2 Mad Man in a Dungeon
Dylan looked around the dungeon, seeing nothing but empty, white space.
'Guess I have to level it up first.'
And that's what he did.
He spammed [ID escape] and [ID Create] (an empty one) over and over again until he noticed his mana actually decreasing, which took a bit of time due to his passive regenerative ability--about 15 minutes, which was a lot considering he created and escaped from a dungeon twice every second.
"Wow, I never actually noticed while practicing fire manipulation," he exhaled. His mana count had decreased by 500. Well, it had decreased by a total of about 50,000 but he never took note of it before--he only noticed it when only 500 was missing.
"Status."
[Level: 3] (60%)
[Instant Dungeon Creation (LV: 40): Create a dungeon with a time dilation of 4:1]
[Level 5: Low Zombies]
[Level 10: Low-Medium Zombies]
[Level 15: Low-High Zombies]
[Level 20: Goblins]
[Level 25: Mutated Wild Animals]
[Level 30: Kobolds]
[Level 35: Orcs]
[Level 40: Lizardmen]
[ID Escape (LV: 40)]
Att. Points: 10
"Well, at least the grave cost is worth it," he said sarcastically.
Since he didn't need any help with mana, Dylan decided to distribute his attribute points into his physical stats and luck: +2 for Vitality, +1 each for Strength, Agility, and Dexterity, and +5 for Luck.
Wanting to actually use his powers, Dylan opened up an Instant Dungeon with the lowest level mob: slow, dumb, blind, almost deaf zombies.
The dungeon surrounding morphed from the plain, white, ever-spanning room to a gloomy, somber, foggy, and surprising un-putrid cemetery. As Dylan took in the environment, from each grave, 2 or 3 zombies crawled their way out, groaning what he assumed to be, "Get the human."
Dylan was surrounded by 20 zombies--well, technically surrounded. They were all moving so slow an 80-year-old grandma with hip replacements and a crane could dodge and weave through them.
"I hope this works," Dylan muttered. He opened his hand and created a ball of fire, this time not burning his palm. He then motioned to throw the fire, aiming at the zombie in front of him a few meters away.
But the fire didn't budge from the spot above his hand.
"Damn," Dylan scoffed. "Fine. Plan B."
Dylan briskly walked towards the encircling zombies, ducking in between two zombies and creating some distance from the horde until he could figure out how to actually attack with his abilities.
"[ID Escape]," he chanted, but nothing happened. "Guess I have to clear the dungeon before I can escape." He sighed in an exhaustive manner.
Dylan grunted lightly, "Maximum effort."
Since he couldn't throw the fireball, Dylan just decided to use it as a melee weapon, pushing it or placing it onto the zombies. Though it did take a bit of time to burn the zombies, it was nevertheless effective in dispersing of the horde.
[Killed a Low Zombie (20x)]
[Gained 2000 XP]
[Leveled up!]
[Leveled up!]
[Level: 5] (27%)
After killing the horde, Dylan escaped and made an empty dungeon to practice fire manipulation to where he could use it offensively.
Dylan practiced for, what seemed to him, a couple of hours, resulting in him famished.
"Status."
[Level: 5] (35%)
[Fire Manipulation (LV: 5)]
"I'm starving," Dylan sighed. "At least I can throw a fireball now."
----------------------------------------------------
(A few weeks later)
Dylan warped out of a dungeon, appearing back where he'd been staying for the last few weeks after he had initially been migrated into the universe.
"Status."
[Dylan Leux: Human]
[Level: 51] (10%)
Health: 5,640/5,640 (227 HP per minute)
Mana: 187,100/187,100 (5,000 MP per 0.5 second)
Strength: 46
Vitality: 56
Agility: 47
Dexterity: 46
Intelligence: 28 (x 650)
Wisdom: 50 (x 1000)
Luck: 55
AP: 7
Abilities:
Passive:
[Blessing of Pool (LV: 65): Increase MP by a factor of 650 to Intelligence]
[Blessing of Whirl (LV: MAX): Increase MP regeneration by a factor of 1000 to Wisdom]
[All Encompassing Energy (LV: 70): Able to substitute mana for any other type of energy with 70% effectiveness]
[Mana Regeneration (LV: 5): Increase MP regeneration by 105%]
[Physical Endurance (LV: 15): 15% decrease in damage from physical attacks]
[Magic Resistance (LV: 10): 10% decrease in damage from all magical attacks]
[Sense Danger (LV: 15): sense when something bad is going to happen]
Active:
[Fire Manipulation (LV: 25)]
[Water Manipulation (LV: 21)]
[Earth Manipulation (LV: 18)]
[Air Manipulation (LV: 26)]
[Lightning Manipulation (LV: 16)]
[Sound Manipulation (LV: 5)]
'Level 51, huh?' Dylan mused. 'Wonder how strong I actually am.'
While Dylan was lingering in his stats, there came a rustling in the bushes beside him. A tingly sensation pulsed through his head for a brief second.
'Hope it's not something that can kill me instantly,' Dylan exhaled exhaustedly.
Then, out of the bushes, jumped out a black cat with two tails. "Meow!" it grunted lightly.
"A cat... With two tails..." Dylan muttered out loud. "Pretty normal for a fantasy world, I guess."
As Dylan went near the cat, he noticed that it was limping. Still having the heart of a morally righteous person, he bent down and softly stroked the cat. The cat must've not noticed him though because, at his touch, it screeched in surprise and alarm, jumping away from him.
However, it didn't jump far due to its injured front leg, lying in pain when it touched the ground.
Dylan slowly and deliberately walked over to the cat under its glare, communicating to the cat that he wasn't a threat.
"Easy there... easy," he soothed the cat with a hushed tone. "I'm not gonna hurt 'cha. I just wanna take a look at your nasty cut there. D' you mind?"
The cat calmed down a bit but still kept its eyes trained on the strange young human, letting him get closer. It stayed still with its front leg out, showcasing the cut more prominently.
Dylan crouched down next to the cat and took a look at the cut.
The cut was large and quite brutal, but not very deep. There were several abrasions next to the actual cut, along with bruises that were everywhere on the cat, not just near the cut.
The cut itself looked a bit fresh--no clotting had occurred and some fresh blood was still dripping out.
Dylan furrowed his eyebrows in contemplation. 'A fresh cut--little to no infection. Bruises and abrasions indicate a second party acting under the attempt to kill.'
"Well, I'm no Vet but I'm sure I know how to use gauze," he muttered to the cat. He ripped a piece of his shirt off and used it to dress the cut. "It's not what you'd get at the hospital but I'm sure it'll hold."
The cat looked intently at its new piece of clothing, then at Dylan. He assumed it was saying its thanks.
After silently staring at each other, the cat began to limp away again, not bothering to stay with or even look at the human.
"Where 'cha going, little guy?"
The cat stopped and looked back at Dylan.
"You goin' back to your home?" Dylan asked, walking over to the cat again. "You don't have a collar or anythin', so I assume you don't have one." He bent down to pet the cat. "Wanna stay with me? I've always been a fan of animals myself."
The cat stayed silent for a while, deliberating its options and their consequences.
After a few minutes of staring and lingering, it opened its mouth and licked Dylan's hand, agreeing to live with him. But then he remembered he didn't technically have a house.
He'd just been living in his empty dungeons for the past week--sleeping, relaxing, etc. Most of his time was spent train and honing his skills, so he didn't really need anything other than food, water, and a place to sleep, which he got via the forest and/or his abilities.
Deciding that he needed an actual place to live since he had a new family member, Dylan, using his imagination of a certain fictional story, used the combination of his Water, Earth manipulations, and energy substitution, though that last one was more passive, to create some wood pillars.
[Ability Gain!]
[Wood Manipulation (LV: 5)]
[Higher level due to it being a combination of pre-existing abilities with high mastery]
During his training in the dungeons, he tried out his energy-substituting ability and used an energy source that he had some familiarity with--Chakra.
After he attained some more levels in his manipulation, using Chakra was pretty simple. All he had to do was imagine the way Chakra functions combined with what he wanted to use it for, and just like that, he could use Jutsu. That was also how he got the [Sound manipulation] ability. He just used the Sound Village as a template and turned it into his own.
Of course, whatever he made using Chakra costed a bit more than it should've, tanking his mana a bit, but he didn't really care; insanely high reserves and regeneration would do that to a person. Seriously, all he had to do was wait 20 seconds for the entirety of his already insanely large mana pool to be refilled.
Dylan was finished building the wooden house. Happy with the result, Dylan exhaled a sharp, satisfied breath and placed his hands to his waist to take in the sight. He would admit it was more of a shack than a house if he was being honest to himself.
"D' you like it?" Dylan asked his animal companion.
The cat was silent, staring at the wooden creation with awe and wide eyes. It turned to look at the magic man in amazement.
"I know it's not perfect, but I think it's fine for now," Dylan said as he clapped his hands clean of nothing. "Well then, let's go inside."
Dylan strolled into the shack of a building like he owned it, which he did, while the cat lingered in astonishment for a moment before it noticed the human heading in and followed.
The inside of the shack was, just as you'd expect, empty and dreary; it was entirely made of wood and literally nothing else, decoration included, so aesthetics was already out the window--so was the window: there was no window, just a bunch of walls, so Dylan just punched two holes through a random wall.
Whether the dreary feeling was due to the material or Dylan's lack of mastery over elemental combinations was not exactly clear, but what was clear was that it would drive anyone to commit suicide if living inside it for too long.
However, this seemed to be lost on Dylan, as the first thing he said when he entered was, "Ah. How 'esthetically pleasing,'" apparently not knowing what the word meant.
The cat looked about the inside of the shack. Dylan, noticing the cat's inquisitive inspection of his creation, spoke to it, "The texture is very pleasing to the eyes, isn't it, Buddy?"
It wasn't.
He gestured to the only two, first-shaped windows, as tiny as they were, "Do ya like the windows? Nice, aren't they?"
They weren't.
Although it didn't have a human face, according to its facial features, one would assume the cat was reconsidering its choice to live with the human. However, perhaps an isolated, untraceable building with a guardian that can be on the move at any time was exactly what it needed.
At least, that's what it thought at first.
A couple of days after the two started living in the wooden shack, the cat had enough.
Deciding that it was time for a change of living, the cat concocted a plan to have its human either make a new house or go live with the rest of the human population. Going to live with the rest of humanity had its downsides for the cat, but that was a risk it was willing to make.
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(Dylan POV)
I... I never was a man of much... much stuff, for a lack of a better word. Never in my life did I ever think I would be in this situation. Being transported into a completely different world was... strange, to say the least.
When I first got there, I was alone for the first few weeks--I don't remember how long exactly. I got used to my powers and seeing life through literal numbers. There was a cat, though, that turned into a close companion of sorts. I named him "Bob."
Of course, I didn't realize what or who exactly it was, but humans need social companionship, and so did I.
Eventually, my friend and I returned to human civilization after he, the cat, tried running away from me, though always when I would notice.
After a while, I finally got the message that he wanted to leave the deserted forest, and we left for humanity.
When we found our way out of the maze of trees and sharp bushes, I realized where we were. The old-timey architecture's answer was more than sufficient: we were in Japan.
Japan, the home of weird, perverted fetishes and anime, which were basically the same thing.
Now, this was strange to me, as I thought that I was supposed to be in a different universe; yet, everything was so... similar. To be honest, I thought the Goddess-person or something made a mistake at first.
But after a few quick scans, I realized that, though it may all look similar, everything couldn't be more different.
