Dungeon of Souls

It was sometime in the afternoon when they knocked on the door. At first, Quinn didn't even notice since he was focused on writing his papers, but they knocked once more, this time louder.

"Come in," Quinn said loud enough to be heard through the door. An unknown man opened the door and walked in.

"May I?" He asked, putting his hand on the chair across from Quinn's desk. Quinn nodded as the man sat down.

"I assume you know what I'm here for Quinn, so let's get the formalities out of the way. My name's Cory, and I want your help to descend the dungeon"

Quinn didn't look up and continued writing his papers. "How many did you ask?"

"Pardon?"

"How many people did you have to ask to get to me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Quit the act. I can smell a newbie from a mile away. You probably only found out about the dungeon a couple hours ago, and want to descend the dungeon as fast as you can".

Quinn finally looked up at the person in front of him and continued. "Human, no apparent strengths and new to the dungeon. I'd give you a month maximum to live".

Cory was silent for a moment. He looked at Quinn for a moment, then started to laugh. It was like he heard the funniest joke in his life.

"I'm being serious you know. This isn't a dream, this is reality. I know this might seem fake to you, but once you start descending the dungeon, it's a fight for your life".

Cory finally stopped laughing, and calmed down. "Sorry, it's just that it's funny hearing this from you".

"What do you mean by that?"

"You haven't even gone down a single floor, yet you're talking to me like you know everything about the dungeon? I just find it hilarious".

"You don't even know what you're talking about, newbie". Quinn started to get angry. This person in front of him just arrived at the dungeon. Yet, he's acting like he knows all about this place. What is wrong with this newbie.

"Know your place. This isn't some sort of game. This is reality. If you go around spouting nonsense and insulting people, you'll get yourself killed".

Cory chuckled. "That's some good advice. I wouldn't expect anything less from a coward".

"What did you say!"

"A coward, too afraid of the dungeon to even descend".

"Watch your mouth" A tense air filled the room. Quinn's face was flushed red. He would've killed this newbie in front of him if it wasn't against the rules of the first floor. 'Never kill a newbie, because they don't know better'.

"Did I touch a soft spot? Oh well. No matter, I hope you take my offer seriously. I'll swing by tomorrow". Cory said while getting up. He knew he wasn't welcomed anymore.

"Oh yeah, one more thing" he said, just as he was about to leave. "I know more about this dungeon than you".

The door slammed shut as Quinn calmed himself down. This newbie didn't seem any different than the rest. Most were respectful, but there were a couple oddballs here and there.

But this guy was different. Everything he said seemed to be truthful. There were no lies or anything. Everything he said was true, despite it being practically impossible.

'Everything was true, including me being a coward' Quinn thought to himself, smirking at his self pity.

5 years ago, Quinn had come to the dungeon. At first, he was like every other newbie; bumbling around, not knowing what had happened. Well, with the explanation from some helpful veterans, he'd found out.

He was dead.

Once you die, you are transported to the domain of a god. Either the domain of the god of time, the god of space, the god of chaos, or the god of order. The one you go to depends on multiple factors, but unless you believed in a certain one, it's basically random.

But, there's a second chance for very few. The Dungeon of Souls. Only the top 1% of intelligent beings go there. They have the best power, abilities, and potential.

Quinn didn't know why he was chosen, but there are a lot of other humans as well. Some speculate that it's due to the adaptability of humans that make them get chosen, but who knows.

Anyways, the Dungeon of Souls is a unique place. It's a god's domain, but no god rules it. That's because whoever clears the dungeon becomes the god of souls and rules the dungeon/domain.

To clear it, you have to descend all of the 100 floors in the dungeon and complete their challenges. Each floor has a different ecosystem, theme and challenge. To descend a floor, you have to beat the challenge.

The floor Quinn was on is the first floor, where everyone starts. It's a giant city, where you can live a new life if you choose so. That's what Quinn did. He became a guide for newbies who just arrived at the dungeon. It pays well, with the only downside being annoying people like Cory.

'A coward…' Quinn was still annoyed by Cory. How does he know so much? Even if he asked someone about himself, they would say that he's a good guy or something.

But it was the truth, and Quinn knew it.

When he first arrived at the dungeon, he was in shock. Not from his death, but from the dungeon itself. He was amazed by all of the magical and unique things that surrounded him. It was like a dream. But it wasn't a dream. It was real and soon became a nightmare.

He asked around and figured out his situation. He had to descend the dungeon. Some would be courageous and charge blindly, while others would stay on the first floor, plan it out and tactically descend.

Quinn on the other hand was afraid. He got a second chance in life and wanted to cherish it. If he dies, his soul will go to another god's domain and he doesn't know what'll happen. But he knows it won't go well. Stories from well versed and knowledgeable people tell of dystopian nightmarish lives for most.

So, what to do? Descend the dungeon into a likely death? No way! He stayed on the first floor and remained there.

Along the way, he practiced some skills here and there. Currently, he had moderate proficiency in sword arts and healing magic. A decent amount of strength, but nowhere near enough.

In the end, Quinn never left the first floor, and his fear subconsciously grew little by little.

After thinking about his situation for a long time, Quinns head started hurting, with a headache soon growing. 'Whatever, I'll just go home. I'm too tired for this'. There were still papers he had to finish writing, but he left them for tomorrow. He left his office after putting up a sign saying he left for the day.

Outside, the streets were bustling. The sun hung west over the afternoon sky. Chatter from various people of different species littered the street. Quinn looked around aimlessly, walking towards his apartment. He remembered when he first came to the dungeon, being taken back by the many different species. There were humans, elves, dwarves, beastmen, goblins, kobolds, demihumans, etc. Sometimes, you might spot a dragon flying through the sky, but they always quickly descend to the next floor.

Quinn cut through an alleyway to head to his apartment faster. It was dirty and littered with trash everywhere, but that didn't bother him. Plus his head was still hurting. The pain was slowly lessening, but it was still annoying.

While he was walking, there was a shout from up ahead.

"Help!"

A voice coming from a young girl came from ahead. Quinn ran to see what was happening, finding two goblins cornering a young girl. The goblins were trying to tear the clothes off of the girl, grabbing and pulling at her shirt.

Quinn quickly ran up and punched a goblin on the back of their head.

"Kuerck?" The other goblin made a noise of confusion, turning his head before getting punched directly in the face. Both were knocked out cold.

"I don't understand why some goblins even come to this dungeon…" Quinn mumbled to himself before turning towards the girl. "Sorry you had to see that. They were breaking the law, so I'll have to take them to the city guards. Can you come with me?"

The girl looked around 8 years old. She was wearing some common clothes, which could be found anywhere. The only thing that stood out was her black and white hair, but weird coloured hair was fairly common in the dungeon.

In his head, Quinn was cursing the dungeon. 'How can you let in molester goblins and underage girls?! This is messed up!'

"O-Okay…" the girl muttered softly, before looking at the goblins once more in fear.

Quinn noticed it and reassured the girl. "Don't worry, these bad guys will be locked up and can never harm you again".

The girl shyly nodded her head and followed Quinn as he walked to the guard station with the unconscious goblins in hand.

{}

'Damn, this might be harder than I thought' Cory thought to himself as he recalled his meeting with Quinn. That man looked quite gruff and mean on the outside, but people close to him know he's actually soft and good-willed on the inside.

'I was planning on recruiting Quinn onto my team, but I underestimated how scared he was. Hopefully when I come again he'll change his mind'.

Cory aimlessly wandered the streets. He needed to gather a team before he started descending the floors. Having a team isn't important in the beginning floors, but later on a team is basically required due to the difficulty of the challenges.

How does Cory know? Because he already cleared those floors. He had made it to the 75th floor, before he died. But, he used a special one-of-a-kind item that transported him back in time. Back to when he first came to the dungeon.

His plan was to make a team of five on the first floor and clear the dungeon with that team, but he didn't have any members. Cory wanted to get Quinn on his team because he heard about him from someone else. They were close to him before they came to the dungeon, and probably never knew he came. He was reminded of them when he overheard a veteran recommending someone to learn about the dungeon from him.

The only problem is that Quinn might not even join him. He can tell that he fears descending the dungeon, so he needs to find a way to convince him to join his team.

Cory was still laminating about the lack of teammates when he noticed someone familiar walk past him. He looked up and saw a girl with horns walk around aimlessly. 'Is that Ruby?' he thought to himself as he walked up to her.

Ruby was a high ranker like himself in his previous life. She was strong due to being half human and half dragon, so she had immense strength, immense magic and immense potential. If he could get her to join his team, then he'd have an insanely strong member.

"Hey" he said, tapping Ruby's shoulder. "Are you new here?"

"Uh, yeah. What is this place? Why are there so many weird people?"

"Well, I guess no one told you yet. Anyways, my name's Cory. It's a pleasure to meet you".

"Um… my name's Ruby".

"When did you arrive?"

"Uh, a few minutes ago…"

"Well, let me explain. You have died".

"What?!" she exclaimed, shocked and scared.

Cory chuckled. He remembered his reaction, like most people, was the same as hers. "Yep, well people who come here are the best of the best, the top 1% of intelligent beings. We come here, to the Dungeon of Souls, to descend the floors and make it to the bottom to become the god of souls".

"Wha-Dungeon of Souls?! I don't understand! And why are there so many strange people here?!"

"Well, they come from other worlds. What species does your world have?"

"O-Only humans".

"Only humans?" Cory was slightly confused. "Well, that doesn't make sense. How can there only be humans if you're part dragon?"

"Part dragon?" She replied, confused as well. "What do you mean? I'm human".

"Your horns say otherwise".

"H-Horns?" she stuttered while reaching up to her head. She grabbed onto one of her horns, and a look of panic came onto her face.

"What am I?"