Chapter 9: Are All Dungeons this Boring?

“Are we there yet?” Bethany asked in a joking voice as the three of us walked along the first floor of the Dungeon.

As far as the eye could see it was only rolling dirt hills. There were still boulder groupings every now and again, but only one of them turned out to be another [Rocky]. All the rest we’d run into were regular boring rocks that gave us [0 XP] no matter how much I [Pushed] them around.

We also encountered another set of [Grass Clippings] which we handedly annihilated, but even with all those monster kills, we were still sitting at [89/100 XP]. One more set of [Grass Clippings], and we’d level up again.

The only problem was that leveling up wasn’t bringing us any closer to our real goal: finding the First Floor Boss. The [Quest] to be the first ones to defeat it remained active which meant no one else had gotten there first, but even without access to a clock, I knew that we were wasting a lot of time wandering to nowhere.

“How are you feeling?” I winced as Peter continued limping forward, a certain determination on his face.

“Fine. Don’t worry about me. I’ll heal when we level up next,” he said. He still cradled his left arm close, but we’d determined it wasn’t broken, and he was able to use it in fights when he needed to.

Bethany and I shared a look of concern, but we didn’t say anything more on the subject given how touchy Peter had been since getting smacked by the first [Rocky] earlier in the day. I really hoped that leveling up would cure his sour mood alongside all his injuries, but so far we’d been hiking for well over forty minutes without running into anything else to fight.

That good news was that meant everyone’s [MP] had regenerated enough we could defeat whatever we ran into–Beth would [Calm] a [Rocky] if we ran into one while Peter and I would handle [Grass Clippings] the way we always did with slicing and ripping apart respectively. The bad news was that everyone was ornery with the lack of progress. It turned out that going up and down dirt hills all day made for a really, really boring adventure.

Not to mention that it was exhausting work, and my throat was parched. But there was no water to be had. No one brought their belongings in, and this floor had proven to be nothing but dirt and rocks, without a hint of a stream or something else to drink from.

Alfie had said that when we died, we simply reset in the Dungeon, but I was seriously starting to worry that our [Dungeon Manager] had overlooked the basic needs of humans and we were all going to die of thirst or starvation over and over again during this expedition. I didn’t voice these concerns to my siblings since I didn’t think more unpleasant news was going to be all that welcome.

We’d been out here for several hours now, and it was clear that finding the floor boss wasn’t going to be easy. I doubted if it was even feasible, but when I mentioned that earlier, Peter had been ready to smack me with the sword for such pessimistic talk, so I didn’t bring it up again.

“I thought this whole thing would be more fun,” Peter said quietly, breaking the silence once again.

“I don’t know that I expected fun, but I did expect more action or… something. If I wanted to tromp around in the dirt, I’d just go back to Edward’s parents’ farm.” Beth shook her head. She held up her left hand. “I guess I should be glad that my ring’s still in one piece after everything. The Dungeon didn’t let me keep my cell phone, but it was alright with the three-thousand dollar diamond ring. Figure that out.”

“A cell phone has utility. That ring is strictly for appearances,” I pointed out.

Peter scoffed. “Utility? What were you going to do, Madi, eat your phone?”

“If we don’t find something real to eat soon, I’d be willing to try this stupid dirt,” Beth said.

“We can try the grass next time we take out a set of [Grass Clippings].” I scanned the horizon, disheartened to see nothing but dirt hills.

“I’ve always wanted to be a cow.” Peter kept walking. “Do you think CJ, Norris, and Samuel have reached the boss yet?”

“I think the System would tell us if they had by failing the [Quest]. But it doesn’t matter. We should worry about getting ourselves out of here,” I said.

“Maybe we have to reach a certain level before we can face the boss. Given there’s been no sign of where to go, it might just be a level or [XP] requirement,” Bethany proposed.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“That’s actually a good point, Beth.”

We crested the next hill, and the three of us came to a collective stop as we all caught sight of another pile of grass.

“Alright. We’ll level up after this. Usual plan?” Peter asked.

“I don’t know how else we’d handle it.” I stretched my arms out. “Ready when you are, Peter.”

He summoned his bow to his hands. “Let’s do this.”

Peter launched an arrow into the pile of grass, causing it to split into its respective monsters. We’d be dealing with sixteen of them, the largest group yet, but I wasn’t worried.

I held my hands out to the first of the group as Peter exchanged his bow for his sword, but we were stopped from launching into the fight by Bethany.

“Uh, guys? We might have a problem,” she said.

I turned to see her pointing at a quivering pile of boulders. “Crap.”

The rocks coalesced to form a [Rocky], adding a whole new level of difficulty to this fight.

“Okay. Change of plans. Beth, you focus on [Rocky]. I’ll guard Peter best that I can with my [skills] instead. Peter, do your thing and try to duck a little more often,” I said.

“Aye, aye captain.” Bethany saluted and then took a step towards the creature. “[Calm].” Her [Calm] ability used up a lot of [MP] with each use, so even if she defeated the monster quickly, she wouldn’t be able to do much against the [Grass Clippings].

“If she’s the captain, I want to be the general,” Peter declared.

“Let’s worry about titles after we kill the monsters. Go on, swordboy. Kill those [Grass Clippings] dead.” I held my hands out and [Pushed] and [Pulled] the incoming [Grass Clippings] before it could strike Peter.

[Grass Clippings Defeated]

[3 XP Gained]

“Fine, but we are discussing it!” Peter rushed forward with his sword, swinging it at the first [Grass Clippings].

[Grass Clippings Defeated]

[3 XP Gained]

I took out another [Grass Clippings] that was coming towards Peter’s back, but another slipped past and sliced him.

Peter grunted and turned to take on his adversary. The notification box kept dinging as the usual [XP Gained] messages appeared. At some point, we leveled up and after that one was from Beth’s defeat of [Rocky]–for only [7 XP] this time, but I couldn’t pay attention to any of it since I was so busy keeping my brother from dying by a thousand grass-cuts.

[Grass Clippings Defeated]

[1 XP Gained]

The last cloud of grass fell to the ground, and I took a deep breath. I was covered in dirt and bits of grass, and Peter’s arms were more green from grass stains than the usual cream color. Bethany looked best out of the three of us since she’d avoided the heaviest fighting.

I shook off the loose particles from my clothing and hair while simultaneously pulling up the blue screen to use my level up points. Based on Peter’s and Bethany’s faces, they were doing the same.

[Temporary Class:]

[Kinetic Mage, Level 4]

[MP: 16/25]

[XP: 20/200]

[Attributes:]

[Strength: 1] [+]

[Agility: 2] [+]

[Speed: 3] [+]

[Intelligence: 6] [+]

[Charisma: 2] [+]

[Luck: 1] [+]

[Attribute Points Available: 1]

“I’m going to put my point in [Agility] since Alfie said that and [Intelligence] would be the most useful for my [class],” I announced. I hit the little [+] next to [Agility]. “And my [Skill Point] will go to [Pull]. Maybe if it's on an equal level with [Push], I’ll be able to do more against a [Rocky].”

“Aren’t you going to use it on your new [skill]?” Beth asked.

“Maybe she got something useless.” Peter snickered.

“New [skill]...? I didn’t get a new [skill]. You guys both did?” I glanced between my two siblings who both nodded. “Well that’s not fair.”

“Alfie did say that it varies with each [class]. You’ll probably get it next level up.” Bethany patted my shoulder.

I crossed my arms. “That still sucks for me. What did you guys get?”

“I got [Armor],” Peter said. “It’s exactly what it sounds like. No more grass cuts for me.”

Bethany smiled. “I have a solution to our hunger. Mine is called [Nurishment]. It creates a small food item or a temporary container of water. It costs ten [MP] per a use though, so we’ll have to ration it.”

“That’s awesome though. Now we won’t die of dehydration.” I glanced around the fallen grass and rocks. “Where to now?”

Peter shrugged. “Let’s keep going in the same direction. Either we’ll keep leveling up until the Dungeon gives us the boss, or we’ll stumble onto it by pure [Luck].”

“I guess that’s fair.” I took the lead this time, walking up the next dirt hill. Just as I reached the top, a grin broke out onto my face. “Maybe we won’t have to wander after all.”

My two siblings joined me to look down at the first genuine piece of architecture we’d seen since starting our journey on the first floor. It was a simple cobblestone shed, but a small banner above it declared that it was exactly what we were looking for.

[Entrance to the First Floor Boss]