When Evren regained his consciousness, he didn’t have the usual refreshed feeling he normally would feel when waking up. Now, he had a headache, and his whole body hurt. His mouth was dry, and his eyes were filled with a gooey crusty substance. He rubbed his eyes to clear them and sat up splashing water on his face. Finally able to see to an extent and the nausea subsiding, he rolled over onto his knees and stood on his unsteady legs. He stumbled over to the wagon and walked around back where he grabbed a cup and filled it with water.
He downed the water in one gulp, drinking a second and then a third cup of water before he filled the cup and dumped it on his head. His hair had grown long over the year, and normally he could control it, but in this instance, it covered his face and dripped water down to the floor. Using one hand, he swept his wet hair back and rubbed his eyes again. After blinking a bit, he walked around to the front of the wagon to retrieve his sword and saw something shimmering on the floor. Remembering the lizard-man, he walked over to pick up the mana gem, and there was also a silver chain necklace on the floor as well. Evren shrugged and put both in his pouch.
He picked up the pull poles and pulled the wagon to the exit. The doors closed behind him, and he blocked off the wheels, planning to take a break here. He cleared his throat and said, “Well that sucked. Note to self; ‘Self, kill the ones with staffs first. Signed, me.’” He took off his sword belt and set it in its holder on the front of the wagon. He got a few ‘clean’ rags from the back of the wagon and stripped his armor and clothing off. He then wiped down his body, which felt like it had just been dowsed in vomit.
Once he finished wiping himself off, he got a fresh change of clothes from the wagon and changed into them. He then used a different rag to wipe down his armor and equipment. He used a bucket from the back, and dropped some water in it, using ‘heat’ to warm it up, he put his soiled clothing in it and let it soak. He hung the armor off the side of the wagon to let it dry before he would oil it.
He grabbed some jerky from the wagon and sat down with his back to the wall. As he chewed on the jerky, he looked down the curved ramp that led to the next level. He wondered what other surprises awaited him in this dungeon. No, in this world. Here monsters and magic exist. Back on his world they had mild psychic powers, but even here that ability was enhanced. He had only seen a few different types of monsters. The wolves that breathed flames were dangerous. Hell, they looked dangerous. But that lizard-man came the closest to killing him so far.
He put another chunk of jerky in his mouth. What wonders await him? What other monsters on the next few floors will he face death against? He had faced death in the military, but he had a safety net to fall back on. He doesn’t have that here. It was all really… Exciting! He had never felt this kind of rush when he was in the military.
“But first, I’m going to rest. I feel like ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag.” He said as he stood up. He pulled out a thick leather fur he typically used as bedding, and a second thinner pelt, which he used as a blanket. He set them on the side where he eventually laid down and fell asleep.
He awoke feeling refreshed and began putting stuff away in the wagon. He took a rag and some oil and oiled down his armor before putting it on. He finished by putting his sword on his waist, picking up the wheel blocks and heading down the ramp. “Alright, let’s see what kind of lizards I’ll fight now.” He said as he descended the ramp. When he got to the bottom, he used his sensory field to explore the floor, “Hmm… humanoid shaped, bipedal, variety of weapons, no staffs yet, but I shouldn’t let that give me any freedom to slack off.”
One approached from the tunnel straight ahead, and Evren closely observed it. The head was more draconic in appearance, with two rearward facing horns. Its mouth had sharp teeth in it, and its body was much more muscular than the lizard-men. It stood on its toes, of which there were three, ending in ten cm long claws, which also matched the number of fingers on its hands. In one hand it held a dagger, the other what looked like a sling.
It spun the sling in its hand and launched it at Evren, who caught the rock in the air with telekinesis and launched it back at the creature that had started moving forward. The creature couldn’t react in time, the rock bouncing off its scaly head, but not seeming to affect it much. The creature stabbed at Evren with the dagger, which Evren dodged by hopping backward. A smile had formed on Evren’s face as he face the creature, his weapons still sheathed.
The creature continued to stab and swing at Evren, and he kept dodging out of the way, until suddenly Evren moved onto the offense. As the creature stabbed at Evren’s chest, Evren took a half a step to the left and grabbed the creature’s left hand with his own left hand. Evren stepped forward with his right foot, bringing his right hand to the creature’s left elbow. Pulling the elbow down and driving the wrist forward, he made the creature stab its own throat. The creature choked before falling to the ground and eventually dissolving. Leaving a slightly larger green mana gem.
Evren’s smile never left his face during the fight. “Ah… knife fighting! I love it!” He went back to what he was doing a moment ago, which was looking for the next level. When he narrowed it down, he went forward, down the route the creature had come from. These creatures were much stronger than the lizard-men, thus they were faster, and they could block Evren’s blows. Evren was beginning to understand the appeal of dungeons.
As you got deeper, things got progressively more challenging, which would also improve upon skills, which would allow the explorer to go deeper. He wasn’t sure what the appeal of a copper ring and a silver choker would do, but maybe he’ll meet someone that would love to have one of those.
When Evren reached the next level, he didn’t seek out the next level, instead deciding to just explore. He kept his sensory field up to check for monsters, but otherwise followed the rule, ‘left is always right’ by keeping his left hand on the wall, he’ll eventually find the exit. He hadn’t met any more casters yet, but the closer he got to the next boss room, the more he was anticipating something to surprise him.
When he reached the boss’s door on the 15th floor, he thought maybe he was going too fast through this dungeon. It had only taken him a day to get through five floors. Was it supposed to be this easy? Was there a point when the difficulty rises drastically? Sighing, he opened the door and pulled his wagon inside the cavernous room. The difference between this boss room and previous ones was the fact that there were large rocks scattered around on the ground.
Evren glanced around not seeing the boss, and eventually used his sensory field and looked up. There, one of those dragon-like-lizard-things was flying around with wings, and a large rock in its hands. It dropped the rocks as Evren looked up, so he stepped out of the way. The rock falling and hitting the wagon. Evren looked at the wagon with a frown and then back to the flying creature. “You little shit!” he said and used his telekinesis to pull the struggling flying creature down to him, where he promptly stabbed it in the chest.
Ignoring the dying creature, he ran over to the wagon and leapt up onto the side to grab the rock from on top and threw it to the ground. He then ran around back, pulling boxes out until he could climb inside. The top of one of the shelves had been crushed. Inside that, two jars of spices had been shattered, and spices covered the inside of the shelf. Evren sighed and dropped his head down. He cleaned up the broken shards as best as he could, too many small pieces had incorporated itself into the spices, so he couldn’t use them.
He left the shards and spices on the floor of the boss room and bowed his head, as if saying farewell to a lost friend. After a moment of silence, he clicked his tongue and started to move the wagon towards the far door, stopping along the way to pick up the green gem and a silver bracelet lying on the floor next to it. He pocketed the two of them without a second thought and set up on the outside of the boss room door to rest for the day.
