A Surprisingly Uneventful First Day

I noticed three significant things about Dungeon Clearing when I entered the Dungeon.

Firstly, nobody told me about the weather.

Since it was still mid-winter, I had dressed warmly to fight against the brisk winds that billowed past. I didn't know that the "Plains" in the Falcon Plains Dungeon was almost like a desert.

The party members sniggered as they waited for me to change out of my thick winter clothes. I was embarrassed, but Warren and Anna kindly explained that it was all in good fun. They explained that it was just a little bit of hazing — teasing — that Parties do to newbies to break the ice since they're usually too stiff and nervous because it's their first Dungeon Clearing quest.

I even overheard Ivan tease Aaron about his reaction to his first entry into a Dungeon. Aaron clicked his tongue angrily and shoved Ivan away from him, but I saw Aaron smile at the memory.

I was still embarrassed, but it seemed to have set a friendlier mood in the party.

After that first initial shock, I took in my surroundings. The Dungeon lived up to its name as the blistering heat of the sun beat down on me, I realised that the Dungeon was not the kind of desert filled with sand dunes, but the kind of desert where the ground and surroundings were so dry and rocky that no plants could grow, and except for the crops of craggy rocks that poked out of the dry ground, it was quite flat and…well, plains.

Once we started to work through the Dungeon, we stuck to the formation written in the dungeon files we each got during the meeting. We quickly passed the now-empty Alpha Research Base that was only a few hundred metres away from the Entrance Portal and started our journey.

Warren led the way since he was our Tank, followed by Aaron and Ivan. Anna would be at the back of the formation since she was a well-rounded Mage. And between Aaron, Ivan and Anna, was me. The resident Mule.

The second significant thing that I found out about Dungeon Clearing is that the Mule could easily be hard work. I understand now why Alan and Penny focussed on improving my muscle strength and legs. Mule work is a lot of heavy lifting.

As a Mule, I was tasked to carry provisions for everyone. Be it supplies, potions, or sleeping bags. Unlike in RPGs, we don't get a never-ending Inventory that removes annoying things like weight. If you want to bring something into a Dungeon Clearing Quest, you have to do it the old-fashioned way, by carrying it yourself.

For Dungeon Clearings with a Mule, the guild had provided us with a special backpack. Think of the stereotypical hiking pack — the ones that are big and long and designed to be able to fit anything and everything you would need during a long hike or camping trip. Then add straps all around it to attach extra bags of supplies.

I was basically a travelling merchant like in games such as Zelda where there is no realistic way that someone should be able to carry that much, but they do anyway.

It would be impossible for any non-Player person to carry as much as I was expected to as the Mule.

[NOTE!

As the current weight that the Player is currently carrying is beyond the reasonable limit of a human being, extra points will be given to the Player's Fortitude Attribute!]

Oh, that's a nice bonus.

With all that said, my first impression of Dungeon Clearing is that it's like hiking, but with more life-or-death situations.

I had to admit though, because all that I had to focus on was to follow the path with the rest of the Party and move out of the way during the skirmishes against the Maston Falcons that inhabited most of the Dungeon, really helped out with my nerves. They were simple directions that I could follow and the first day of the Quest went by quickly and smoothly.

As it was not the first time the Falcon Plains had been cleared, remnants of campsites that were created by Parties in the past are scattered all over the Dungeon. The Party found one that was in fairly good condition, slightly hidden away within a small craggy cave.

"We'll stop here for the night," Warren announced, and everyone found a spot and sat down with heaving sighs.

Even though the Falcons were pretty easy to handle. We encountered quite a lot of them and we had walked pretty far. Everyone was exhausted.

I left the Party's collective belongings approximately in the middle of the camp, but nobody moved to grab their stuff yet. Everyone just needed to rest a little bit.

"Hey, newbie!" Aaron called out indifferently.

I turned around just in time to see a small glass container flying towards me. I managed to catch it in time and looked at the tube. I looked at the glass container and noticed that it was filled with a clear substance that looked a little bit like gel.

I was about to ask Aaron what it was, but he beat me to it.

"It's for your feet. Take off your shoes and put some on," Aaron said. I realised he had already taken his boots off and was massaging the soles of his feet.

"I'm next!" Anna called dibs right before Warren could.

I slid my boots off and peeled my socks off gingerly. Only now that we had stopped walking did I realise that the bottoms of my feet were killing me. My feet seemed to be radiating some sort of heat and felt like I bruised them all over.

"I guess, I'll start setting up some grub for us," Warren groaned as he got up to his feet and walked over to the pile of bags I placed down.

I opened the container and cautiously dipped a finger into the clear substance. It was cool to the touch and scooped up some of the gel with two fingers. I applied the gel to the bottom of my left foot and after an initial sting, since my feet were sensitive and sore, I realised that the coolness of the gel had a calming effect that negated the pain.

Realising the brilliant effect of the gel, I quickly scooped up more of the gel to put on my right foot and passed the container along to Anna.

"Pretty good, huh?" Anna brightly said as she showed no hesitation in applying the gel onto her feet. This wasn't her first rodeo, "Researchers used Aloe and this plant that started spreading in the Restricted Region in one of the uninhabited islands in Indonesia, and with a little bit of Healing magic, the Cohper's Cooling Gel was discovered!"

She sighed contentedly after she finished applying the gel to her feet and passed the container along to Ivan.

"Is that what that is?" I asked, "I've heard of that stuff on TV."

"Well, it's more of a home recipe, developed by yours truly," Aaron interjected.

"It's basically three times more effective than the official one that's sold everywhere," Ivan chirped in, "If Aaron mass-produced the thing, he might be rich, but he always says no to my business pitches."

"I'm never going to be a businessman." Aaron glared at Ivan who blissfully missed the harsh look while he massaged his feet.

I noticed that the soles of my feet were now completely fine and dry. No trace of the gel ever being applied there could be found.

"The wet ingredients are quickly absorbed into the skin, moisturising it, while the Healing magic imbued in the gel does what Healing magic always does," Aaron explained with a toothy grin. He was obviously proud of the gel he developed, though he tried to act humble. Too bad he was a bad actor.

After a long day of walking and carrying everyone's supplies, now that we were stopping for the night, I was suddenly awash with fatigue. My eyes started getting heavy and I found it more difficult to stay focussed. So, it didn't really click in my head when I heard Ivan yell to my left that something was wrong.

In fact, his voice sounded muffled and far away.

When I felt something wet and sticky splatter on my left side, I was slow to react as it felt like my limbs were so far away from me.

When my tired eyes saw what looked like a left arm flung far into the depths of the cave, my mind didn't register that the ripped short sleeve that flapped along with the arm kind of looked like my shirt sleeve.

It was only when the glaring notification Window from the System popped up in front of my eyes was when it seemed like my brain finally kicked into gear.

[WARNING!

DUE TO THE PRESENCE OF AN ANOMALY WITHIN THE DUNGEON, GAME RECTIFICATION HAS TO BE PERFORMED! THE DIFFICULTY OF THE DUNGEON HAS BEEN RAISED FROM D-TIER TO C-TIER!

DUE TO THE PLAYER'S LACK OF SUFFICIENT ATTRIBUTE LEVELS, IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT THE PLAYER LEAVES THE DUNGEON BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!]

I tried to turn around to look at what was happening at the mouth of the cave, but froze when I realised something had attached to my arm and a cold feeling started to spread through my body.

I was met face to face with a monster that I had only encountered once before, during the original timeline.

A Parasite Hunter was currently injecting its acidic venom into me.