6 Endonia Dungeon

The Alchemist was known for two things: his breakthroughs in the gaming industry, and his love of ancient artifacts.

When it was a hundred years ago, the first continent was destroyed. It was Australia, and it imploded before sinking to the bottom of the sea. The Alchemist had gone there to explore and had found an ancient treasure of civilization. It was a sword he liked to call the origin blade. And it dated back to over one hundred million years ago. It was right up there with the other three weapons he found.

Diana Hong glanced through the glass in the museum. It was a beautiful room that the Alchemist had made to showcase the history of cultivators. Unless something horrible happened, this room would eventually become the first museum of cultivators on Earth. However, Tao Ling had already seen these weapons hundreds of times. He was interested in something else.

"Hey Diana, this way."

Tao walked her over to a machine called The Judge. It was able to tell not only strength, but also how well you could use it. So, when he had Diana punch it, it gave both a physical output, your max expected output, and your efficiency at using it.

"Bam!"

Diana Hong had only been in Chaos Order for a week, but because of the pills she got a 550/700 on her first try. And her efficiency was quite high at 82%. It was higher than when Tao Ling went. He got a 2000/2800, which meant his hit packed a ton, but with 72% efficiency he had a long way to go.

Tao Lin looked over at Diana like she was a beast. Though the Alchemist had gotten 90% before, he had been playing the game for fifty years. As far as he was concerned, she must have had a sword in her cradle. However, the truth was a different story.

When growing up in Antarctica, there was a constant threat of thieves, murder, and worse. If your wondering what was worse than that, it was that your home could sink to the bottom of the sea. She had lost three friends to the abyss. Antarctica had become like a massive glacial-ice Titanic, and to survive she was constantly fighting. She explained it to Tao as he they walked back to the pods.

"Let's hope the system lets us stay together."

"Yeah, she's quite temperamental, isn't she?"

"Well, just don't go taking any more risks. If we do get separated, go to a safe spot immediately."

"You got it, Tao."

The system would kind of fling you a few clicks away from where you last spawned to keep you on your toes. So, it was no surprise to Tao when he ended up in a mountain a few miles away from the town. However, it did leave him flabbergasted when he turned. There was an abominable snow creature a few feet away from his face.

The creature had what looked like sheep fur swarming all over its body. A big bludgeon that seemed halfway between an axe and a sword, and two scorpion tails.

If this was what he encountered, he wondered where Diana Hong spawned. She, however, was thinking the same thing. She landed in the town where they had been pulled out from. A lady was standing right in front of her holding a flask.

"You've encountered the Hegemon of Endonia. Chances of dying 48%."

Tao Lin felt like the system had a bone to pick with him. If it wasn't enough that it was huge, there was also its little snow minions cheering in the background. He dodged to the side snowballing a few feet away and brandished the tiger crane spear. A streak of his blood painted the floor, and Tao Lin was terrified.

He wasn't scared because the monster wasn't any tougher than seven-swords. He felt like the system was joking around with him. But perhaps he didn't realize where he was yet.

Endonia was a dungeon. And Tao Lin didn't figure it out till some green blood squirted on to him. He chopped up the monster with a move called swivel dice. The damage flashed up over his head as his Vim bar sunk beneath the surface. The last hit, just a normal slash, caused 400 damage. The monsters in the background yelled, while some cried. Their beloved boss, the man they had been with them their entire lives just died. It sounded like little toys were squeaking. However, one of them pulled a lever, and both Tao Lin's body, and the monsters body spiraled downward.

"I was incorrect. Your chances of dying are 62%."

Tao Lin grabbed onto the snow man's body and fell for what seemed like forever. Diana, on the other hand, was having a drink in the local Zoo with a lady who said she knew the system.

"So, Diana, how do you like it here so far?"

"It's not a bad place. The sunrise really shocked me yesterday."

"Well, it was only beautiful because the System was happy we had a new arrival. I'm Ginger, one of the woman who was born here."

"Do you have any parents," Diana Hong asked rather abruptly.

"I guess you could say so." She looked up at the sky and pulled along her hand. "My mother even said I could give you a gift."

….

A long way from where he started falling, Tao Lin encountered what seemed to be the ground. Perhaps he would even survive. He saw a white blanket on the floor that looked thick like a winterish pillow. The snow shot up and invigorated the surroundings.

"Poof!"

"Welcome to the dungeon of Endonia. Difficulty level: Sapphire."

Tao Lin got up and scooped up the treasures from the local Hegemon. And looked at the difficulty level on the side of his visor. He had only been in Ruby dungeons before, and those were mostly jokes, literally. It worked the same way as the equipment with the same four levels. However, it also meant that he could nag Sapphire equipment along the way. Unfortunately, the snowman didn't have any.

"You've acquired the Abominable Buster armor"

Abominable Buster armor

Rank: Ruby

Usefulness: Increases overall defense and cold resistance.

Warnings: The armor will melt in warm places.

Comments: If it melts in this dungeon, you will die from the cold.

The dungeon Tao had landed in had these little white lights that reminded him of fairies. They were the only way he could see the place.

Basically, the dungeon of Endonia was beautiful as it was deadly. It had a liquid methane waterfall that froze everything it touched, and dry ice beneath Tao's feet. Every few steps he walked steam would rise beneath him. If seeing with only the lights flying around wasn't enough, he now had this fog to deal with. And what a better time then now, for the system to give him a surprise.

"HA HA HA HA!"

"Who's there!" Tao pulled out his spear.

"You cannot find out."

"What do you mean?" The voices echoed so he couldn't make it out.

Tao Lin instinctually flung out his spear to his right, twisted his leg and flourished a streak of wind from the soles of his shoes. He was using a move called wind bite lash. It was a move that even The Alchemist was impressed with, and it was in line with his affinities. Tao Lin was best with fire, and wind.

"Boom!"

….

"So, welcome to my mother's home Diana. She wanted me to take you here."

Diana looked down at the large shadow of the palace. "Why can't I see the palace, but I can see its shadow?"

Ginger replied. "Because it's in the shadow plain silly, come with me."

"Uhm," Diana gulped. "In there?"

Diana was worried as you can imagine. And Unfortunately, she had yet to learn from Tao that the AIs in Cosmic Order weren't as nice as in the first vrmmorpg games. These had agendas. And if you trusted them to quickly. Well, you could very well end up somewhere you didn't want to go. For instance, the shadow plane. Diana Hong, however, walked forward anyway.

….

"I'm not supposed to tell you. It's only okay to tell you if you make it to my home."

The monster was right in front of him holding onto his leg. "Your kind of strong for a Qi-4, but you're going to need more than that to win." The monster laughed.

And, once again, Tao Lin was flung into a precarious direction. The water fall falling in the sub-zero breeze of the dungeon was right in front of him. It sprinkled onto his clothes as he prayed his cold resistance was high enough. The abominable creature looked like it could handle the cold, but he had a bad feeling. And, unfortunately, it looked like Tao Lin, the flying snow ball, might become an ice sculpture. The methane sprinkles were very cold.

-600 Vim...