Chapter 6: First Delve

I took steady breaths as I kept the barrel of my shotgun aimed in front of me, walking forward at a steady pace. While my system was video game-like, that didn't mean that I should treat my delve into the dungeon in that way, at least not completely. Perhaps in the future when my stats were higher I could stroll through this place and tear my way through hordes of mobs, but until then safety came first because I would never reach that point if I died beforehand.

My armor provided me warmth as I moved down the stone corridors, my eyes darting everywhere in search of anything hostile. The air was stale but not choking, and the smell was a mix of damp earth and every now and then the smell of rat shit. The first time I stepped into a puddle of the stuff, I gagged and almost vomited.

I kept an eye out for the rat from earlier wanting it to appear so I could pump some lead into its furry face as payback for having sacred the shit out of me, but unlike last time, it was not in the same place. In fact, the first twenty minutes was rather dull, but I didn't let my guard down and good thing as I turned a corner and spotted three of the rats chewing on the corpse of another rat which either they had killed or had been killed by something else.

They turned their heads in my direction as the light hit them and I didn't wait for them to make the first move before I gunned down the closet rat, blood, and viscera spraying as I turned to next, pumped, and fired. The last managed to take a few steps before it too went down in a spray of blood and gore, the nearby ground stained crimson with its blood.

I shone my light up ahead to make sure there were no other rats before I quickly called up my status, and focused on the XP amount.

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[General Information]

Name: Kaiden Anthony Lorde

Race: Human(Modified)

Gender: Male

Age: 20

Origin: Earth(Terra - 13)

Level: 0 | XP: 47% > 1

Entity Class: 0

[Attributes]

Strength: 9

Endurance: 8

Constitution: 8

Dexterity: 10

Agility: 9

Intelligence: 12

Perception: 11

Sense: 6

Willpower: 12

Wisdom: 9

Charisma: 7

Luck: 5

AP: 0

[Abilities]

[Ascension]

Body(Core): 1%

Mind(Core): 1%

Soul(Core): 1%

[E-Seeds]

Seed Slot I: O-Energy | OE: 0/0 (N/A) |

Seed Slot II: Internal Energy | IE: 10/10 (1/1H) |

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I smiled as I saw the progress I had made with just three kills. I would soon reach level one. I closed my status and glanced back at the rats to see that their corpses had vanished, and items lay where they had been. Only the half-eaten corpse remained, which led me to believe that anything I killed would vanish and leave behind loot, but anything that died in another way would remain as a corpse.

The loot was god awful, and I didn't bother picking most of it up. What the hell was I going to do with chunks of rat meat? I did take the fangs though. Who knew maybe they could come in handy. They were definitely sharp and if I somehow lost my other weapons I could always use them.

I felt so alive as I moved through the corridors, feeling like I was doing something that actually mattered to me and would benefit me and not my parents. I felt free and full of energy as I continued deeper into the tunnel, and there was a brief moment where I grew worried I wouldn't be able to find my way back to the entrance, but after a look at the map, that fear abated. It was quite detailed, and if I was reading it correctly I was going down a path that my uncle had gone down several times and led into an area he'd labeled as the Rat Den, and past that lay a set of stairs which must have led somewhere, but all it said was check map two which I didn't have. If I wanted to find out I'd have to head there myself, but another time. My current goal was simply leveling up, and if this den had more rats then it would be a perfect place to do some grinding, though I'd have to be careful not to get overwhelmed. I only had so many bullets and could only shoot so fast.

The next pack of rats went down as easily as the first and I received my first level-up notification.

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Congratulations! You have leveled up!

You are now Level 1!

You have (5) undistributed Attribute points.

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Instead of placing the points now, I saved them for later. I'd do a bit of research and spend some time deciding how to go about distributing them for my first few levels. Pack after pack of rats died, and my mood was soaring by the time I made it to the outer area of the den. This was nothing like what I'd expected, then again it's not like I'd expected much from giant rats. Their size did not offer them any defense against bullets. I wasn't like the typical hero in those fantasy novels about dungeons who had to struggle with a dagger. I had guns and common sense.

In the end, I decided against heading into the den as I only had a quarter of my ammo left and I expected an area labeled the Rat Den would have a lot of mobs to kill. I made my way back to the entrance, killing the occasional rat on the way that came from the other directions I hadn't explored.

Leveling slowed down of course as I'd expected, but by the time I made it back, I was still three levels higher and had a bag stuffed with rat fangs, pelts, and a few vials of rat blood. Who knew, maybe I could use them for alchemy if that was a thing.

I made sure the door was locked before I made my way out of the dungeon and towards the loot shed. This delve had just been a test to see how things would go. Next time, I'd stay for longer and delve deeper.

I took my armor and weapons off, placing them in one of the empty boxes in the loot shed before heading inside to do some research and figure out how I would spend my points, not just the points I had now, but future levels. It never hurt to plan out ahead.

After a quick shower, I finished off the cold pizza from yesterday and sat down to do some quick internet research. The first thing I did was google what type of foods lasted the longest without expiring and would be best for me to take down into the dungeon. I made a list of foods as I looked and then moved on to the next topic of business. Having been raised by lawyers, I was the type who planned out ahead when he could, and so I brought up my status and had a look over my stats.

The first thing was getting everything to ten so that I could at least be average, so I spent fourteen of my points to get everything that wasn't at ten to ten but didn't confirm anything yet, and then I spent the next hour considering what to do. When it came to RPGs I tended to go for a glass cannon magic build but that wasn't viable as of yet and I didn't think it was the right move. I wanted to be able to do everything and not have weak spots so I decided that I would spread my points evenly for now. The remaining point I placed into constitution and then I confirmed everything.

The same numbness occurred as last time, but the following heat was ten times more powerful, though not unpleasant or painful. When all was said and done I felt stronger and more capable. A quick look in the full body mirror in my walk-in closet attached to my bedroom showed my physique had changed and instead of looking skinny, I looked normal, average, not fat nor skinny. My steps felt lighter and I just felt better than I had in a long time, brimming with confidence which was probably due to the charisma. It was nice to see the sense paying off since I truly did feel more aware of my surroundings than ever before.

I was worried that someone might notice until I realized that Maya and Evelyn hadn't spent that much time with me or seen me naked, and the changes weren't too crazy, though in the future it might be different. It would depend on how big the changes were.

With my points distributed I headed out of my home and called up a taxi. I could have taken my uncle's truck but I wasn't insured for it yet and no point in risking getting pulled over. I'd have to get that sorted soon. The town was small so it didn't take long for a local cab to arrive and I told him to take me to the largest grocery store in town. I was going to get what I needed and then head back into the dungeon to truly grind out some levels.