your hand in the center where the heart is and we’ll find out what your element affinity is.”

This was rather exciting for me. I had no idea what element I might be good at. Then again, what if I don’t have one? After all, I am only human. There was never any real magic similar to this back home. My curiosity was getting the better of me as I lowered my hand down onto the heart symbol. For a while, nothing happened, and I was afraid that me being human unable to use magic was true. Before I could pull my hand away, the stone at the top started to shine brightly; it was the yellow stone. The light became so bright it was almost as bright as the sun. Tiff and I shielded our eyes till the light had finally died down enough for us to see again. The stone was now emitting a low glow. I stared in awe as the stone twinkled for a bit before the light faded. “Wow, that sure was bright, right, Tiff?...Tiff, you okay there, buddy?”

Tiff’s mouth was hung wide open with his eyes wide. He looked like a bass out of water as his mouth would start to open and close, pointing at me. “Your…affinity…is light.” He said in a shocked tone as his finger trembled and his lips curled into a smile. “That is amazing!”

“It is?” I looked at the stone that represented light with some curiosity. “How exactly?”

He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before answering “To put it simply, amongst all the elements, light-based spells are the absolute hardest to use. Even if your element is right next to it on the chart, light-based spells are impossible to use, even the simplest ones. Now, I’ve seen some adventurers use some before, but according to them, it took them nearly half a year to barely get it to work. And in the two years these islands have been around, I have never heard about any creature who had a natural affinity for this attribute. You should see if anything came up in your skills menu.”

I was now a bit eager to see if I did in fact have any new skills. I went to the part of the menu where I would look up my skills and saw that a new tab was added: “Magic skills.” Tapping on the new tab, I saw that I had only one skill listed. “‘Revealing Light’? That’s it?” I tried scrolling down the list to see if there might have been more, but to my disappointment, there were no other skills available to me. “Well, bugger. I was hoping for more than one bloody skill. Oh well. One is better than none, I suppose. Wonder what it does?” I walk to the closest wall, setting down my shield to lean against it before taking a few steps back and holding out my hand, aiming at my shield. “Revealing Light!” I called out, ready for whatever attack may fire out. But it would seem the disappointments just keep on coming as a small ball of light formed in front of my palm before slowly floating upwards and hovering around me.

“Pft!!” I heard Tiff trying to suppress a laugh while banging his hand on the counter until he couldn’t hold it back no more. “Pft hahaha!” He started laughing harder and harder as he pointed to the little ball of light that was floating over my head. “Yeah, I can totally see your enemies fleeing in terror from that! Hahaha!” He laughed uncontrollably as he fell to his knees, leaning his head on the counter.

I was too pissed off to even bother to try and argue. Instead, I picked up my shield, took the pack, and attached it to the back of my pants, then left the shop to make my way to the dungeon.

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After a good twenty minutes of trekking through the woods, I finally reached my destination. I did manage to see some Almiraj along the way, but for some reason, they didn’t give me any trouble at all. In fact, if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought they were avoiding me. I’ll have to think about that some other time since I was now looking at the dungeon entrance. It was almost sticking out of the ground with the frame being made completely out of stone that led down a deep, dark tunnel.

I would be a liar if I said I wasn’t afraid. Even back when I played video games back home, I always got creeped out when my character had to go into one that required me to if I wanted to progress through the story. I shook my head, trying to push away my fears. “Come on, Arthur, snap out of it! I can handle myself. I’m level five, with new gear. I should be perfectly fine…I hope.” I gulped loudly as I made my way into the dungeon, hand firmly gripped on my sword’s handle, ready for anything.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c7/07/24/c7072484c7a2b7953085bf223d65358f.jpg

My footsteps echoed off the stone walls as I walked deeper in. A foul stench was in the air and grew stronger the deeper I went inside. I would occasionally flinch anytime I would hear any little movements, either from a pebble that I had accidently kicked or noises reverberating off the walls. However, when I heard the sound of heavy breathing from up ahead, I froze in place and quickly drew my sword, a bit too quickly as I had pulled it out so fast, it fumbled out of my hands and fell to the ground. As I tried to kneel down to grab it, I heard a high-pitched squeal and looked up in time to raise my shield, blocking the large creature from sinking its buck teeth into me. Moving my free hand to the back of my shield, I used both arms to push back my attacker far enough for me to quickly pick up my sword and hold it to the side of my shield as I looked to the creature before me. Standing at about four feet tall and six feet long was a rat, and as I tried to steady my breathing from the scare I got from its attack, two more came walking in from the other room.

“R.O.U.S.: Rodents of Unusual Size. Well, this just got interesting. And here I forgot my ACME oversized mousetrap.” I joked to keep my nerves calm as I noticed two of the three overgrown rodents slowly tried to circle around me while the middle rat would make mock lunges to keep my attention on it. Soon enough, I had a rat on either side of me while the one in front of me charged. For a moment, I wasn’t sure what I should do. Should I try and dodge it by jumping backwards? No, if I did that, the other two rats would just rush me soon after. Same thing if I try to dodge left or right. So, going back is out, and going left and right is out of the question, which means my only option is to take it head on! Gripping my blade as tightly as I could, I moved my shield in front of me and waited until the rat was within range. The moment he was three feet away, I raised my shield and aimed at the rat. “Flash Step!” My body accelerated forward at such speed, the rat had no chance to realize his mistake as my shield slammed into his skull, making a sickening crunch sound before his body flew back and slammed into the wall. I didn’t have the luxury of making sure it died as I heard the other two rodents let out squeals,both of them charging me simultaneously. My reflexes acted purely on instinct as I quickly spun my body around in place, causing the edge of my sword to slice through the skull of one rat, while my shield smashed into the face of the other, sending its body crashing in the wall.

I didn’t have the chance to bask in my amazing reflexes as I felt a sudden shock of pain in my left leg. Looking down, I saw that the rat I had first sent flying was sinking its jaws into my leg. I had never felt such pain before in my life, and for a moment, I didn’t know what to do. Fear had taken hold of my mind, telling me to panic and try to pull free. However, another part of my mind came to the forefront of my mind and took over. Twirling the sword in my hand, I now held it upside down and thrusted my sword down, stabbing the vermin into its skull, right between the eyes. Its jaw pulled away from my leg as it squealed in pain before dying and disappearing.

Rat’s Pelt +1

EXP +10

Bits +5

I didn’t bother taking the time to look at the items I had acquired as my attention was focused on the other two rats. The one I had slammed with my shield was wobbling in a daze while the one I had sliced with my sword looked to fare no better. I lunged toward the rat whose HP must have been the lowest and stabbed my sword through its side, causing it to howl in agony before disappearing.

Rat’s Pelt +1

EXP +10

Bits +5

Twisting on the balls of my heels, I dashed toward the last rat just as it had snapped out of its daze. Unfortunately for it, I was already within striking range and brought down my sword, cutting through its neck and severing its head from its body.

Rat’s Pelt +1

EXP +10

Bits +5

I remained in a defensive stance till I was sure that there were no immediate threats. I counted to one hundred before finally letting myself fall to my butt, clenching my leg that had been bitten by the rat and squeezed it tightly as I could still feel the pain. After a good while, the pain subsided and I was able to let go of my leg to inspect the damage, and I saw that there wasn’t any damage to my armor. Not even so much as a dent. So that begged the question on how the rat was able to bite through it? For a while, I sat on the ground, contemplating the possibilities, my thoughts lingering on my previous assumptions that these islands laws were similar to Sword Art Online, in that you can equip gear that can boost your abilities and defense, but if the attack was strong enough, it could still deal damage. Had I not been wearing this new armor that Tiff sold me, I’m sure the pain and damage done would have been far worse.

Glancing to the upper left of my vision, I saw that only a small chunk of HP had been lost, even as it was slowly recovering. The pain I felt somehow surpassed the pain I felt the other day when I had lost almost all my HP. Then again, my body crashed into a tree, my adrenaline might have numbed that out, and I did use a potion shortly after to heal myself.

I remained sitting down until I saw that my HP bar was completely filled. Once that was done, I rose back up to my feet and took another moment to reflect on the fight I had just finished. My thoughts focused on how one of the rats had been stunned after getting hit with my shield, then I remembered how Tiff mentioned that my weapons had abilities that were based on my luck. Looks like I managed to use one just now.

Now that I had finished reflecting on my victory, I decided that it was time to venture deeper into the dungeon. The rational part of my brain was screaming at me that this was too dangerous, to turn back now and call it quits, but that voice was being drowned out by the thumping in my chest, and my heart was chanting for me to keep going. Never in my life back on earth had I experienced thrills that I was feeling now. It was almost intoxicating, even addictive. Truly, this must be what adventurers feel every day, and I wanted more - no, I needed more. I ignored the little voice in my head and instead followed the one in my heart that was screaming out for joy as I ventured onward to adventure!

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“ADVENTURE CAN SUCK MY WILLY!!” I screamed as I was running from a small hoard of overgrown rats. I had managed clear two rooms that had rats without taking any damage, making me a cocky little fuck as I strolled in the next room, expecting to do the same. The universe seemed to decide to give me a backhand to the face for my arrogance as the next room had eight of the worm-tailed buggers in it. Now I’m running for my dear life, hoping to outrun the fuckers so I could fight back. I was close to reaching the next room, which I had cleared. I slipped my hand into the pack that I bought from Tiff and rifled around till my hand grasped some kind of cylinder. Pulling it out, I saw it was one of the flash bombs that Tiff showed me. Then I got an idea that just might work in my favor. Looking at my SP bar, I saw that it was full and quickly used Flash Step to sprint into the center of the room, giving me enough distance between me and the rats. Quickly turning around so I was facing the direction of the rats, I waited until all eight of the fuckers were completely in the room before pulling the pin and tossing it into the air. The sudden flying object managed to catch the rats attention. I quickly shielded my eyes just before the bomb went off, the sound of the rats squeals told me that it had worked and I waited a full three seconds before I looked back. The rats were running around slamming into each other, unable to see. Flipping my sword around so I was holding it backwards, I rushed to the closest rat and stabbed it straight through the skull. The rodent howled before disappearing. “Hitting them in vital areas seems to deal more damage.” I thought aloud as I ran to the next and did the same to test my theory. Like the previous rat, it did the same amount of damage, proving that certain monsters have weak points. With this new knowledge, I turned my sights on the rest of the rats. Thankfully, there was just enough time left from the flash bomb’s effect to allow me to clean up the rest of these filthy beasts. After driving my blade through the last rat, I was finally allowed to catch my breath, when…

Leveled Up!!!

LEVEL 6

HP 820 SP 500

ATK 440 DEF 400

M.ATK 97 M.DEF 82

STR 310 AGI 300

END 230 LUC 15

I smiled with a sense of pride that I had managed to level up yet again and increased my stats. “Guess Tiff’s plan is actually working.” I gasped out in between breaths. Though my level and stats had gone up, my body was still getting used to going through this much excitement in less than an afternoon. As I sat on the cold cobblestone floor, I figured that now would be as good as any to check my sword to make sure that it wasn’t dulled out yet. However, that was easier said than done, given how dark this dungeon was. The lighting in here wasn’t the best, barely enough light for me to see where I was going, just a few lit torches along the walls to provide that light. The nearest one was on the other side of the room, and I was too tired to get my lazy butt up to get closer to it to see my sword. Just as I was about to get up, I remembered that there was no need for me to move to the light when I can make my own. I held my hand up, palm facing upwards. “Revealing Light.” Like last time, a small ball of light formed in the palm of my hand and floated in place, providing a good deal of light. I couldn’t tell before, but it was brighter than when I was in Tiff’s shop, possibly due to his shop already being well lit that it didn’t make a difference.

With a proper source of light, I was able to take a look at the condition of my sword’s edge. I’m not yet skilled enough to properly tell whether or not my sword was sharp enough that it didn’t require sharpening at this moment. From my perspective, I thought it looked fairly fine. One side of the blade was still incredibly sharp, so in the worst-case scenario, I would use that side instead until I had the chance to sharpen it again.

After another good five minutes, I was back on my feet, doing a few stretches to make sure that nothing was too stiff. Once that was taken care of, I took out my atlas compass to pull up the map of this dungeon. I looked at the end of the map and saw an icon that looks like stairs. “Hmmm. Looks like there are six more rooms before I reach the stairs that will take me down to the next level.” I noticed that one room that was closest to the stair icon was lit green. Why would it be a different color then the rest? I pushed this thought aside, given it wouldn’t do me any good now to worry about it when it’s so far from where I am now. Glancing up at the little ball of light, I saw that it seemed to follow my movement. I advanced forward, and it followed. It brought me some comfort, like I wasn’t alone and that it was watching over me. “I guess this spell isn’t so dumb after all.”

Making my way down the hallway that I got chased down by that hoard of rats, I made sure that I was on full alert in the event some other creature decided to pop out and attack me. Soon, I saw the next room coming up and mentally prepared myself for whatever creature I would face next. Raising my shield and my sword resting against the edge, I charged forward. “Bring it on!!” I called out as I entered the room, only to find that it was empty. I took another glance around, half expecting something to pop out at me when I didn’t expect it. “Like…NOW!” I quickly turn my body, prepared for a back attack. But to both my surprise and annoyance, there wasn’t anything there. “Are you kidding me? I was all hyped up.” I said to no one in particular as I looked around the room one more time, only this time around, I did see something. In the very corner of the room was a medium sized chest. It was made of wood with metal legs and a lock. I stared at the chest with a smirk. “What’s this? A seemingly normal treasure chest in this empty room with no monsters. It must be my lucky day!” I said in a chipper tone. “Well, I better go walk up to it and open it up for all the sweet loot that’s inside!” I leaned down to the ground, picking up a stone and tossed it up and down, catching it in my hand. “Pft. As if.” Pulling my arm back, I took aim and chucked the stone straight at the chest. The moment the stone collided against the chest, it began to shake violently. The once normal-looking chest started to morph: the legs of the chest turned into long, nail-like claws, the lock started to turn into a mouth, sprouting sharp teeth, and a pair of eyes.

“Ah, the Mimic. Every greedy and rookie adventurer’s worst nightmare. Classic.” The Mimic looked around the room, snarling while searching for whatever had just hit it. Thankfully, I should be a good distance away to not provoke the agro. However, instead of returning back to its normal chest form, the monster moved its body down to sniff the ground, and to my shock, it was sniffing the rock I had thrown at it, quickly turned its body in my direction, and growled. “Oh boy.” The Mimic turned its body sideways and started sprinting in my direction. It was moving almost like a crab in a way; a very fast crab, given it just covered half of the room in less then a few seconds. Seeing that I couldn’t really outrun the creature, I took a defensive position with my shield in front of me and my sword ready to strike. As the Mimic was just about a foot away, it quickly turned its body around and leapt into the air, jaws opened wide. Dropping down into a crouch and rolling forward, I was able to dodge the monster. Pushing off my shield, I got back onto my feet and darted forward to slash my sword and deal some damage onto the Mimic. But just as my sword was about to slash it in the back, the beast spun its body around so that my sword slammed into the metal portion of its body, deflecting my sword, forcing my arm back, and then lunged forward to bite my sword wielding arm. “Ahhhhhh!!” I screamed out in pain as I could feel its long, razor-sharp death digging into my arm. It began to violently shake it around in its jaws, causing me to lose my grip on my sword. I was overwhelmed by the intense pain, as if my arm was burning by the feeling of my flesh being torn by the monster’s teeth. I saw that my HP bar was now halfway gone, and rapidly declining. I was beginning to panic and feared that this would be how I would die. My sword had fallen out of reach and I had no other weapon on me to fight this thing off. Then I quickly remembered that my shield could stun my enemies, but I only had a fifteen percent chance of it working. I began to violently slam the edge of my shield against the mimic’s body, hoping to God that I could get the effect to work. My fear skyrocketed as I saw my HP dropping into the yellow. I continued to punch the edge of the shield into the beast’s face in a panic. I feared that this was it, that my journey was at its end as my HP hit the red zone. But suddenly, the monster’s jaw let go of my arm as its body shook violently. It was stunned; my shield’s effect had worked! And the timing couldn’t have been closer as my HP was nearly gone. I slipped my hand into my satchel and pulled out three of the potions I had, uncorked the lids, and guzzled them down, putting my HP in the yellow. The pain in my arm hadn’t completely disappeared, but it was good enough. I take hold of my sword and slash at the mimic’s body. I slashed at it with reckless abandon until it had finally been destroyed.

Ruby +1

EXP +200

Bits +200

With the monster gone, I fell to my hands and knees, clutching my chest as my heart beat wildly from my near-death experience. I was taking in long, slow breaths as I tried to bring my heart rate back to normal. I crawled to the closest wall and sat up against it, the fear still present in my mind. “I almost died.” I said aloud. That was twice that I nearly died in this world. For a moment, I had considered giving up and calling it quits to go back to the inn. But I knew better than that. I knew that this was to be expected of an adventurer, for this was their lifestyle; a life of danger and close calls with death. And in this world, I wasn’t blessed with high stats, meaning that I had to work harder than most others. “If that’s the case, then so be it.” I waited till my HP had regenerated completely before standing back up. “I will be an adventurer, and I won’t let this set me back. I’m gonna be the best adventurer that I can be!” I raised my sword up with pride. “This will be the last time that ever even think about giving up! This I swear!”

========================================================================

I had managed to clear the remaining rooms of the first floor and leveled up two more times. I found out that the room before the stairs had actually been a safe room where you could rest your body. I also found out that the monsters will respawn twenty minutes after being killed, so the room was a life saver for me. I was now in the first room of four that led to the boss room. I wasn’t sure why the number had gone down, given there were more rooms above. I did a quick inventory check to make sure I hadn’t lost anything. I was down to my last two potions. At least I took my last few fights more seriously and didn’t need them. The same goes for my remaining flash bomb. I still had my rations that I planned to eat once I got closer to the boss room. I then took note that I hadn’t used any of the whetstones and gave my sword a look. One side had been dulled due to all the fighting and the other was nearly the same. Crouching down, I placed the tip of the sword on the ground and rested the flat of the blade on my knee. I started to use the whetstone to sharpen the edges of my blade till the stone had crumbled away, fulfilling its purpose.

With my inventory now checked out and my equipment in peak form, I advanced onto the next room. This room was large with an incredibly high ceiling, and like the room that had the Mimic, empty. I glanced around, expecting to find another Mimic chest, but there wasn’t any sign of one. I did another sweep of the room, trying to see if I was missing something. Then my ear caught something. It sounded like something flapping, then the realization hit me. Quickly ducking down, I felt a small brush of air whooshing over me. Looking up, I saw the culprit was a monster with bat-like wings and one eye.

The bat monster circled the air a few times before diving down toward me with its talon-like feet, aiming right at me. I raised my shield up and waited for the monster to get within striking distance. The moment it was close enough, I thrust my shield out, slamming it into its face, momentarily dazing it as I swung my sword at it. However, it quickly snapped back to reality, dodged my strike, and flew higher up. “Damn! Almost had it!” I cursed as I waited for it to fly back down for another attack. For a while, it continued to circle around in the air out of striking range. I thought that this would have been a stalemate, given that neither of us was attacking the other. How wrong I was as the bat hovered in mid air before launching something green from its mouth. I jumped back in time to barely dodge the green projectile, only to see it was some kind of green residue that sizzled as it sank into the ground. “It’s spitting acid at me.” Looking up, I saw another wad coming straight for me and jumped to my left. “Damn it! If it keeps in the air like that, then I won’t have a chance to kill it!”

I jumped again when yet another glob of acid came my way. I wanted to block it with my shield, but since I wasn’t sure it could melt through it, putting that option on the back burner. For a while, all I could do was jump out of the way as it hacked more of those acid balls at me. Occasionally, it would swoop down to try and take a bite out of me, but each time I swung my sword at it, I barely missed it by an inch. “This is getting me nowhere, and it’s starting to really piss me off!” As I dodge a few more attacks, I had an idea that could work. Looking around the ground, I saw a few rocks and ran over to them, picking up a few. Next, I looked at the flying monster and watched as it moved through the air. I saw that when it gets ready to spit out another ball of acid, its body stops moving around and hovers in places for a bit. That was my window of opportunity and the perfect time to strike. I stood my ground, keeping my eyes fixated on the little devil. “Come on, you Monsters Inc. reject, come at me!” That insult must have gotten to it as it prepared another acid attack, something I was hoping for.

Before it could spit out the ball of green gunk, I quickly tossed one of the stones in my hand straight at it, nailing it right in the eye, causing it to screech out in pain and stop flapping its wings. As its body lost altitude, I got into a running stance. “Flash Step!!” My body stopped right under the beast, putting me in a perfect position to strike. Gripping my sword as hard as I could, I thrusted my sword upward, straight through the bat monster’s eyeball. Its body flailed around before going completely limp and shattering.

Monster Eyeball +1

Monster Wings +2

EXP +100

Bits +50

Checking the list of items I got, I felt rather confused why I received parts of the monster and wondered what they could be used for. My first thought drifted to making potions like in “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”. I shuddered thinking about how my potions could have had some of those ingredients in them. Granted, the potions I’ve drank didn’t taste bad. Heck, I’ll even go as far as to say they tasted rather good, but I still felt a bit queasy thinking about it. I pushed those thoughts out of my mind, trying to focus on the next room. I had thankfully not taken any damage and used just a bit of SP, but I made sure to not let myself get a swelled head over it for fear that it might be my undoing in the next room. I took a moment to reflect on my battles that I had won. This was so I could try and think on how I should adapt my fighting style, given that I really don’t have one. I’m simply fighting on instinct, and thankfully had the mind to analyze my last opponent to spot the weakness in its flight pattern to exploit it and seize victory.

I mentally prepared myself for whatever creature I shall face in the next room. As I walked down the corridor toward the next room, I heard a menacing snarl up ahead, raising my shield for what may come. Once inside the room, I move my light to rise higher up and shine brighter, illuminating the room in a brighter light than the torches could provide. And in the center of the room was the source of the snarling noise. Standing at around four and half feet was a dark-furred canine with glowing red eyes. At first glance, it looked to be a normal dog, however, upon better inspection, I saw that its throat was glowing bright red. The same could be said for the inside of its mouth. Then I heard a faint sizzling sound and saw that a glowing red liquid was trickling down its jaw. I watched as one drop of the glowing liquid dropped to the ground, making the sizzling sound I heard before losing its glow and hardening; it was lava. I then realized that the creature before me must be a Hellhound. The Hellhound let out a low snarl as it started to crouch a bit and slowly moved closer.

I took a moment to analyze the room, seeing that besides myself and the beast before me that it was empty of any other creatures. Next, I spread my legs, giving me a firm and strong sense of balance, my shield held close to the front of my body with my sword resting against my shield’s edge. I began to move in a circle as I kept my eyes fixed on the Hellhound circling with me. I kept my body sideways and my knees slightly bent to move at a moment’s notice. Slowly, we began to inch closer and closer to one another as we continued to circle each other. I could see its long claws digging into the ground with every step it took. As soon as I was close enough, I lunged forward at the hound from hell, thrusting my shield outward, quickly followed by a slash of my sword. My foe dodged my attack, quickly side-stepping to my right to take advantage of my stance momentarily caught off balance. Remaining calm, I shifted my body’s weight to the left and down to the ground to roll out of harm’s way, allowing the canine to run past me. Jumping to my feet, I took up my stance once more and faced the Hellhound as it, too, returned to its crouched position, snarling with rage and hate. I saw it take a quick breath of air, seeing its neck slightly bulge out before snapping its jaws, sending a glowing ball at me. I jumped to my left, hearing a gushing sound, followed by sizzling and ending with a crackling sound. “What is it with you monsters and your loogies of death?!” I asked, receiving another molting ball of lava spat out at me. “Didn’t your bitch of a mother teach you it’s rude to spit?!” That bitch comment might have been a bad idea as the Hellhound rushed forward, barking with rage. “Ahh! I meant bitch in a good way!” I screamed as I jumped out of its way and slashed my sword at its side, leaving a long slash along its body. The Hellhound snarled at me as it glanced at the cut I gave it. It fired three high speed balls of lava at me, forcing me to jump back and go on the defensive. It launched fireball after fireball, forcing me back and keeping me from getting close to strike back. Eventually, I found myself against a wall. In my haste to dodge the Hellhound’s attacks, I failed to notice my position in the room, and was quite literally backed into a corner. The beast took note of this and charged forward, ready to take a bite out of me, but it made a mistake that it will soon regret. Bracing my shield against my body, I lowered my stance and waited patiently until the canine was in range. The moment I saw it preparing to use another one of its fiery attacks, I charged forward. The Hellhound pounced into the air, forcing me to raise my shield. A moment later, I could feel its body landing on my shield. Its claws gripped against my shield as it tried to look past it to unleash its attack. “Heh. Big mistake, Fido. Flash Step!” Upon saying my skill, my body accelerated forward, causing the dog on my shield to lurch forward before being sent flying off as my body stopped dead in its tracks, the Hellhound’s body landing a few feet away as it tumbled on the ground. The dog from hell staggered a bit as it tried to stand back up, but unfortunately for him, I had already shortened the distance between us and slammed my shield into its muzzle, getting a yelp of pain from it. Swinging my sword, I sliced off one of its ears, making it howl in pain. I smacked it with my shield again, forcing it to limp from the trauma caused to its head. I wasn’t going to let up as I delivered slash after slash with my sword, cutting into the Hellhound’s flesh until I delivered a powerful horizontal slash, cutting the head clean off its shoulders. The demonic beast fell to the ground with a loud thud before disappearing completely.

Flame Pelt +1

Molting Magma Ball +1

Fire Fang +1

EXP +200

Bits +150

With the beast finally eliminated, I was able to relax. Despite not taking any damage, I would put that beast’s difficulty on par with the mimic, given its unique method of fighting. Then again, I never had to fight such creatures at home. Sure, I had gotten into my fair share of scrapes at the pub, but who hasn’t? But these creatures aren’t anything like fighting drunken idiots at the bar. Each one moved differently than the last. It’s incredible that I’m somehow still alive and kicking. I honestly feel as though the battle with the Hellhound was actually easier than my previous battles. I wonder if my stats are getting to the point where they are on par with the average pony when they come to the islands. If this was the case, then I may not be too far behind to being able to handle myself on these islands.

With my stamina fully recovered and my equipment checked, I made my way to the last room. Every step I took made my heart race as I wondered what monster I’ll be up against next. Part of me was thinking that it would be an easy battle with my current track record, while another part of me screamed to not get cocky and be prepared for what I may face off against. Entering the room, I didn’t need to wait long to find my opponent. Standing on two scaly legs and wearing leather armor was a lizard creature. I believe they are classified as Kobolds. It had red scales and a tail, wielding a wooden spear in one hand with what looked like either a fang or claw at the end of it, and in its other hand was a large shield that looked to be made completely out of the shell of some other creature.

The kobold let out a low hiss as it raised its shield and took a familiar stance, the same stance I have been using up till now. However, unlike my stance, the arm holding the spear was held further back instead of braced against the shield. Taking my stance, I walked deeper into the room. I kept my eyes locked on the Kobold, for this would be my first opponent that utilizes armor and weapons. As I got closer, the Kobold began to circle around me. Instead of doing the same, I carefully turned my body instead and kept it within my sights. If this creature can use armor and weapons, I had to consider that it may know some form of combat skills. There was no telling what it was capable of doing. As it circled around, it would move in closer while keeping its shield raised, snarling at me to try and intimidate me into making the first move. I didn’t have much of a choice since I didn’t want the Kobold setting the pace of the battle. Pushing off my back leg, I darted forward till I was sure that my sword was within swinging range. Pulling my arm back, I tried to slash at its exposed legs, but was quickly foiled as the lizard creature twisted its upper body to block my attack and swung its shield out, forcing my sword hand back. Before I could step back to raise my guard, the Kobold thrust its spear into my abdomen, causing me to lurch forward as it pulled the spear out, then thrust it back in. I could feel the burning pain as my flesh was stabbed repeatedly, the pain overwhelming my brain as I couldn’t think properly to move. It was only when it went for the third stab that my luck kicked in. When it had pulled the tip out from the second stab, my body twisted enough to my left that my shield blocked the third attack. Backing up as fast as I could, I was able to get my body out of the Kobold’s striking range, I checked to see the damage that it had done on my HP. Thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as I had thought. It took a fair amount, but not enough to take it out of the green.

I made the mistake of not paying attention to the battle while checking my HP. I was snapped out of my thoughts when I felt my left thigh being stabbed, the Kobold’s spear firmly embedded in my leg. I managed to pull away enough so the tip of the spear came out and I raised my shield up before the lizard creature could take another stab at me. That was twice that I had been caught off guard, and damaged severely for it. Once the pain had begun to subside, it became clear to me how much of a disadvantage I was in. Though our fighting stances were almost the same, it was our weapons that was the deciding factor. The kobold’s spear, while not that great for slashing, still had the slight advantage in range, the length of the spear maybe two feet longer than my longsword. What’s more is that I need to build the momentum of a slash to do any real damage, but that required me to get in close to do so. And with that shield, it could practically cover most of its body, meaning I can’t brute force my way to getting a clean shot. I had considered using my last flash bomb, but if the Kobold is as smart as I think it is, then it will know to shield its eyes, making that plan useless.

I couldn’t overthink it as I tried to circle around to the Kobold’s shield hand to get in a strike. However, my plan quickly backfired as it jumped back and thrusted the end of its spear into my foot, then rushed in and slammed its shield into me, causing me to stagger back. I raised my shield up and slowly backed away to allow some of my HP to recover and think of a proper strategy to counter this bugger. I had considered stepping in, and when it would thrust its spear, I could try and deflect it with my sword, but then it could easily smash me with its shield to push me back again. Then I had considered trying to use my shield skill, since it worked out for me on more than one occasion today. The problem is that I don’t think it will work if it hits another shield. But maybe I could still use my shield for something else. Glancing behind the snarling Kobold, I got a brilliant idea, and I hoped that this trick would work. Making sure that my shield was raised and I was close enough to my opponent, I braced my shoulder. “Flash Step!” Rushing forward, my shield slammed into the Kobold’s shield, and it seemed like it wasn’t expecting this as his body was properly braced as it was easily pushed back. I stepped in again and lined myself up with the dazed reptile. “Flash Step!!” I called out once more, slamming into the Kobold again, getting a bit more resistance this time, but its body still got pushed back. The Kobold tried to stab its spear into my leg, but I quickly moved my leg to the side and used Flash Step once more when his balance was off, sending him crashing up against the wall. I heard a snapping sound and watched as the kobold’s shield started to lower. It was then that I saw its shoulder had been dislocated, and judging from its eyes rolled back, I’d say that it might have hit its head as I slammed it against the wall. Seizing my chance, I pulled my arm back and thrust my sword into its open mouth and down its throat, cutting it open and watched as it disappeared.

Kobold Shield +1

Kobold Spear +1

EXP +300

Bits +100

Leveled Up!!!

LEVEL 9

HP 860 SP 540

ATK 470 DEF 420

M.ATK 98 M.DEF 83

STR 320 AGI 310

END 240 LUC 15

New Skill Acquired

Shield Bash

When using your shield to strike an opponent, deal damage equal to half of your defense. Odds of success equal to LUC.

SP cost: 100

Not only did I receive a new skill, but somehow obtained the Kobold’s weapon and shield. Opening my menu, I saw that the spear was nothing special, and it was far weaker than my sword. The shield, however, drew my attention; it had a fire resistance of twenty percent. “Wish I had this when I was fighting the Hellhound earlier.” The only drawback was its defense was lower than my shield, but I think it will come in handy later. Now I had a choice to make. I could advance to the next room, which is the safe zone before going onto the dungeon boss, or I could go back and fight the respawning monsters so I can level up one more time. I think I’m as ready as I’ll be at my current level, given that my stats haven’t gone up that much since I leveled up. But on the other hand, Tiff had suggested that I keep leveling up till I was level ten, and he hasn’t steered me wrong so far. I give the matter a few more minutes before choosing to try and level up one more time. If not for the stats, then for the experience of fighting different kinds of monsters. The more I’m used to fighting different monsters now, the more I will have when I face similar monsters down the line. I started to quickly march back to the previous room to start on gaining EXP.

========================================================================

After a good hour of fighting the same monsters three times, I had managed to level up. By the third time I fought the monsters of the second floor, things were a lot easier. The flying bat creature didn’t give me nearly as much trouble as it did the first time, and when I had fought the Hellhound, I had equipped the shield I had gotten from the Kobold to take on its fiery attack and go in for the kill. The Kobold was the same in its fighting style, so I knew how to properly beat it. But instead of going for the quick kill, I decided to drag out the fight to get used to fighting an opponent that fought like myself. It showed me some possible weaknesses in my own defense while also showing different methods I should consider using myself. All in all, my stats may not have gone up, but my fighting skills had definitely improved a considerable amount. “Now all that’s left is the boss room.”

As I made my way to the safe zone, I pulled out my map to better inspect the dungeon. I had wondered if, after I beat the dungeon’s boss, would I be sent out of the dungeon via some kind of portal or would I have to go the long way and fight my way out to the exit. I was really hoping for the former. Just as I was about to enter the next room, something caught my attention. Out of the corner of my eye, taking a few steps back, I looked to the left wall and saw a large wooden door. Looking down at my map, I saw that there was nothing that showed another possible room, yet here I am staring at one that no doubt led to another room. My first thought was that this could be some form of trap since the map doesn’t show it. Another idea was that maybe it was a secret room that you can stumble on. The second part didn’t make much sense, seeing as Tiff had said this place had already been fully cleared. If that was the case, why am I not seeing this door on the map, and why am I seeing it exactly? While I was thinking, I saw that my ball of light was slowly beginning to fade out before disappearing completely. Though it wasn’t dark enough that I couldn’t see, I did notice that the door before me had suddenly vanished. I was shocked that it just disappeared so suddenly. Was it a timed event? Had I lost my chance to see what could have been inside?

I was honestly a bit disappointed that I had missed out on something possibly rare, so seeing as I didn’t feel like sulking, I raised my hand to activate the spell once more. “Revealing Light.” As before, a small ball of light rose from my hand, illuminating the corridor. And just as it did, the door had suddenly reappeared. I was both happy and confused by the door’s sudden return. I moved my hand to touch the door and felt it was definitely real. “But why did it vanish to begin with?” As I gave some thought, I had an idea that may explain why it doesn’t show on the map and why it vanished a minute ago. I moved the little ball of light further away so it wasn’t near the door, and just as I theorized, the door vanished again, and only when I brought the ball back did it become visible again. “I guess that’s the real purpose of this spell.”

Grabbing the handle of the door, I slowly pushed it open and peeked inside to make sure this wasn’t a possible trap, and what I saw in the center of the room didn’t help my suspicions. The room was well lit, and in the center was a single chest. I had drawn my sword out and prepared for another Mimic attack. Leaning down, I picked up a pebble and chucked it at the chest, expecting it to suddenly morph into a Mimic. But when the pebble made contact with the chest, it didn’t immediately respond, so I counted to sixty to wait and see if anything would happen. After a full minute, nothing seemed to be happening. I took a few careful steps closer to the lone chest with my shield raised and my sword at the ready should anything happen. Once I was close enough, I gave the chest a few pokes with my sword to make sure it wasn’t a trap, and like with the pebble, nothing had happened and lowered my guard. Crouching down, I set my sword down on the ground and moved my hand to open the chest. I waited before looking inside, thinking something might jump out at me. Thankfully, nothing did, and I slowly peeked inside. There were only two items at the bottom, which made me feel a bit down. I reached inside and pulled out the first item: it was a silver ring with a green stripe around it. I moved it around my fingers to inspect it and didn’t see much else. Giving the item a tap, a small window popped up.

Ring of Quick Recovery

When equipped, HP will regenerate 20% faster.

I was actually surprised that the ring had a skill, one that could help speed up the way my HP regenerates. I wasted no time and equipped the item, though I honestly didn’t feel that much different. Pickling up my sword, I gave my hand a quick cut, forcing me to wince at the pain. I looked to my HP bar and saw that the little damage I did had already filled back up. Before, it would have taken a good minute to fill back up from something so minor, but with the ring on, it healed up in seconds.

Next, the second item in the chest. Reaching inside, I pulled out a book with a red cover. I flipped it over to see if there was any kind of writing, but all I saw was a three-leaf clover on the cover.

“Hmm. This is an odd item to leave in a chest. Maybe it’s a journal?” With there being no rush for me to go to the boss room, I decided to walk over the nearest wall, sit down on the ground, and leaned against it. I opened the book up, flipping to the first page, only to notice that the words were written in some language I’ve never seen before. I flipped the pages to see if I could find something in there that I could read, but there wasn’t anything else written inside it. I flipped back to the first page with the strange writing, only this time, something was off. The letters began to glow brightly, and I couldn’t look away for some reason. My eyes began to water as the light began to intensify to the point that it was blinding and engulfed my vision. Then, as if someone flipped a switch, the light quickly vanished, and I was blinking like crazy trying to restore my vision. I gave my head a good shake and looked down to the book that had temporarily blinded me, only to surprise me when the words on the page had suddenly disappeared. I flipped through the pages of the book, trying to find them, only to come up empty-handed. “What the hell just happened?” My answer was given shortly after.

New Spell Acquired!

Firebolt

Launches a high-speed ball of fire at one enemy.

Chance of causing burn stats equal to LUC.

SP cost 100

“……WHAT!?” That was the calmest way I could express my feelings at that moment. I was completely baffled by the fact I had just learned a new spell. That’s when it hit me. “Hold on a bloody second.” Picking up the book, I flipped through the pages again, finding no trace of the strange letters from before and looked at the nameless cover. “Could this be one of those grimoires, those books where you can learn a spell instantly by reading them?” That was the first logical idea that came to mind. I remembered playing Skyrim and how there were books you could buy that taught you certain spells. This no doubt was one of those books, which meant…I extended my arm out toward a wall and called out my new spell. “Firebolt!!” A ball of burning hot fire quickly formed in my hand before jetting straight into the stone wall, making a small yet powerful explosion. I stood there in what I could only describe as pure joy. “Hell yeah!!” I jumped into the air like a little kid after getting the toy he always wanted. “Firebolt!!” Another ball of fire shot out, hitting the same spot, and yielded the same result as before. I was positively ecstatic about having my first offensive spell. Part of me wanted to run back to the entrance of the dungeon and go on a Firebolt-casting rampage, but of course, I knew better than to try something so reckless like that. No, I had one goal in mind, and that’s to defeat the dungeon boss.

After I left the room, the door had vanished completely, even though my revealing light spell was still shining on the wall. Shrugging it off, I made my way to the safe zone of the dungeon. The room was normal in terms of size with the only exception being the large wooden door on the opposite end of the room.

I let out an audible gulp as I stared at the doors that would lead to the strongest monster in this dungeon. It was very intimidating, and I felt some semblance of fear in the pit of my stomach.

GRRRROOOOWWWWLLLL!

The low rumble of what I thought might have been the boss monster turned out to be my stomach. “Well, I guess it’s not just fear that my stomach is feeling.” I chuckled a bit and walked to the nearest wall to sit down against as I pulled out the ration that came with my little pack. Much like the jerky from my world, the ones in the pack were no different. And for a drink, some nice, cool water. I found it surprising that the water was cold and not warm, but I chalked it up to magic, something I’m sure will be the most common answer here. While I munched away at one of the strips of jerky, which didn’t taste half bad, I brought out my last whetstone, getting to work on sharpening my sword’s edges. The final hurdle was beyond those two massive doors. I had considered leaving since I had boosted my level a decent amount already, and with a decent haul of loot, but this wasn’t about the loot and money. This was about seeing if I have what it takes to call myself a true adventurer and to survive in this new world. With my blade being the sharpest it was gonna be and my hunger alleviated, I was as ready as I’ll ever be and pressed my hands on the door to the boss room. “Here we go.” Pushing open the door, which made an eerie creaking noise, I walked into the boss room.

It was pitch black when I walked in, and I could see that the ground was no longer made of stone, but dirt instead. I was going to cast my light spell when the door slammed shut behind me, then the whole room suddenly lit up. My eyes slowly adjusted to the sudden brightness of the room, and when I could see again, I clearly wasn’t alone in this room. Standing on the opposite end of the room was a large, humanoid creature. It stood roughly eight feet tall with greyish-green skin, had long, pointed ears, beady yellow eyes, and carried a large sword and buckler in its hands. It wore a simple leather vest and shorts with its feet exposed, showing its claw-like toenails.

I wasn’t too sure what this creature was exactly, but my best guess was that it was maybe a Hobgoblin, a subspecies of goblin. I raised my shield and mentally prepared myself for whatever this monster may do. Without warning, the Hobgoblin charged forward, letting out a roar as it raised its massive sword up and swung it down on me when it had gotten close enough. The speed in which the monster had managed to cover in less than a second left me stunned, but I was able to snap out of my daze and jumped to my right, barely dodging the massive blade. As the blade slammed into the ground, dust and dirt kicked up, and there was a sizable cut in the ground where the monster’s blade was. I watched as the Hobgoblin pulled his sword out of the dirt with ease and snarled at me as he charged me again. I ducked down as the monster’s blade tried to slice my head off, only to be met with a punch by its buckler, knocking the wind out of me and sending me flying back, tumbling in the dirt before slamming against a wall. I coughed hard as I tried to catch my breath, shaking myself back to reality as the Hobgoblin was rushing toward me again. Each stomp of its feet made the ground vibrate the closer it got to me. I jumped to my feet, nearly stumbling forward, still in a bit of a daze from the impact.

I managed to roll to my right just as the Hobgoblin stabbed its sword into the ground where I was. I then thrust my blade into its shoulder, trying to deal some damage to the fucker. The monster roared in pain as I pulled out my sword, quickly running back to get some space between us. I tried to think of a way to fight this creature, seeing as it is much larger than the other monsters in the dungeon. Not only was it bigger, but it was much stronger, too. That hit from its buckler still hurts. The Hobgoblin swung his sword again, and it was moving too fast for me to jump out of the way, so I raised my shield up and tried to block the attack. The moment the blade slammed into my shield, I could feel myself being pushed back hard; my legs were making dual trenches in the dirt as I was being pushed back. When I felt that power of its swing start to weaken, I tilted my shield and ducked down to allow the sword to slide off. Moving fast, I quickly got around behind it and started to slash relentlessly at its back, causing the Hobgoblin to roar out in pain and swung its shield around to smack me. I saw it coming in time, using Flash Step to move back. The monster snarled at me, not liking that I got some good hits on it.

I started to circle the massive goblin, trying to figure out my next attack. My advantage at the moment seems to be my speed and agility while the Hobgoblin’s was strength and size. Glancing at my HP, I saw that a quarter was gone, but was already being replenished. Seems my defense and endurance may be another factor to keep in mind. With all that taken into consideration, I decided to be the one to go on the attack and charged forward. The Hobgoblin raised its sword up, ready to slam it down on my body while its shield was held back. “Gonna use that move again?” I smirked, knowing full well what was coming next.

The Hobgoblin’s sword came swinging at a horizontal angle. Like before, I ducked down, dodging the blade and saw the buckler coming straight for me. Unlike before, I jumped into the air, dodging the second attack. I was now at eye level with the monster as I slammed my shield into its face. “Shield Bash!” The moment I used my skill, the Hobgoblin’s head was forced back, and I could see a few teeth were knocked out. My feet touched down to the ground and I took up my stance once more while the Hobgoblin staggered to regain its balance, and it wasn’t too pleased with my little comeback. It roared and charged at me, only this time, it started to swing its sword recklessly and with such speed that I wasn’t able to predict where I needed to raise my shield to. Before I could properly brace my shield, the Hobgoblin’s sword slashed with such force that my shield slid off my arm and onto the ground. Shortly after, a slash across my chest caused me to wail in pain and fall to my knees. The pain was so agonizing, as if my insides were burning, and it felt like my intestines had been sliced out, causing me to spit up bile. I wasn’t able to dwell on this pain as the Hobgoblin kicked me like a football into the middle of the room. I felt as though all the air had been knocked out of my lungs and the world spun around and fell silent. Until I heard the bloody bastard chuckling. Slowly, it began to make its way over to me while dragging its sword’s tip along the ground.

‘Is this it? Am I going to die like this?’ My eyes focused on my HP bar and I saw it was in the red. It was gradually refilling, but not fast enough to let me take any more hits from the Hobgoblin. I reached my hand into my pack and felt the teleport crystal. If I use it, then I could get out of here. It would mean I would lose all the items I received, but I will be able to live to see another day. The idea of running away with my tail tucked between my legs infuriated me. ‘No…I won’t die here. I still have to keep on fighting. I’m nowhere near being finished yet!’ I pulled out the last two vials of potions left instead and quickly drank them. Sadly, this wasn’t enough to bring my HP into the yellow. I got back up, trying my best to keep my balance, the Hobgoblin continuing its slow walk toward me with a smug grin on its face. “Ugly bastard. You think you’ve won already? Think again.” I had one last idea to bring this fucker down, and I’m hoping it will work. Slipping my hand into my pack, I pulled out my last flash bomb, pulled the pin, then tossed the cylinder into the air. I closed my eyes as the bomb went off, hearing the roar of the Hobgoblin as it blinded him. Quickly, I opened my menu and went to my item inventory. I pulled out three of the spears that I got from beating the Kobolds and looked at the Hobgoblin. It was clenching its face from the bomb and stumbled around. This was my chance. Running in front of the monster, I quickly stabbed the spears into the ground with the tips pointing upwards, then I used Flash Step to get behind the Hobgoblin and slashed at its Achilles tendons. The monster bellowed in pain and could no longer support its balance as it fell to its knees, its body now positioned just above the spears. I ran to the wall behind the Hobgoblin and jumped toward it. Before my body could slide off, I used all the strength in my legs and pushed off the wall, aiming at the monster’s back. I raised my sword and thrust it into its back, forcing its body to fall forward and impale itself onto the spears. I jumped off the monster’s back and ran for my shield, quickly slipping it back on. When I heard a grunting sound, I saw that the Hobgoblin was still alive and trying to get back up, however, due to its Achilles tendons being cut, it could only sit on its knees, the spears piercing and jutting out of its neck and upper chest. I sheathed my sword and raised my hand toward the monster. “Firebolt.” A ball of fire shot out, hitting the Hobgoblin, who bellowed in agony, but was still very much alive. “Firebolt!” !nother successful hit, yet it still breathed. “FIREBOLT!!” The last ball of flame was twice the size as the last two and shot straight into the Hobgoblin’s head, blasting it clean off. The body swayed for a few moments before falling to the ground and disappearing completely.

Steel Blade +1

Iron buckler +1

EXP +1000

Bits +1000

Leveled Up!!!

LEVEL 12

HP 900 SP 580

ATK 500 DEF 480

M.ATK 99 M.DEF 85

STR 340 AGI 360

END 270 LUC 15

I fell on my ass, having beaten the dungeon on my own. I was so tired and felt like I might just keel over from the adrenaline high that I was coming down from. As I took large gulps of air to catch my breath, I saw a glowing circle in the middle of the room. I figured it was my ticket out of the dungeon and to the outside world. I was in no rush to leave just yet since my HP is still too low, so I waited for it to refill completely, and thanks to the ring that I got here, I wouldn’t have to wait long.

And I was right, since it only took five minutes for my HP to fill back up, and all the pain in my body vanished. I gave my chest a few pats to make sure everything was in order, then stood up and made my way to the glowing circle. The moment I stepped into the center of the circle, it began to shine brighter, which made me shield my eyes. When I opened them again, I found myself back outside of the dungeon entrance. The sun was still out, but it was at its zenith, meaning that half the day had already passed. Funnily enough, it felt like I had spent months down there. Looking back at the dungeon entrance, I stared at it for a few moments. When I first came here, I was only level five; now I stand out here at level twelve. My first dungeon completed, and my first step to being a real adventurer.