First Dungeon

I woke up with my face in my carpet. My nose really hurt, and whenever I touched it I felt a sharp pain.

[User has gained 12 gold for exercising.]

I can't believe I fainted and broke my nose... What got into me? I just got so focused on doing the movements I didn't pay attention to my own health. I need to be more careful, I could seriously hurt myself. At least I gained some gold.

Maybe I should get a membership at a training gym. Gyms were different in this world, they were not a place where you went to lift weights to look better, they had combat training. Punching bags, obstacle courses, all sorts of things to train someone to fight in life or death situations.

It was, however, expensive. Mainly young heirs of large companies went there, or just people with money in general. I would like to go sometime, however for now I couldn't afford it. I went to the bathroom, and looked at the state of my nose.

"Yup. It's broken. God, I must have fell straight down."

I was currently touching my nose, I wasn't sure how long it would take to heal, but I would just go to a temple tomorrow before I go to the dungeon. Getting something like this healed at a temple required you to pay anywhere between 5-20 gold. It was a lot, considering it was such a small amount of the priest's mana.

Temples were just the name of an organization, who's big purpose was to provide healing, of course it wasn't free. It wasn't really a religious place, it was more of a hospital or even a clinic if it was a small temple. They were bloodsucking bastards though. I remembered when my parents died, and the only reason they died was because they couldn't afford the treatment of an illness they had.

I disliked the fact that this society had such a huge focus on monetary value. It was ironic that I had gotten the Greed system, especially when I felt Greed was one of the worst sins. As my hands were balled up tightly into fists, I felt a tail brush up against my leg, causing me to relax a bit.

"Thanks Marley.. You're probably here because you're hungry. Since it's my birthday, let's splurge a little!"

I smiled and looked up a number online. I found a place that delivered fried chicken, and ordered enough for the two of us.

When it arrived I once again sat down at my small one person table, and ate together with Marley. I began to think how my life had changed since yesterday night. Yesterday night I was sitting here feeling lonely and hopeless, however today I was feeling happy. I wasn't weighed down by the burden of money, and I had a path ahead of me with my talent.

I cleaned up for the night, and went to sleep. Tomorrow's results would determine if I were going to continue my job as a garbage collector.

**** **** ****

After waking up, I gathered all my gear and headed to the closest temple. After begrudgingly paying for my nose to get fixed, I left the temple in a hurry.

I went to the market and purchased a scroll that enchanted my weapon with poison. I unfortunately got found as a greenhorn in trading, and ended up having to pay 200 ND for the scroll. I would get my revenge for getting scammed today, but I had to focus on the dungeon for now.

I left the city walls, and followed the GPS coordinates of the dungeon. It didn't take long, only a 30 minute walk outside the city. The new phone I had bought had been a lifesaver in many ways. I was able to look things up from anywhere, and I could always get direction. The phone was powered by a small mana crystal, so it's battery life was several months of constant use. If I used it sparingly I could make it last for a year before having to replace the crystal inside.

The dungeon entrance was a large glowing portal. It was in the middle of the forest, and there was a kiosk next to it. This felt so out of place, I was taken aback momentarily. I walked up to the kiosk, and swiped my Exploration card, which then told me I had one reserved spot in the dungeon. I could enter now, and they would know that I had actually gone inside.

I entered the portal, and I was immediately transported to a dark hallway. I took out the mana powered flashlight I had bought, and began to walk through the hallway. The hallways was wide, and there were a few turns here and there, I decided to begin by walking forward for a while, to attract the attention of a few of the slimes..

After 10 minutes of walking, the fruits of my labor finally paid off, as I heard a squishing sound from in front of me. I pointed my flashlight and saw a small blue slime bouncing towards me. I set my flashlight down, and tore the scroll I bought. My longsword then shone a slight hue of green, and I knew it had taken effect because I was slightly dizzy. Scrolls still required mana to use, however you did not need to be proficient with spells to use them.

Before it could bounce again, I swung my sword in an amateur way, wide and I even lost my footing towards the end. I hit the slime in the center.

[You have killed a slime!]

[Exp: 10/100]

Okay, that fortunately worked out. I had slipped after I killed the slime, and was covered in the slime after the core that held it together was destroyed. Thankfully, I hadn't hurt myself. I looked around and didn't see any byproducts that would be worth anything, so I moved on.

I ran into eight more slimes and was slowly getting better at managing my balance. I tried to focus on keeping my sword moving in a straight line, controlling the speed the whole time. I knew it was only the basics of a downward swing but it was hard nonetheless. As I became more familiar with it, my confidence continued to rise. I was feeling good about myself, I only needed to kill another slime and I would level up.

With each level up came an increase of 1 to all of your stats, with a random stat being given an additional point. That stat would be your "Main Stat" which often defined the role someone would build into. People with high Intellect were typically mages or priests, high strength led to warriors and sometimes certain Frontline tanks, Constitution led to people who were dedicated tanks, and high Agility led to people who dealt fast attacks or moves quickly like rogues or assassins.

I would find out my main stat after this next slime.

And would you look at that, I saw a slime slowly bouncing towards me. I waited for it to be in the air, and when it was I swung towards it. I followed the path it fell in, and my sword landed as the slime landed on the ground.

[You have leveled up.]

[Congratulations to user for reaching Level 2!]

[Reward-

Random Skill Book.]

[Level: 2

Gold: 5

Strength: 2

Constitution: 2

Agility: 3

Dexterity: 2

Intellect: 2

Wisdom: 2

Charm: 2

Influence :6]

It seemed I had Agility as my main stat, which meant I would be better off focusing on hit and run tactics. I also decided I would use the skill book, and see what skill I would get.

I held my hand over the skillbook, and it exploded with light. Typically you could read the skill that the book contained, however this one was random so it was a blank book. After the light faded, I saw a message.

[You have learned Pierce (Passive).]

[Pierce] [0/10]

All attacks now hold innate piercing capabilities. Able to Pierce 1% of a target's defense.

This ability had levels as well, which was great because that meant it would get stronger the more I used it. I was glad to have gained this, although 1% was not much, think about how I can stack passives, and that number could become significant in the future.

I was going to continue training, since I just received a little boost to my mood with my level up, so I decided to keep it rolling. Dungeons would continue to produce monsters until the core was destroyed, and this dungeon was one that was being maintained. Allowing it to stay, allowed people to come here to train. I looked at my phone, I had reserved this dungeon for another two hours so I had to get moving. I was determined to make the most of my time.