The Association Goods Lounge

My throat felt dry as I opened my eyes to the empty room. My flashlight still illuminating the damp, empty walls around me. It was probably risky to sleep here but the exhaustion from earlier was too much for me.

I flinched as I unwrapped my arm to inspect the scratches from the leopard monster. The redness and swelling seemed to have gone down a little, but I still needed to heal. I could tell roughly that it would be at least two days before the boost from my recovery skill could repair the damage.

Grimacing, I recovered the wounds and reached for my backpack and flashlight. The map I had drawn before I slept showed I had roughly traveled a mile in this dungeon. It was bigger than I expected. Finding the exit may take a while. It did feel comforting to know I could retreat to this safe area if I needed to.

I pulled out my water flask and took in a mouthful of water. My throat felt scratchy as the liquid filled my stomach. I was probably suffering slightly from my wounds. It would be best to get out of here in case it became infected.

Bracing myself I slowly stood up and went over to the corner of the room where the moss was growing. I lightly touched the wall and the same sensation I had experienced before happened again as the wall reached out and pulled me in to push me out into the dungeon. It made me wonder what kind of mechanic it worked under.

The light seems dimmer than before, like the light right after dawn. I wonder how long I slept?

Walking with the wall at my left shoulder I began to search for the exit. It was almost pleasant if not for the sensation I was being watched. I was thankful that the treeline was far enough away from the wall that I did not have to worry about a monster dropping down on me.

The wolves from before still worried me, but there was no point worrying about things that had not happened yet. My goal was to make it out of the dungeon and that was what I would do. Still my skin felt like something was crawling underneath it.

Eventually, I found the large open doorway that led into a stone passage. As soon as my foot crossed the entrance the feeling of being watched disappeared. I looked back over my shoulder and it felt like I was staring at a beautiful painting of a landscape.

Dungeons were strange in how they were constructed. It's like this space beyond the doorway did not exist in the sprawling forest, even though I clearly just walked in here from there. Shaking my head, I turned to the passage now lit by torches along the walls.

The cave-like passage opened up into a medium sized room with a slightly glowing circle. This was the same circle I remembered from my past life. It would take me back to the tower. Before entering the circle I pulled out the rough drawing of my map and filled in the information from my walk.

It took about three hours to get from the safe room to the door leading out. That meant the forest was several miles long. I didn't know that dungeons could already be this big. It made me frown. Has someone come and defeated this dungeon several times already?

I don't remember there being any special foods available in the market. I frowned. The only way for me to know would be to ask, but that would reveal that I had been here and since I only ever entered the dungeon at Silver City that would be bad.

Deciding to leave the matter to another time I folded up the map and placed it in my backpack. Stepping onto the circle the familiar blinding light took me back to the white room where the system was waiting to greet me.

[Good morning, Player… Would you like to rest?]

Why was the system suddenly being polite? Did it get an update or something? I rubbed my head at the thought. It was best not to think about it. I mean this didn't happen in my past life. Something was clearly different this time.

"System, teleport me back to Silver City Dungeon." I sat on the chair and watched the system pull up the map and my indicator changed to Silver City. The room I was in did not move or rumble. It was almost like this space was completely separate from the outside.

The chair was soft as I remembered and a brief thought of resting in this room sounded nice. I shook my head and recollected my thoughts. I had a lot to do today. I needed to seek treatment for my wounds and upgrade my equipment so this did not happen again.

"System, how long was I in the dungeon?"

[The player was in the dungeon for 18 hours.]

I really had slept a ridiculous amount of time. Any longer and they might have marked me as a non-returner. I sighed and pulled my heavy body up off the comfortable chair. Passing through the doorway I left the dungeon lobby and made my way out into the morning air.

The line of hunters going into the dungeon was long this time of day and many stares were turned in my direction. It must have been obvious from how I was injured how my hunt went. I almost wanted to tell them to take a picture so it would last longer but I thought better of it.

I scanned my card and left the tall tower to go to the association. The guild had a giant courtyard where many stalls were set up by merchants. A new job made profitable by hunters. The merchandise they sold was mostly for beginners. Crudely made items were placed on display. There were even a few food stalls selling potable foods.

You could sell your items to these merchants, but the best deals often came from the association itself. Recently, the association made lounges where people could buy and sell items while sitting comfortably. Of course, one needed to have either reputation or an item valuable enough to gain access to this lounge.

Since I had been stockpiling for a while I did not worry about this entry requirement. There was no point hiding what I had because I needed to upgrade my equipment and, if I did it in the lounge, I could at least hide it from prying eyes.

I scanned my card at the door, but of course I received a 'Please Wait…' prompt. Soon a frazzled girl in an association white uniform came running down the hall.

"Hello, the lounge is for top ranking hunters only. Do you have an item to sell?" She pushed up the glasses on her nose and tried to smooth down her hair. I pulled out some loot from my bag and the girl looked at me in shock.

"Certainly, let me just stamp your card then." She pulled out a stamp that had a strange cyan glow to it and pressed it on my guild card. She then gestured for me to scan the card again. The door opened swiftly for me this time.

"Just find a room with a green light and enter. Thank you for choosing the association to sell your goods." The lady then bowed and disappeared behind the door as I walked down the mostly white hallway. It felt like white would be the new theme for association type buildings.

I didn't really mind white, but I could imagine how hard it would be to keep clean. I looked down at my muddy, ripped clothes and regretted not changing before I came. Oh well, I am already here. A lot of the rooms had a red light over them indicating they were in use.

It seemed a lot of people were here today. Eventually I found a room with a green light and scanned my card at the doorway. An unlocking noise clicked as the door slid open. Inside the room, a comfy looking couch was sprawled to one side with a coffee table. A young man, wearing the same guild association uniform as the girl who had let me in, sat across from it.

"Welcome to the Association Goods Lounge. Please have a seat and we would be happy to serve you today." The man's voice had a pleasant ring to it. Like he had spent a long time rehearsing the perfect pitch to make you feel at ease. I definitely wasn't expecting this level of service.