Chapter 13 - Dungeon Diver

Garrett used his new and improved agility to rush through the streets. He was covering the whole of Redmond trying to see what buildings were dungeons and what challenge rating they were. Apparently the system explained them as this.

Beginner = average stats

Medium = 1.5 x average stats

Hard = 2 x average stats

Nightmare = 3 x average stats

Apparently when you clear them, aside from the points gained from the zombies you hunt inside you gain some bonus points for clearing them.

Beginner = 1,000 points

Medium = 3,000 points

Hard = 7,000 points

Nightmare = 15,000 points

These dungeons are point gold mines! But that is only when he survives them. After all he might have the stamina to take on a horde of zombies now in his current state, the truth of the matter is that the Hard and Nightmare ones will drain him the most. The points reflect the multiplier of their stats making Medium and higher very tantalizing targets but it will be risky.

He finishes going around Redmond and takes a break on a tall building. He also wiped out about 80 roaming zombies. All it took was one good slash of his knife and he was beheading zombies left and right. However it only netted him 800 points when all was said and done. If he wants higher weapons, armor, and even those delicious looking summons... he will need to become a true blue dungeon diver. His new gear works wonders as well. He grabbed biker leathers from a shop, an armored biker mask, some survival boots, and a torso body armor that contours to the body it protects, very nice kevlar and steel alloy mesh. He still couldn't believe this was on the body of a soldier zombie. It didn't do him much good as the zombie bite wound on that soldier was on the neck area, but hey, Garrett will use it. And it will come in very handy.

Besides the biker leathers and armor pieces he found some good mid shin combat boots, metal knee pads for mountain climbers and elbow guards. Besides this he also found a nice pistol holster in the survival shop and a nice survival belt with plenty of military grade pouches for him to use. He put his iron dragon quest knife in the knife holster and his sword in the baton holster with its sheathe fitting nicely there. His war hammer was on his back with a staff attachment for shotgun holsters he found. All in all, he looked like a walking exhibition exhibit.

But for him? This would work wonders.

He leapt off the building he was on and called his team on the radio he found. "Colonel Garrett here, calling team, repeat, calling team, Colonel Grimsborne here, anyone reading? Over."

He waits a solid 3 seconds before his radio screeches, "Corporal Hicks here! Colonel! You're alive! Thank god! Are you on your way back? Need back up? We can come back with the SWAT van!"

Garrett chuckles and tells him, "Negative, I am en-route to the city hall, but I am taking a detour to check on some interesting sights on the way back. So be ready to receive me either tonight or tomorrow morning. Over."

The line is dead as Garrett continues to walk towards his first target dungeon. Then he hears, "Very well sir. Be safe, and we will be ready to receive you once you make it here. I tell you one more day and the General was ready to commandeer our squad for his plans to grow the survivor camp. Over."

Garrett smirks at sticking it to the secretive general, "Sounds like I just saved you all a lot of headaches, I will be back. Just got some shopping to do. if you know what I mean. Over."

Hicks voice sounds down right smug as he gets the hint, "Understood Colonel, Happy shopping, over and out."

Garrett nods and holsters his radio and checks the store he is about to enter. A Beginner Dungeon in the form of a clothing store. He enters and sees the bonus reward quest for clearing it and sees only 30 zombies and no second or third floor. He readies his blades and rushes through them all.

He dives right in and massacres the zombies inside. he puffs out a bit and smiles at his good work taking only about 5 minutes.

He gets the 1300 points, does the calculations for the time in the day and how much his breaks will need to be in minutes. Then he smiles as he tracks the other 20 beginner dungeons, and goes into auto hunting mode.

Over the next two hours he gathers around 28,500 points from zombies and dungeon clear bonuses. Panting hard from his good work he huffs a bit in disappointment at the lack of mutants. Then remembers how he managed to defeat so many in a row in that horde. He shrugs then goes to the medium dungeons.

The first he finds is a two floor dungeon that nets him 50 zombies with a speedster boss mutant. he kills them all rather easily. After all, their stats might be 1.5 times the normal, but the fact remains he is still in tutorial mode. He was going to milk this chance until tomorrow! He slashed through them all and netted himself another 3,900 points. He was loving this!

Hunting the remaining 15 medium dungeons got him a solid 60,000 points! He was doing well in grabbing these points! And there were an extra 10 mutants in the various dungeons!

He eyed the Hard dungeon in front of him, it had three floors and was ready to be tackled once he napped for an hour. He may be an advanced human now but he was still human. He needed his sleep. And thankfully he now required less sleep than before! A 1 hour nap felt like a solid 3 hour power sleep! He woke up mostly refreshed. And ready to tackle the next dungeon.

The Hard dungeon was tricky. Over 90 zombies, 20 mutants, and a Variant boss monster! He was put through the wringer since the zombies averages were now 30s, while mutants were close to his stats in abilities! The Variant was a powerful customer being 60+ across the board in all three of its physical stats! He had a hard fight against it but it was doable.

After fighting the first hard Dungeon Garrett knew he needed to re-evaluate his strategy, he had gotten used to using his dragon quest weapons against all the zombies, a hammer smash and a sword slash usually took them out quickly. But Hard dungeons is the new average starting next week for difficulty. And he was gaining points quickly, but it was getting harder! This dungeon took him an hour on its own to fight through for rest times between floors and how long he was caught fighting the mutants in their squads of 4. And the Variant took a solid 7 minutes on its own!

He puffs out his breath as he sees the points earned from a Hard dungeon, 15,400 points!

It was worth the trouble but man! He was getting pushed around now! He wasn't even at the Nightmare dungeon yet! There was only one of those he found. And the Hard dungeons still had 4 more to challenge!

He brushes off his clothing and checks his points now. 103,900 points from his dungeon diving so far add that to his original 600 points from before and he had a nice pool of points to spend in the shop. His stats were looking much better thanks to the mutants and Variant hunting.

Garret Grimsborne (Advanced Human):

Str- 109 +45 Mutant +3 variant= 157

Agi- 87 +48 Mutant +3 Variant = 138

Sta- 90 +45 Mutant +3 Variant = 138

Int- 78 +3 Variant = 81

Sense- 80 +3 Variant = 83

Store points - 104,500

Garrett Whistled and thought to himself, At this rate getting that next evolution won't be too far off. I wonder what the conditions for Evolving into a Super Human will be? I pretty much have gone beyond Bruce lee and the others for Advanced human examples. I am practically Captain America! I am literally lifting basic sedans now with only some effort! If I keep this up... I won't be human anymore... I will become something greater.

As he thought this, a green glow began to emanate from his veins and the corners of his eyes. He began to feel the urge to show the General at the camp who is the real boss. He began to eye the female summons and have the urge to dominate them. TO make them his own. TO make them submit! TO show them who is the ALPHA AMONG HUMANS!

Garrett slaps himself twice. He snaps out of the thought and the green glow fades. He shakes his head hard wondering, "What the Hell was that? it felt like I was turning feral or something! Ugh... Let's focus on saving the points up and using them after I conquer the remaining Hard and Nightmare Dungeons. After all if I do that... am I any better than those terrorists I was fighting before all of this happened? If I truly become a monster... I would never be able to forgive myself. After all the last thing I want to do is become some tyrannical beast hell bent on conquering everyone around me to the point of treating them like trophies and prizes. That is NOT who I am! And besides I have a duty to survive this and make a world where people can enjoy their peace again. Not a world under the iron fist of some tyrant who lost his mind! Saw too many of those rise and fall in tv shows, movies, and anime."

As he leaves he fails to notice the lingering Green glow on his neck veins takes on a slight blue hue and recede into the base of his brain stem. Waiting for the owner to call upon it for a key part of his survival.

While this happens Garrett tackles the remaining 4 Hard dungeons and feels the power flow through him from the hunting taking on a key effect on his body. His body is reaching the limits of what any normal Human can do, and was indeed ready for Super Human evolution. But he was missing a key component.

Garret Grimsborne (Advanced Human):

Str- 157 +60 Mutant +12 variant= 229

Agi- 138 +60 Mutant +12 Variant = 210

Sta- 138 +60 Mutant +12 Variant = 210

Int- 81 +12 Variant = 93

Sense- 83 +12 Variant = 95

Store points - 166,100