Dungeon Fall

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"So how do we do this?" C said. Since they couldn't say clone one and clone two all the time, they had decided to just shorten it to B for the first clone and C for the second clone.

"We don't really have any weights around here, unless we use ourselves as weights. Kind of a bummer that we can't go outside, dad always liked to harp on the benefits of running." B smiled.

"In the end he didn't run fast enough." C grimaced and silence returned to the room.

"Push ups, sit ups and all the other stuff with ups in it. We do that until we get the skill or until Genesis reaches its zenith." B said and got on the ground to do pull ups.

"Fair enough." C followed the other clone in his push ups.

It took longer than they thought, probably because they were a boy who did not exit his home regularly nor play with the other kids outside. Their mother took too much attention for little Alex to go play.

They came out stronger because of it, for he knew that those would never be as motivated nor as determined as him.

Still it took Genesis to get three fourths of its way to its zenith and lots of sweat to finally get the skill [Physical Conditioning].

B grasped at his heart as it tried to launch out of his chest, his body was hurt all over and he. was. thirsty.

But by seeing what had appeared at the end of his book, all of the fatigue was almost completely washed away.

[Skill Requirements Met. Physical Conditioning skill now available to insert.

Physical Conditioning: Your body an ore, your will a hammer and exercise your forge. Every level of this skill will grant a minimal increase in strength, agility, flexibility and general fitness.]

He followed his instincts and ripped the page from the back and put it into his status. It then seamlessly merged with his status and he now had [Physical Conditioning, Level 1]

[General Skills: (1/15)]

[Physical Conditioning, Level 1]

B sighed and rose off the ground once he had enough rest. He looked at the side where C was also coming up from the wall he leaned on.

"You got the skill too C?" B said while picking up two wooden rapiers from the rack. He gave one to C and readied himself by taking a position opposite of the other clone.

"Yeah, so I'm guessing once we merge with Alex he will gain...the total of both of the skill experience we earned? Would that mean he would reach level 2?" C said and heldt his rapier high, B heldt it low considering he had a crap on his right arm.

It would make the spar actually beneficial since they won't try the same moves at the same time, a problem with fighting yourself.

"I guess we will have to wait till tonight to find out." That said, B swiped his sword low, aiming for the calves of his opponent. C replied with a downward block that rose up to hit B's chest.

This time the [Swordsmanship] skill took far shorter to acquire, the sun Genesis had set and Prime had risen and by that time they had gotten a lot of experience in the skill.

Also they hurt all over and their knuckles bled from the lack of sword guards.

Still, to them it was almost worth the pain.

[Skill Requirements Met. Swordsmanship skill now available to insert.

Swordsmanship: The sword, in all of its meriad forms, is a tool for murder, and you learned how to use it. Every level of this skill will grant a minimal increase in the damage, speed, precision and control of a sword you are using.]

Merging the skill with the booklet was as satisfying to watch as the first time, and the results were amazing to see after all the effort they invested.

[General Skills: (2/15)]

[Swordsmanship, Level 1]

[Physical Conditioning, Level 1]

Although it didn't show on the book, B felt that the experience stored on [Swordsmanship] was higher than what was on [Physical Conditioning], not by much but enough to notice it.

"Alternate?" C said.

"Alternate." And B nodded.

~~~~~

After taking care of the house chores, Alex checked on the two clones, finding them rather enthusiastic about doing push ups of all things.

Briefly filling up a jug of water for the two clones, Alex put on his sandals and exited the house while closing the door behind him.

Prime was reaching its zenith, signifying midday. Once Prime set Doctor Wo will have closed his office, so he will have to speed up if he wants to reach him in time.

Alex sighed while walking down the road of the 'wealthier' parts of the slums - meaning the houses were not all made of rotting wood and the hopes of its residents - the money that was saved up was quickly running dry, to his estimates he and his mom would continue to live about a month and a half, but knowing Doctor Wo, the price of the medicines will probably higher than before.

Who would believe the shit he said? Mom gained a higher resistance to the medicine she took so she needed stronger medicine that was conveniently pricier?

He would have punched the thin man long ago from his lies if he wasn't the only legitimate Doctor that accepted the slum's residents.

Once he could get himself enough money to pay for an admission into the Healer's College, he will send a clone there to learn to be a Doctor and bam, no need to be ripped off any longer.

Stewing in his justified anger, Alex didn't notice as someone came close to him and put his arms against his neck. He nearly elbowed the assailant in the balls but stopped when he saw the face of the attacker.

"Ho ho there buddy, it's just me Jacob. No need to destroy any chance of me getting children." The young man said as he let go of his neck. The boy wore good linen and had a filled out physique. It was a shame that his father was too engrossed in alcohol to buy them a way out of the slums.

"Fuck you Jacob, I don't think I need to destroy your small dick, your face is enough." Alex pushed the boy away and retoke his path towards the clinic.

"Good one, anyway, how's your mom?" Jacob said while taking his side. Alex had no friends, except Jacob, the two had met because both of their fathers were in the same vanquisher group. It was natural back then for the whole team to bring their children to play with each other, but that ended when the team splintered because of mom's debilitating disease.

Now only Jacob had visited to see him, he only saw the other kids at his father's funeral and they were too estranged to connect with.

"She's doing fine, how about you?" Alex asked back.

"Running around doing chores for the old man and trying to keep an ear on the ground. Did you know that there are some pimps from the Zeretta family wandering around the neighborhood?" Jacob smiled with clear lust in his eyes, obviously he would think of the whores.

"Seriously? Are they dumb? This neighborhood is too fucking poor for prostitutes." Alex scoffed, the people here barely earned enough to live, not to mention having enough to spend it on a prostitute. It would be better to just marry, less costly overall.

"I don't know man, they acting weird. They didn't even bring the hookers with them, just some guys. Now I'm not against people pounding with the same sex, but I'm sure that they won't get a ton of business." Jacob shrugged, and gave Alex's shoulder a brief squeeze. "Anyway, I gotta go take care of some stuff, see you."

"I hope I don't meet you again." While he did say that, he still gave the man a wave as he went into a side street.

He looked around and slumped his shoulder, there still was more road to cover before he reached Wo's clinic.

Yay.

~~~~~

"Come on in." A high pitched voice sounded from the inside of the room, Alex pushed open the door and saw Doctor Wo's scribbling down on a piece of paper. The old man had a hunched back and wide spectacles, his looks definitely benefited his scholar-esque personna. The old shit probably made himself look that way just for a slight increase in profit, greedy shit.

The same greediness is what allowed an esteemed Doctor from the Colleges to debase their knowledge and themselves to serve the filthy poor.

Alex stopped himself from sneering, no need to antagonise the only lifeline his mother has.

"Hello Alex, how are you doing, my boy.?" Wo said while still writing on a paper, apparently he wasn't worth his full attention.

"I'm here for the medecine, 3 silvers and 40 coppers." Alex got straight to the point, the longer he stays here the higher the chances his fist will find itself on the Doctor's face.

"All business and no talk, just like your father." Then the doctor rose up from his seat and set his eyes against Alex's own. "I'm sorry to say this my boy but that won't be enough."

"What the fu-frick do you mean it's not enough? This is the same price I paid last time." Alex took a step towards the man.

"It's quite out of my control you see, the Colleges have sent me an order to stockpile my herbs and medicines to the best of my ability." The doctor said while passing Alex a letter. "Look, this is a letter from the Colleges. If you don't believe me just ask around and you will find that all other doctors have been told the same thing."

Alex read the thing and begrudgingly admitted that it was real, the seal on the bottom left confirmed. Old Wo nor anyone would forge the seal of the colleges, that was just asking for a mage hit squad to give you a fate worse than death.

"But you see, with the state of my preservation enchantments, some herbs and medicines tend to rot." Ah there it goes, Old Wo was going to make money in a situation where he shouldn't, and Alex was going to be happy for it.

"And how much is the disposal of such goods?" Alex grit his teeth and hoped it wasn't too much of a price increase.

"5 silver my dear boy." The doctor said.

"Over my dead body, 4 is the maximum and the only price I'm going to be sustainable on."

"Oh well, I can ask for funding to hire enchanters to fix up the preservation enchants, no more wasted products." The old man feigned an apologetic mask but his eyes were as crafty as they always were.

"4 silvers and 30 coppers." Come on Wo, don't bite more than you can chew or he will find that he can and will break into his store no matter the danger of the alarm enchants.

The old man winked at him and made an up motion.

"4 silvers 50 coppers." Alex gritted his teeth, his current stockpile would only last him three weeks with that expenditure.

"Deal." Doctor Wo took Alex's hand and shook with a happy smile on his face. Alex wasn't happy and he displayed it by trying to crunch the fucker's hand.

"Oh strong grip. Let me get you the medicine so you can be on your way." The old man was unfazed by the strength he had put in his grip.

Alex left the clinic with a bag of medicine and a whole lot more anger than he entered.

~~~~~

On the way back home Alex decided to take a detour towards the church. Father Orkon was always in it at this time of day, and he had several questions for the experienced old man.

When Prime was on its last dying breath and sun Eve was on its way up into the heavens, Alex reached the church's doors. They were broken and it took Alex a firm pull to open them. The insides weren't as bad as they could've been, no dust swamped his lungs nor did he smell an overbearing amount of filth.

While Mercy's Church may have abandoned this place, Father Orkon did not. The man had "reasons" for not wanting to leave his post for a more privileged position.

He was very strong in his hayday afterall, paladin against Skorn's dungeons and all.

The man himself was kneeling in front of a broken mosaic window that replicated the likeness of the planet god Mercy, and also weirdly the artists kept her brother planet god Skorn. That's probably blasphemy for the zealots.

The priest was murmuring prayers under his breath, so Alex chose to sit down on one of the benches on the side. It was also an opportunity for him to see the once beautiful murals.

All along the left wall was the sight of a Dungeon Fall, Skorn's rock falling from the heavens and once colliding with the earth, they would become dungeons and spawn monsters.

On the right wall was the Gifting, awakenings gems straight from mother Mercy for humanity to stand a chance against Skorn's hordes.

Behind the two deities were Genesis, Prime and Eve, the three suns of dawn, day and dusk respectively. They too were gods, but so far they've been distant in their interaction with humanity for decades, that's at least what the stories told.

And behind all those were the other gods that had never interacted with humanity but were still present. He always thought that the other gods were just too far away to give a shit about humanity, and that Mercy and Skorn were the ones that had an interest in our species

Dragging his gaze back to the priest, Alex briefly had an urge to hit Father Orkon for him taking too long to pray.

As if responding to his thought, the priest got up from his prayer and turned to him with a smile.

"Good day to you Alexander, have you been doing alright?" The old man sat down next to me, relaxing his muscles and conforming his body to the wooden bench.

"Great really. I've come to ask you something Father if you don't mind." Alex said while turning towards Father Orkon.

"I don't mind and actually like it, it's enjoyable to have such curious company." He chuckled.

"So I want to know about classes, what does it mean by unformed?" Alex asked, bringing up the book to his hands. Apparently people can not see the book, yet if he wanted to show it to anyone he would just need to will it.

He would've done that but he wanted to hide the Cloner ability for now.

"Classes are the next step in your awakening, those who have classes are more powerful than those who don't." Father Orkon looked far into the distance. "To get a class you will have to get at least ten general skills to level 10, and that's the most minimal requirement for a class. But it's very much possible to get a much better class if you have fifteen general skills at a higher level and notable achievements."

"And why is it more powerful then?" Alex asked.

"A class will convert ten general skills into class skills and will reset their level. These skills are far more powerful than their counterparts and are more specialised for the role they fulfil." Father Orkon continued. "Also, they no longer take up ten slots in the general skills, so someone with a class has twenty five skills in total."

"I've got ano-" Alex was leaning now and his eyes were bright but Father Orkon interrupted him.

"Now, my old lungs are too tired to continue this. And I have a date with this beautiful lady down the street." The old man smiled.

"Old Gretta?" Alex said in wonder as the priest hummed a happy tune and exited the church.

"Ew but kind of cool, never imagined the old cougar would ever convince someone to love her.

~~~~~

Sarmon hung his head over a spreadsheet of calculations, it was the usual with headache inducing fractions and mind numbing multiplication and division problems.

No, he won't have another fucking day grinding away at this stupid theoritical bullshit the professor's threw at him. Today he will be god gazing!

With new vigor rushing through his veins, snuffed his Mage Light and walked over the dirty clothing to reach the telescope. It was his roommates - who was a noble that shat money -, but the guy rarely came into the dorm at this hour since he was partying.

How he wished he had rich enough parents to bribe the Colleges.

The disappointment was brief and his excitement made him laser on Mercy's surface. The god's landscape had long been documented thoroughly over the centuries since the telescope was invented, yet it still brought Sarmon immense awe at the infinitely detailed crystal terrain. Each rock and boulder an art piece all on its own, and when they are all brought together it creates...perfection.

Painfully he moved the telescope over to the brother planet Skorn, finding it as unpleasant as ever with its burning everything. Just as he was going to switch to one of the more distant gods, Sarmon noticed something strange.

A slight crack was present on Skorn's surface, and it went and went on, wrapping around and making an almost perfect circle. Compared to the total size of Skorn it was miniscule, but compared to Dungeon Falls that have happened before, it was the largest possible yet.

"No way, that piece is too interlocked with Skorn to get anywhere close…" As if to spite his thoughts, the large piece of Skorn moved towards him, towards the earth.

If it moved without reason, that probably meant that Skorn wanted it to move, and if that large a piece impacted the earth and became a dungeon…

Sarmon backed away from the telescope and tripped over the clothes on the ground. Not that stopped him from quickly jotting down calculations into a sheet.

"If the size of Skorn is that…that means that piece is...Oh my gods." Sarmon's hand were shaking as he looked at the rough calculation on his paper. "That's ten times larger than any Dungeon Fall recorded. I need to tell the professeur about this."

Just as he was heading towards the door, he heard a knock on it.

He opened the door to see two men in black cloaks that hid void black armor.

"Hello Sarmon Anglere, we are here concerning a recent discovery you have made. May we enter to discuss it further." The one in front gave him a disarming smile.

Sarmon gulped, because he had found himself in some deep shit.

Apocalypse-sized shit.