by S Bailey
“How does he know?” asked Sam.
“Please assume that everything Slim says is true, and decide if you want to go after the loot. I am still kind of freaked out right now from almost losing you, so if we don’t go back in there, it’s not that big a deal to me.” Jen had split one of her focuses off on meditating to work through her emotions in order to stay functional after almost losing Sam.
He looked up at the trees in the area and asked, “I’ll follow your lead, Boss, but how much time did you say…?”
They spent about half an hour loading up on more logs before they entered the dungeon.
When they approached the first dead ghoul, Sam said, “Why don’t you collect the loot, while I keep watch?”
Jen gave him the evil eye as she collected the loot, “You lazy ass, you just want me stuck doing the inventory.”
Sam knew he was guilty as charged but just kept his mouth shut and gave her a wide-eyed innocent puppy look.
Jen grumbled, “Your silence is an admission of guilt! You are going to owe me for this.” Jen knew her threat was hollow; she already kept and handled all their money and valuables. In reality, Jen was happy that Sam was joking around after almost dying, and she actually liked collecting and seeing the loot messages from the System.
Slim had been right: with them taking turns, providing cover for each other as they moved, they were easily able to log, firebolt, or shoot the few remaining ghouls that attacked them.
Jen was pressing her psych ability to its limits when they entered the large cavern at the bottom of the dungeon. In the middle of the room was a scroll lying on the floor. Jen slowly walked over and picked it up and placed it in her ring, and said, “I was worried it was some sort of trap, but it’s a Ninja Skill technique scroll. It’s not just a knife, sword, or bow technique scroll, but a complete Ninja skill technique scroll! The starting price for scrolls like this is at least 75 gold in the System Shop!”
“Wow, that’s cool, but there still may be a trap in here. Stay alert.” Replied Sam.
“Do you sense any hidden rooms or anything?” asked Jen.
Sam looked around but primarily continued to keep watch, and said, “Are you looking for hidden treasure rooms in addition to the scroll you just picked up?”
“No, Slim said that one of his slavers had a dungeon master ability where she could find the dungeon’s core and take control of it. Slim said he spent years searching for it while he was stuck here but finally gave up. Slim thought since I was not linked to the dungeon, maybe I could find it.”
Jen could sense that the strange mana originated from the cavern, but it just swirled around in the cavern, and she couldn’t locate its origination point, or anything she thought might be a dungeon core.
Jen stared again at the swirling pattern of the dungeon’s mana once again, and said, “Take a look at the pattern in which the dungeon is swirling its mana. It’s like a chain of spools connected together, with each spool releasing mana in a different direction. I wonder if we swirl the mana in our pool in a certain way it might have an impact on our mana pool size or regen ability.”
Sam shrugged, “We can give it a try, but let’s get out of here first.”
Jen said, “You’re right; we’ve pushed our luck enough. Let’s go.”
Chapter 42:
Paperwork
“Come on Jen! Just take the rings and give me the Cliff Notes on what we got from the dungeon!” Sam begged as he placed his bedroll next to the camp fire.
Jen shook her head slowly, “Nope, I’ve been telling you for weeks to develop your inventory skill. This is the perfect opportunity for you to grind it.”
To Sam it felt like tax season, “Fine, you’re right; I will go through the ring inventory while on watch, but you could at least give me the cliff notes on all my messages?”
Jen looked at Sam and she spoke very calmly but slowly for emphasis, “Sam, I AM NOT YOUR SECRETARY!”
Sam feigned a look of surprise and replied, “Of course you’re not my secretary. You’re the BOSS, which is why I send them all to you. That way you can tell me what I need to do!”
Sam’s last comment caught Slim’s attention, and he looked up at Sam and did some sort of cat snickering. “What’s so funny Slim?” Sam demanded.
That’s when Jen reached up and put Sam in a headlock and said, “Do you know why I can do this so easily? It’s because you have not distributed any of your ability points for weeks.”
After Sam stopped struggling for a second, Jen said, “Say Jen is right!”
Sam reached up and tickled her.
“Ahhhhh” Jen screamed and jumped about ten feet away from him.
Sam laughed and said, “Don’t mess with the old man. I know your weaknesses! But you’re right, I will go through my messages.”
Jen laughed and said, “That’s more like it!” as she pulled her bed roll out of her ring.
Sam asked, “So, are you going to use the Ninja scroll before you go to bed?”
“I want to, but we could sell it for at least 75 gold. That’s like 750 thousand back on Earth!”
“So what, you’re worth it. The only reason for you not to use the scroll is because you’re going to sell it and use all the money to buy an even better scroll. I don’t know if the system, or dungeon, or whatever does things intentionally, but that seems like the perfect scroll to augment the training you’ve been doing with Tamako.”
“Yea, it’s exactly what I want.”
“Then case closed. Use it before you go to sleep.”
Slim spoke to Jen, “That is an extremely rare and valuable drop, likely caused by the inactivity of the dungeon for so many years. A drop like that is probably not seen on the entire First Deck more than once every 50 years. Use it.” He then gave Jen a cocky look before running off into the woods.
“Where’s Slim heading off to?” asked Sam.
“He’s heading “out.” Jen said using her fingers to make quotation symbols around the word “out.” Let me bring you up to speed on Slim first. Then… Yes, I will use the scroll before I go to sleep.”
Chapter 43:
Slim
Jen began Slim’s story, “Once upon a time, about 200 to 250 years ago, there was a dungeon in the Fifth Deck that spawned a level 94 mana cat.”
“Level 94!” exclaimed Sam.
“Wait for the rest of the story before asking all your questions.” Jen commanded. “This is the same mana cat that you have affectionately named “Slim.” Slim had been guarding the core of a dungeon on the Fifth Deck for over 50 years, successfully killing or scaring off any adventurers who invaded the dungeon.
“One day a group of over 300 adventurers entered the dungeon to destroy Slim once and for all. While Slim was handling the adventurers without too much effort, one of the adventurers, who had a “dungeon master” skill, snuck off and found the dungeon core. Slim later learned that her name was Vicki Chang. She waited, allowing Slim to kill all the remaining adventurers before she took control of the dungeon core. Once Vicki Chang took control of the core, she was able to place a specially made slave collar on Slim.
“For the next 75 years, give or take a few years, Slim was kept in a covered cage and not allowed to see anything. However, Slim could hear Vicki Chang as she would torture people in her hunt for information on dungeons.
“When Vicki Chang would find a dungeon, she would put together a party of adventurers. She would lead them through the dungeon and capture the dungeon core. She would only release Slim when she encountered a monster that the party could not kill or to kill any of the other adventurers that were still alive after she captured the dungeon core.
About 100 years ago, Vicki Chang heard about this dungeon and put together a party of adventurers to capture its core. Unknown to Vicki Chang, the strange mana in this dungeon interfered with Slim’s slave collar. Without the need to monologue about the revenge he would take, he tore out of his cage and killed Vicki Chang and the other adventurers
before she even realized what had happened.
Slim thought he was finally free, but this dungeon’s mana would block his mana system anytime he tried to leave the main cavern. As a mana cat, he does not have any power without access to mana and would collapse 20 feet outside of the main cavern.
The dungeon quit producing monsters and simply had Slim kill any adventurers that entered. However, Slim decided to just let the adventurers find an empty dungeon instead of killing them. Within a few years, adventurers quit entering the dungeon. The beasts tended to stay away from the dungeon because of the strange mana it radiated. After that, there were only rare occasions when new adventurers would enter.
Slim searched for a way to escape from the dungeon for many years without any success. He then tried to seek help from some of the adventurers who would explore the dungeon.
Slim would take his smallest form and try to appear as friendly as possible, but even when he did not sense that the adventurers were evil, they would still immediately try to kill him out of fear of dungeon creatures.
Finally, after around 200 to 250 years of slavery to dungeon cores or to Vicki Chang, Slim nuzzled up next to you, and you did not try to kill him right away. He sensed us using our onboards to talk, and because of my psych ability, he was able to communicate with me in a way that would make it obvious if either of us tried to lie to the other.
As Slim and I left the dungeon, Slim realized that the dungeon’s mana could still reach him, and that any other dungeon’s mana he might get exposed to could possibly pull him in and trap him again. Slim sensed that you would not make it back out of the dungeon if I did not return right away.
Slim requested that we become mana bound to one another. This type of binding creates a greater connection than even soul-binding, but it benefitted me much more than it benefitted Slim. Because my level was so much lower than Slim’s, mana-binding with Slim caused the destruction of most of his experience points, but it also transferred a sliver of his experience points to both me and you since we were both sharing experience points when clearing the dungeon.
Slim and I are now both level 18. I have 16 ability points to use, and Slim and I will level together as long as we are mana bound.
The mana binding also instantly blocked any connection the dungeon mana could make with Slim, and I was finally able to return to the dungeon to get you.
Later, while you were still asleep and recovering, Slim explained that Vicki Chang had tried to convince him to mana-bind with her through threats and torture, but Slim always resisted.
Slim is a sentient creature and the mana-binding allows me to control Slim in many ways. Additionally, the binding makes him need to constantly return to me if he has been away for too long. I have told Slim he is not my slave, and that he is free to go and do whatever he pleases, as long as he does not hurt innocent and good people.
I still have a lot of questions too, but now, you know everything I know.” Jen finished her story and leaned back against the tree trunk.
It took all Sam’s self-control not to interrupt Jen a hundred times during her explanation. Finally, when Jen was done with her story, he took a second and thought about all Slim had been through, and said, “Wow, he has been a slave confined to a solitary existence for the most part of 250 years. The poor guy. I feel guilty about calling him ‘Slim.” I didn’t realize he was sentient when I first gave him the nickname ‘Slim’ for being so pudgy and fat.”
Jen laughed as she was laying down in her bedroll and said, “Don’t worry. He is a mana cat, not a pussycat. He calls you ‘Log.’ The two of you will get along fine. I’m exhausted, and I’m going to distribute a shit-ton of ability points from reaching level 18, use this Ninja technique scroll, and then go to sleep. Don’t forget to go over your messages and work on your inventory list!”
Sam groaned defeatedly, “Yes, Boss.”
Sam took a look at his stats first and was thinking, “Kelly, you know she could have just told me. This is your influence on her. Going through all these system messages and reviewing all the loot…It’s like tax season! At least, let’s do the fun stuff first, I guess. Ohhh…look at that. I’ve made level 19. I received a ton of experience points for killing all those mobs. I also received experience points for rescuing Slim.
“Ok Kelly, that adds up to 18 ability points. Cool, she was right, I hadn’t been paying attention, but my strength, agility, stamina, and stamina regen have all gone up 2 more points from the daily physical training-hell that Jen has been putting me through. I can’t wait to see what she is able to do after using that scroll. We were sure lucky when Jen came into our lives. I so miss you being with us.”
Sam was starting to tear up and lose control of his emotions. He wanted Kelly to be there with him and Jen. He just ached to really talk to her. He didn’t know what he would do if anything happened to Jen. Sam recognized his emotions were spiraling, and he dropped into triple focus. One for staying on watch, one for meditation, and one focus for finishing the review of his stats and loot.
“Sniff…Ok, where were we? Points, I have 18 points to distribute. What the heck does “luck” really do? It looks like it is getting out of balance, and my gut is telling me to do something about that. Jen’s going to kill me, but I’m going to put 7 points in luck. 5 points in stamina regen and 6 points in mana regen.
Chapter 44:
Sold!
A few weeks later Jen walked into Sam’s workshop and said, “We’re completely broke. We only have about 50 silvers to our name."
Sam cringed, “Wow, it cost that much?”
Jen nodded, “Sure did, but I have the title documents from the City System Shop. We are now the proud owners of 100 acres of land both surrounding the dungeon and including all rights to the Hot Streak Dungeon!”
A few hours later as Jen took a seat in Director Devon’s office, he asked, “Ms. Jen, would you like something to drink?”
Jen laughed, “Not today, I can’t drink like you guildies!”
Devon took a seat behind his desk and asked, “You’ve got me on the edge of my seat with your request for this confidential meeting. I truly can’t imagine what you have in mind.”
Jen held her finger up to her lips requesting they both be silent. She pulled out several of Sam’s silencing rods and started placing them around the room.
Devon was getting nervous, but Jen whispered as she continued to position the rods, “these rods will keep our conversation from being overheard,” easing his concerns. When Jen finished, she finally said, “If we stay in this area in the middle, no sounds or words will leave this space.”
Devon nodded and said, “Interesting, let me give it a try.” He took a deep breath and hollered as loud as he could, “Guards! Guards!”
Jen could tell that Devon was pretty impressed with the silencing rods. Then he said, “Are you wanting to sell these through our public store? I’m sure there would be a lot of interest. The silence enchantments we have are tied to a specific room or location and can’t be easily moved.”
Jen shook her head and said, “No, these rods are not the reason for my visit, but you will soon understand why they are necessary. Sam and I own some land, and we have purchased complete ownership rights for everything on or in the land. There is an active dungeon on our property that we also have title ownership of. Before we offer the property for sale at auction, does your guild have any interest in purchasing it?”
Devon asked her to say no more until he gathered all the available guild officers. Less than 30 minutes later, Jen was getting seated in a larger conference room with Devon, as the last of the available guild branch executive officers entered the room for the emergency meeting.
As soon as Devon activated a built-in sound barrier especially made for the conference room, there was an immediate explosion of questions.
“Are we under attack?”
“What is Ms. Jen doing here?”
“Have we been robbed?”
And several oth
er questions, all demanding an immediate response.
Devon raised his hand for silence and announced to the room. “Ms. Jen has full ownership of an active dungeon and has asked if our Guild branch would be interested in buying it.”
Everyone in the guild knew that it had been over 10 years, anywhere on the First Deck, since the Arc Guild acquired ownership of an active dungeon. New dungeons didn’t just pop up every day, and when they did, there was fierce competition for them.
There was complete stunned silence for about a second, before another roar of questions and comments from the guild officers.
“How much does she want?”
“How did she get a dungeon?”
“What kind of loot does the dungeon drop?”
“Where’s the dungeon located?”
Devon raised his hands for silence again. “Following Arc Guild bylaws, I called this meeting immediately. All of you now know everything I do at this time.” Devon then turned to Jen and asked, “Does anyone else know about the dungeon?”
Jen replied, “I can tell you this, if you’re able to purchase the dungeon now, your guild will have no interference, and those who do know will not disclose any information about the dungeon to anyone.”
Devon didn’t like Jen’s somewhat vague answer but went on “OK, please tell us about the dungeon.”
Jen intentionally gave the appearance of being cautious and a little uncomfortable, as she said, “Before I tell you anything about the dungeon, I need to know if your guild even has the ability to pay for it.”
The room went into chaos for a third time.
“How dare you!”
“Who does she think she is?”
“Throw her out now!”
“Fair question.”
Devon had dealt with Jen before and knew she was not the type to go around insulting people, and raised his hands again for calm. When the last muttering finally stopped, Devon looked at Jen with a warning in his eyes, and said, “Please continue.”