Dungeon Time

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Garrett Newbrough;

________________________________________________________________________________________

The next day was a tiring experience, as neither me nor my parents got much sleep that night due to our dungeon crawling, but I managed to head out and enchant an item for free. A man by the name of Heril got called, and offered his pickaxe to be enchanted. A simple durability enchantment, followed by a force multiplication enchantment on the tips didn't take long, with my new awakenings. We returned, sixteen more gold in our bag, and unloaded without issue. Then, mother requested Vaquin and I into her study, where she was waiting with a woman in dark garb.

"Oh, my boy~!" Mother squealed, rushing over and picking me up in a tight hug. "How did your day go?"

"Good," I nodded. "Everything went smoothly, and I didn't have to see the recipient of the free enchantment, this time. It was wrought-iron, too, so it didn't take nearly as long to enchant."

"That's good," she nodded. "Well, let's get down to business. Come, sit, both of you!" We sat in the chairs she had gestured to, while the unknown woman stepped forward."This is Anir Bledren, an assassin and spy for the crown. She will be going with you two into the dungeon."

"Wait, dungeon?" Vaquin blinked in surprise, looking between me and my mother. "He's less than eleven months old... Pardon me for saying this, but you can't really be sending him into the dungeon at his age!"

"You are pardoned," mother smiled cheekily. "And yes, I am. You see, he attained his sixth awakening last night, and showed me and his father a rather interesting aspect of his blessing. Son, if you could...?"

[<Rel Eil> Added to Party!]

[<Anir Bledren> Added to Party!]

[<Whinn Vaquin> Added to party!]

[Skill <ID Create> Leveled Up! (3/100)]

We appeared in the starter clearing for the Nymph instant dungeon, making Vaquin flinch. Anir narrowed her eyes, but remained still. "This is a dungeon I can create on command," I said. "It is so weak that I could take on the monsters within when I was only a month old, which I did."

"Scared the living daylights out of us," mother grumbled.

Vaquin simply stood there, mouth agape as he processed everything. The kid could create dungeons? He had done so when he was a month old? He had fought monsters all on his own? Hell, he had reached his sixth awakening, already?! He couldn't believe any of this, but it was all so within my character that he couldn't deny it. Plus, the Queen, herself, was espousing to its truthfulness.

"Alistair feels discontent, being weak. He wants to grow stronger, and he can do that simply by killing monsters, as a part of his blessing. The job I'm giving you both, right now, is to follow him, and make sure he isn't killed. Let him kill the monsters, and step in only if he is about to die. You are both very capable fighters, short and long distance, so I expect nothing but the best from you both!" Mother explained, pointing at them with a glare.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Anir said quietly and firmly, no expression showing on her face.

Vaquin opened and closed his mouth like a fish for a few moments before shaking his head and nodding. "Yes, Your Majesty..."

"Good!" mother grinned. "Son, you can send me out, now, and please do be back before bedtime. I don't want a repeat of last night, as much fun as I know it can be."

"Of course, mother," I nodded. "Farewell; I love you!"

"I love you too, son," she grinned blushing like a schoolgirl. I kicked her from my party, causing her to be expelled from the dungeon, back into the outside world.

"This is for real, isn't it…" Vaquin mumbled to himself, looking around. He knelt and felt the grass, then smelled the air. "Holy shit…" A pebble was launched through the air, striking Vaquin in the temple hard enough for a crack to sound. Of course, it did minimal damage, but it sent a message. "Hey!" He looked to Anir, "What was that for?!"

"Her Majesty has ordered me to strike you, whenever you swear in front of his highness," she said, tone even. I chortled at the expression on the knight's face.

"What are you laughing at, punk?" He demanded, glaring at me. Only for another pebble to hit him in the forehead. "Agh! I get it, stop throwing things at me!"

Anir looked to me. "We will follow your lead, Your Highness," she nodded.

I smiled and set off down the path, generating a sphere of flames above my palm as I walked. I could tell that this was going to be a lot of fun!

*****

We walked for a couple hours, killing any Vine Whip and Young Ent we came across, before entering into a wide clearing. A large tree sat in the middle of the clearing, with no other shrubbery around it for fifty meters. I immediately used <Observe > on it, blinking in surprise.

[Adult Ent*]

LVL: 30

Health Status: 5000/5000 (+10%/m)

Mana Status: 300/300 (+2%/m)

Stamina Status: 8000/8000 (+10%/m)

"Okay, that's an Adult Ent," I said, pointing at the tree. "Miniboss time, it seems."

"Miniboss?" Vaquin questioned.

"My terminology for the big guys among the small guys, before the really big guy at the end," I said.

"Mid-floor bosses," Anir offered.

"Oh," Vaquin nodded.

"Anyways," I said. "I can take it."

"How can you tell?" Anir asked.

"I can determine the strength of something, to a degree, via my blessing," I said, glancing at her.

[Anir Bledren]

Race: Human;

Titles: Third Hek-Netir;

Age: 31

Rank: Human*** (1.6x)

Affinities: Shadow; Water; Earth;

Level: 301 (77%)

Health Status: 14440/14440

Mana Status: 9630/9630 (18/m) (7th)

Stamina Status: 14440/14440

Body: 1444(903) (+3/)

Mind: 963(602) (+2/)

Spirit: 481(301) (+1/)

Status: Content.

Thoughts On You: Curiosity; Duty; Awe; Platonic Infatuation (You are Cute);

"I can see that you're past your seventh awakening," I said as an example. "I can see that the Ent over there heals entirely in ten minutes, and that you have almost three-times as much vitality as it does. I can see that you and Sir Vaquin are on the same level, physiologically, even if you have different skill sets."

"And how do you compare?" She asked.

"I'm about… one-fourteenth of your strength," I said. "Physically speaking. Magically, I'm about half as strong as you. At least, as far as raw power goes. I still haven't figured out tethering, and I've been trying for weeks!"

"It usually takes months to learn tethering…" she muttered, glancing at the tree. "Very well, if you say you can take it, I will allow you to try."

"What she said, I guess," Vaquin frowned. He didn't like hearing that he, a knight, was on the same physical level as a rogue.

I smiled and started towards the tree, raising my <Mana Infusion> to a solid fifty per-second and increasing the size of the fireball before condensing it, physically. The flames went from orange to white as I fueled them with my mana, compressing them into a space too small for them to properly burn, increasing their heat tremendously. 

Once I got about twenty meters from the Ent, it started moving. Cracks in the wood opened to reveal a gaping maw and piercing eye sockets, which locked onto me immediately. The branches in its canopy shifted to form six arms, complete with bushy fingers, that opened and closed. The mouth curled up into a smile as it ripped itself from the earth, sending dirt through the air to reveal four legs made of roots, which crashed into the ground loudly, denting the soft soil with the Ent's weight.

"Hello, big guy," I smiled, bringing the condensed sphere of flames next to me and placing my other hand over it for greater control. "My friend Goku called, and he wants to show you a technique…"

"Kame…" I mumbled, extending the field containing the fire out in a cylinder towards the ent without releasing the flames. "Hame…" a grin twisted my face as I poured three-thousand mana into the sphere. "Ha!" I released it, causing a beam of borderline-plasma to burst forward and strike the tree right in its stupid mouth.

Its magic-absorbent barrier took some of the hit before being overloaded in that area, allowing the full force of the attack through. The magical, living wood, harder to burn than normal, dead wood, dried up and burned beneath the might of my attack, drilling a hole through the Ent and out the back, dealing enough damage to kill it instantly.

[Adult Ent* (LVL 30) Killed!]

+465 EXP

+1395 SC

+1 <Gacha Token>

[Level Up!]

+2 STR, CON, END, DEX, CHA, LCK

+4 WIS

+5 Stat Points

+6 INT

+250 SC

+1 <Gacha Token>

It collapsed, releasing its amalgam limbs back into branches and roots, a gaping, burning hole where its face used to be. "Now, that's how it's done!" I laughed, taking out a token a biting it as I allocated my new points.

[Rolling 2x Gacha Token…]

[Rolling…]

[Entry 197 and 105 Rolled…]

[<Spirit Rite> and <1d8 LVL Fruit> Added to {Inventory}!]

<Spirit Rite>

Face the rite of passage.

<1d8 LVL Fruit>

A fruit that will raise the consumer's level by 1d8. Tastes like perfect dragonfruit.

' That's great! ' My eyes widened. ' Potentially eight more levels, just like that?! Potentially eight more gacha rolls, too! '

"What was that, if I may ask?" Anir asked as she approached, Vaquin at her side with a slack jaw.

"That was a technique I like to call the Kamehameha," I said, turning with a grin on my face. "Consensing energy as much as possible, then releasing it in a beam on a target."

"And the coin?" She asked. I cooked my head to the side and smiled innocently.

"It's my lucky coin~! I picked it out of the ones we got today!"

Vaquin snorted. "How is it lucky if you only got it doing business?"

"It reminds me of how lucky I am to have such good family and friends," I said genuinely, though I was really talking about everything, rather than the token. Every single thing I did and experiences reminded me of how lucky I was to be living this second life, something my parents were all too happy to remind me of the previous night, while we were wandering the dungeon.

Anir's cheeks actually redened at my words, for some reason, while Vaquin looked at me blankly. "Reminds me that you're just a kid," he said dryly. "Either way, don't get sick biting random coins. Nobody knows where those things have been."

"Smells like poop," I joked, turning so they couldn't see my smile. I could practically hear their open mouths as I walked away. I glanced over my shoulder with a wink, making them realize I was only jesting.

After I stored the dead Adult Ent, we continued down the path for a short while, not encountering any enemies, before coming across what appeared to be a treehouse. Only, the tree had grown around the house, in a circle, forming natural windows and doors. A vine ladder led up into it. Sensing nothing inside through mana, I climbed the ladder and poked my head in, finding a campfire sitting upon magically-warded bark in the center.

[Safe Zone Reached!]

*You can teleport between safe zones via <ID Create>*

"Cool," I said, looking around. "Well," I turned back towards my two attendants, "I think this is a good stopping point, for the day. I want to do some studying before bedtime, so we can pick back up, here, tomorrow!"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Anir nodded. Vaquin only shrugged. I brought us out of the dungeon and back into mother's study, where she was still hard at work.

[Skill <ID Escape> Leveled Up! (3/100)]

"Back already?" She asked, getting up and coming over to inspect me. "Did you get hurt at all? How many things did you kill?"

"We killed sixty-four things before we got to the big Ent, then I took it down all on my own!" I said proudly, puffing my chest out. 

She grinned and ruffled my hair, making my ears flop. "Good! I'm glad to see you didn't sustain any damage. Did you end up eating the food I had you bring?"

"Yup," I nodded. "I ate the porridge and potatoes."

"Alright; go find Ilyor, and you can do whatever you want until it's time for bed," she said, releasing me and backing up a step. "I still have some paperwork to do, so I'll see you tonight," she smiled widely.

*****

That night, after reading about the economical history of Eilon spanning the past fifty years, I finally got about to eating the level fruit. Once again, I tricked Ilyor into getting me some juice, which I would probably need to wash away the taste of dragonfruit. I ate it in record time, finding that it tasted a thousand times better than the one I'd eaten before.

[Bonus!]

+6 LVL

[Level Up!]

+12 STR, CON, END, DEX, CHA, LCK

+24 WIS

+30 Stat Points

+36 INT

+1500 SC

+6 <Gacha Tokens>

' Hell yeah! ' I grinned, taking out a token and biting it.

[Rolling 6x Gacha Token…]

[Rolling…]

[Entry 195, 24, 82, 68, 127, and 172 Rolled…]

[<Dusk Crown Ring>, <Ancient Dragon Soul Fragment>, <Stand Arrow>, <Celestial Sigil>, <Omniversal Sheet Music>, and <Summon Card: Ben Kenobi> Added to {Inventory}!]

<Dusk Crown Ring>

+25% max MP; -15% max HP.

<Ancient Dragon Soul Fragment>

A physical fragment of an ancient dragon's soul.

<Stand Arrow>

An arrow forged from a meteorite. Contains a virus strong enough to either force out someone's fighting spirit in the form of a stand, or to kill. Only works on mortal-class entities. An entity can only have one stand. If used on a stand user, it will grant their normal stand a new ability to overcome whatever they are currently dealing with, but this effect is permanent. If used upon an already-existing stand, it will bring forth that stand's 'requiem' form, which gains power according to what its user needs at the time. This is a temporary effect.

<Celestial Sigil>

A large, gem-inlaid disk, which can be used to summon the Moon Lord.

Recommended Level: 1500

<Omniversal Sheet Music>

A book containing the sheet music for every song ever written by the Humans of Earth.

<Summon Card: Ben Kenobi>

Summon card for Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Master of the Jedi Order. He is a very capable duelist and user of the force.

Okay, going through it in order. First, a ring that wouldn't be as OP in Dark Souls I as it was for my purposes, would bring my MP up to 6,087, when I was wearing it, but lower my health to 1,020. It would only get stronger as I leveled up INT, but so would its detrimental effect against my HP as I leveled CON. Needless to say, I could go without 180 HP, for the time being, so I put it on.

Second, the <Ancient Dragon Soul Fragment>, which I could use in that race change potion alongside the phoenix feather, if I wanted to.

Third, the <Stand Arrow> from Jojo's Bizarre Adventures. With it, and a strong enough willpower, I could give myself and anyone else I stab with it a stand. Fortunately, the process would be easy for anyone with their sixth awakening to survive, meaning I could do it right now, if I wanted to. That, and I would be able to heal away the damage in minutes, if I didn't accidentally kill myself.

Fourth, a <Celestial Sigil>, from Terraria. With it, I could summon the final boss of the vanilla game. It was a stressful fight when you had the second-best armor and weapons in the game, so I couldn't imagine facing frickin' Cthulhu - emaciated as he was - in real life. Seeing that thing in three dimensions could not be a pretty sight.

Fifth, a sheet music book containing all the sheet music humanity ever wrote, including the end of Mozart's requiem, which he apparently finished in his head. Even beyond classical music, it contained everything from pop music to tribal ritual songs. Pretty cool.

Sixth, a summon card for frickin' Obi-Wan Kenobi. Arguably the third-greatest Jedi to ever live, behind Yoda and Luke. The concept of a summon card did bring up a moral dilemma, however. Did the system forcefully pull them from their universe? Did it brainwash them into serving me? Did they not wish to serve me at all?

[I scan the omniverse for a version of the character that will serve you willingly, and pull a copy of that version into your world.]

The answer came so suddenly that I jumped, but I nodded appreciatively. ' Good, so I won't be forcing them into anything. '

"Okay~! Time for bed~!" Mother dragged father into the room and threw him into the bed like a doll before coming over and picking me up in an embrace. "Goodnight, Alistair; I love you~!"

"I love you too, mother; father." I smiled up at her as she set me down.

"Don't go too hard on yourself with your magic training, tonight~," she walked over to the bed and hopped in, falling asleep as if she'd taken anesthesia.

Father sighed and smiled at me. "Goodnight, son."

"Goodnight, father," I replied. He went to sleep, and I continued practicing with my <Fire Manipulation>.