The dungeon

Sky entered the dungeon. It was vast. The only source of light he had was the convenient torch that was placed near the entrance.

Sky saw that he was standing inside a large spiral cave, right at the middle of the cave there was nothing but a large hole, a lot of water was falling and falling right in the hole. Thanks to the waterfall making a loud noise, Sky couldn't hear anything. There was a clear spiral path that led all the way to the bottom that was right on the edge of the wall.

Sky made sure the water didn't touch the torch, or else he'll have to clear the dungeon in the dark.

"Are all dungeons like this? This is nothing like I heard happening in portals."

Sky has heard how people enter portals by going through magical doors, but the entrances to the portals are large enough to fit even a fleet of ships and hundreds of men at once.

Sky stopped going forth. He saw a weird monster in front of him.

It was a blue slime, as big as his head that was wiggling and jumping towards him at a very slow pace.

'Identify.'

{Blue slime}

{HP: 5/5}

{A weak creature that can be found in green level dungeons. It's body is made of slime}

"Well that explains its name."

As soon as the slime was right in front of him and observing its movement pattern, Sky stomped on the slime. It's body splattered everywhere like stepping on a blue tomato.

{Killed slime}

{Exp earned 3}

{Collected 2 shells}

{Exp: 9/50}i

"Gross." Sky shook his leg twice to get rid of the slime before proceeding. He didn't want to use rocks or the torch on slimes out of fear or losing his weapons, so stepping on it was the best course of action.

"Hey, how does the 'exp' work exactly?"

{Exp: A player special privilege where the one can easily earn stat points faster and essentially growing stronger. There are a few ways to earn exp, killing or assist in killing a being with battle power, or completing quests given by the system, and other methods exist. Exp through killing beings is calculated by the system through a being's overall strength, species, uniqueness, and so on}

"But I also got some shells and meat out of killing monsters how does that work?"

{Loot: A player special privilege only. Through killing or assisting in killing in monsters you are guaranteed to earn money from any monster slain. Items such as food, weapons, and items depend on the species of the monster slain, uniqueness, and player luck. Loot can also be received through quests and other special events such as opening chests}

{Example: Mini-bosses and dungeon bosses have a higher chance of dropping items but it's not always guaranteed and it depends on the difficulty of the dungeon and the overall strength of the boss}

"Oh, okay, that makes sense. Back to killing innocent slimes who are minding their business."

*Stomp* *Stomp* *Stomp*

{Killed slime}

{Exp earned 3}

{Collected 2 shells}

{Killed slime}

{Exp earned 3}

{Collected 2 shells}

{Killed slime}

{Exp earned 3}

{Collected 2 shells}

{Killed slime}

{Exp earned 3}

{Collected 2 shells}

{Exp: 21/50}

{!!!}

Sky stopped upon seeing a new notification.

{Through a series of actions you have learned a new skill}

{Stomp: lvl 1: your foot carries more power and weight when stomping}

{Increases damage by 1.1x}

{3 mana is consumed upon use}

"Oh, cool. Now that I think about it, when I'm fighting monsters I can learn new skills and don't even need to rely on sea scrolls entirely." Sky wondered if there was another way he could learn skills.

Sky saw one more blue slime. He wanted to see his new skill in action.

Once the slime was in front of him, Sky stomped on the slime.

{Stomp}

The slime's body splattered even further than before.

{Exp: 24/50}

{Mana: 72/75}

"Well I can't see much of a difference honestly, but it's my only offensive skill."

{Killed slime}

{Exp earned 3}

{Collected 2 shells}

{Killed slime}

{Exp earned 5}

{Collected 4 shells}

{Killed slime}

{Exp earned 3}

'There's no way a dungeon is going to be this easy, right?' Sky thought. Whatever slime he saw on his path he used {stomp} to hopefully increase its level.

Sky wanted to cook the baboon meat, but everywhere he went it was too moist to make a proper fire.

After what seemed forever, Sky found himself at the bottom of the floor. He stomped on a few more slimes and nearly leveled up.

{Exp: 47/50}

'One more slime and I level up. Hm?'

Sky saw three slimes, one of which was a red slime.

{Red slime}

{HP: 25/25}

{A stronger, tougher, and faster type of slime compared to its blue version. Can be found more commonly in red level dungeons}

Sky took a step back. It might be a slime but is it possible it could around the same level as the baboons?

The red slime charged first towards Sky, and with the other blue slimes following behind.

Sky could only stare at the red slime as it slowly made its way over to him…

"And for a second I was worried." Sky took out a rock from his inventory and threw it at the red slime. Perhaps a new skill would pop up if he used a different type of attack.

The red slime jumped out of the way avoiding the way.

"Hmm." Sky grumbled, annoyed. The red slime is a bit smarter as well because none of the blue slimes displayed such level of intelligence. This time he aimed for the other blue slimes.

{Killed slime}

{Exp earned 5}

{Collected 4 shells}

{Level up}

{Exp: 2/75}

Sky felt refreshed all of a sudden. It was a wonderful feeling, leveling up.

{Killed slime}

{Exp earned 5}

{Collected 4 shells}

Sky killed the blue slimes, leaving only the red slime alone. Honestly, the fight felt incredibly boring and underwhelming compared to the baboon fight.

"Yeah, I gotta clear this dungeon quickly."

Sky threw another rock when the red slime got closer.

{Dealt 8 damage}

And another rock, and another.

{Dealt 8 damage}

{Dealt 8 damage}

Left with one HP, the red slime was nearly dead and not moving in the slightest as if it lost the will to live.

{Killed red slime}

{Exp earned: 12}

{Collected 8 shells, slime staff}

{Through a series of actions you have learned a new skill}

{Throw: lvl 1: increases projectile accuracy and range by 5%}

'Slime staff?' Sky was happy to get a new skill, but the slime staff caught his attention more.

'Inventory.'

{Slime staff: requires 6 INT to use}

{Damage 2+int: scales with INT D-grade}

{Consumed 1 mana}

{Will shoot a ball of slime that causes damage at a distance}

"Um… what?" Sky didn't understand what the D-grade meant exactly.

Sky extended the slime staff, and just like the description said, it shot a slime the size of his fist. Slime splattered all over the wall leaving a mess.

Sky touched the slime that the staff shot out. It was exactly the same substance as all the other slimes he killed.

"Well… I think I'll keep it." Sky grabbed the slime staff in one hand, and a torch in the other.

Sky continued walking through the dungeon. He saw even more blue slimes and 2 more red slimes, naturally he killed them all using the slime staff or {stomp} the red slimes did not drop any other items aside from money and exp.

The slime staff did a surprising amount of damage, 17 in total. Sky realized that because he had placed 15 stat points into INT, the damage in the slime staff increased, that's why it had a +15 damage. But what did the D-grade mean exactly?

Sky couldn't get an answer unfortunately.

"Hm?" Sky stopped in front of a massive, old, rusted door that was 5 meters tall and 3 meters wide.

{!!!}

{Warning: boss room ahead}

{Cannot leave room once the boss has been felled}

{Do you wish to proceed?}

{Yes} {No}

"A boss room…"

Sky was about to click 'yes' but stopped. He needed to check if he had everything ready.

{Mana: 20/75}

"Hmm… mana is pretty low. How much mana do I recover?"

Sky clicked on his mana stat.

{Mana recovery rate: 6/m}

"Oh, that's pretty garbage."

In fact it wasn't garbage. One of the hidden abilities the system gives Sky is the ability to recover mana faster than normal people can.

Sky remembered that increasing his mind stat helped not only think in dire situations, but increase his mana recovery rate as well. And he had five stat points to spare.

Sky didn't know if what he did was the correct way but he hopes it is.

"Well, at least I can recover mana during combat unlike my HP."

{MIND: 11}

{Mana recovery rate: 11/m}

{Stat points: 0}

"Better." Sky sat down and waited until his mana was filled all the way.

Sky looked through his skills and inventory to kill time. He realized he had no way to recover health aside from eating blueberries and eating raw baboon meat.

Sky used this time to cook the baboon meat when the area around him was dry.

Taking some sticks from his inventory, and collecting a nearby large but thin rock to use as a fire pan pan, and using other rocks to lift the fire pan above the fire to make a working fire pan, Sky could now cook his baboon meat.

"Thanks dad, for teaching me this." Sky said. There were many ways he could improve the self made firepan but his resources were limited.

Using the torch he lit the sticks on fire and placed the baboon meat on top of the fire. Sky couldn't help but stretch his hands towards the fire, he didn't even realize he was cold after fighting for his life.

{Cooked baboon meat}

{Recovers 50 health when eaten}

{A tough but edible baboon meat}

"Awesome. And my mana is back to full again."

Sky stood near the boss room door after making sure everything was good.

{Would you like to enter?}

{Yes} {No}

Sky touched 'yes' the boss door but nothing happened.

{Pull the door}

"..." Sky didn't know what was the point of tapping yes?

Sky entered the room with the door shutting by itself.

The inside was so dark that Sky couldn't even see the entire room with his torch. But once the door was shut, the entire room was lit by an unknown light source.

The room was massive, but that's all it was, massive. The entire layout was made of stone.

There was only one being standing in the center of the room, a green, pointy eared, humanoid creature Sky had never seen before.

'Identify.'

{Identify lvl 2 increased to identify lvl 3: can now see stats of other beings}

{Green goblin} {BOSS)

{HP 50/50}

{Str 4. Dex. 10. Spd 17. Mind: 6. INT 3. Vig. 0}

'Goblin? Never heard of that monster either. And how is it alive with only 0 Vig?' Sky took a step back.

The green goblin was so tiny that it couldn't reach Sky's waist, his body was very thin, and it had a mean look in its eye.

What worried sky most is that it was wearing armor, and carried a crappy short sword and shield. It might seem small and weak but Sky was weary of it.

Sky shot the goblin with slime. The goblin dodged and blocked with his crappy shield.

Sky continued to spam his attack, most of the time he was able to hit the goblin but his shield was blocking all the damage.

"That damn shield." Sky continued spamming his attack while keeping his distance.

The goblin wanted to get closer, but the slime coming out of Sky's staff had a surprising amount of power and pressure in it that it didn't expect at all. The closer it got to Sky the stronger the slime's staff attack was, he could feel his shield being nearly flung off as it continued to get covered in slime.

It was thanks to Sky's INT being at 15+2 damage which boosted the slime's attack power, while the goblin's strength was at 4, the goblin could feel the difference.

The goblin noticed as soon as it stopped moving, slime was splattering all over the ground making it slip and lose his footing.

Sky took a look at his mana to see how much he had left.

{Mana: 33/75}

"Already at halfway?" Sky thought. If he runs out of mana the goblin will be free to attack him, and all Sky has as weapons are sticks, a lit torch, and stones.

The goblin, left with no choice, threw his sword at Sky.

Sky didn't expect the goblin to throw his sword at him. Sky fell on his back to dodge the sword which he didn't mean to do, he wanted to move to the side but he lost his footing.

The goblin took this chance to catch up to Sky before he had a chance to recover using his speed. It grabbed a knife that he kept hidden in his back.

'Knife!' Sky saw the goblin holding a knife, but it was too quick. The goblin stabbed Sky right in his waist twice.

{7 damage received}

{7 damage received}

"AAAH!" Sky yelled in pain.

Sky quickly let go of his slime staff to grab the goblin's hand before it stabbed anywhere else. Sky knew that shooting another slime shot at the goblin at the distance they were at wouldn't work.

The goblin tried to free his hand from Sky's grip, but Sky held tightly as he thrusted the torch right on the goblin's face.

"GRAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The goblin screamed in pain and agony, it tried to escape but couldn't.

"You like that you son of a bitch!" Sky howled in anger and shoved the torch right in the goblins eye with all his strength.

{Dealt 8 damage}

{Critical damage, you have dealt 4 damage to goblin}

{Goblin has been blinded}

{Goblin is suffering 1 burn damage every second}

The goblin let go of the knife from its hands. Sky took the knife and stabbed the goblin repeatedly in his face over, and over again.

{Killed goblin} {Boss}

{Exp earned 90}

{Collected crappy short sword, crappy shield, fine dagger, 2x goblin ears, 500 shells}

{Level up}

{HP, stamina, and mana have been fully restored}

{Quest complete: You have completed the dungeon}

{Received 100 exp, 200 shells, 1 green scroll}

{Level up}

{Level 6}

{Exp 70/150}

Sky ignored all that and continued to stab the goblin with its knife until he was satisfied.

Minutes later Sky let go of the knife. The goblin's entire face was beyond recognition.

Sky looked at the blood on his hands.

"What is wrong with me? Shouldn't power over the mind be active?" Sky asked, he had never acted violently like that before, but it seems he's been doing it a lot lately.

Power over mind was working just fine, but Sky wanted the goblin to suffer, to feel pain, to kill it as brutally as he could like the baboon. Power over mind is only active if the player is in a dangerous or confusing situation.

For example: if Sky were in a more dangerous situation such as if there were more monsters, he would have quickly killed the goblin and moved on to the next one. Power over the mind doesn't affect Sky's emotions as he believes.

Sky wiped the goblins blood off by flicking whatever he could since it was starting to dry.

On the other side of the room there was another door that was open. It led to the cave behind the waterfall where Sky was last time.

Right at the center of the boss room was a wooden chest that appeared.

"A chest? I guess that's the reward for completing the dungeon." Sky decided to take a look at what the chest contained. Once Sky opened the chest a notification popped up in front of him.

{Collected: 1000 shells, green scroll, running boots}

The chest disappeared into thin air.

Sky took out one of the two green scrolls he collected. He already saw the awards he received beforehand, but he was too angry to care at the moment.

Sky opened the green scroll to read what abilities it carries.

He closed his eyes in frustration as he forgot one important detail about sea scrolls, he can't read.

Sea scrolls are not written in the language Sky knows. Many people have been able to learn the language the sea scrolls contain and have made jobs out of it.

Still one didn't need to know the language to learn the skill, they had to say a word to learn it.

"So it's all up to luck. Activate." The scroll in Sky's hand disappeared. Knowledge about the skill popped in his head as if he had always known the skill, it was a familiar feeling like the time he learned the card skill two years ago.

{New skill learned}

{Stealth strike: lvl 1: passive}

{Hitting an unsuspecting enemy will increase damage by 10% and critical hit chance increases by 5%}

"Wow, that's cool." Sky then used the second green sea scroll.

{New skill learned}

{Water slice: lvl 1: active}

{Requires 10 INT to learn: Requires a source of body of water to use}

{Damage: 10}

{Consumes 4 mana}

Sky frowned, he had heard of this skill before. As great as it sounded he didn't seem too happy. First it did less damage than his slime staff, it required more mana, and he could only use it if he had a source of water nearby.

"Then again it's a green skill, they're not supposed to be that good." Sky accepted the fact. He took out the items he received.

{Running boots: Player gains 5+ speed when worn}

The boots had a design Sky had never seen before. They were green, had thick soles, and had a thick layer of what he thinks is wool on the inside. To everybody else the running boots appeared to be more like snow boots.

Sky wore the boots which made him feel silly, he is a half naked man, covered in blood, wearing snow boots, but he could see how wearing such boots increased his speed so he obviously chose to wear it.

Sky also checked the crappy weapons and fine dagger he got. The crappy sword and shield looked as if they would break any moment as it had numerous cracks. The fine dagger was alright.

With that done, Sky exited the dungeon.

There was a figure watching from above as he stroked his beard.

"Hmmm, passable. Although I didn't expect the slime staff to drop this early nor did I expect him to find the dungeon so soon, then again it's these kinds of things that make things more… interesting." The old man smiled.

The entire dungeon disappeared in a black hole along with the man. Sky left the dungeon and found himself back in the cave. Looking at the entrance of the dungeon where he just came from, the dungeon entrance was gone, there was only a wall.

The torch that Sky had with him disappeared as well. It seemed like items he didn't earn he couldn't take outside of the dungeon.

Sky washed all the blood off his using the waterfall. It had a terrible, putrid, smell he didn't notice at first that made him gag in disgust, the smell reminded him of rotten fish.

"Oh god, that smell. Goblins are disgusting."

Sky washed the blood off completely.

With that done, Sky exited the waterfall with his slime staff and a crappy shield on both hands.

He could see the baboons were still there, waiting for him without touching the body of water. Once they saw him leave the waterfall they became hysterical.

With a weapon on hand, Sky felt confident he could take on all the baboons, and there were more than 40 of them all of whom were at levels 4-6.This was not only about revenge, well for the most part it was about revenge, but the baboons could yield him meat, exp, and money, something Sky needed.

"Okay." Sky said, ominously, "Let's dance!"

{Int: 25}

{Mana: 125/125}

{Stat points: 0}