Chereads / Fresh Spawn / Chapter 4 - The Depths

Chapter 4 - The Depths

"William, Jenny, let's move! There's no point in staying here any longer." said Jonathan. William and Jenny went back to the staircase, and the trio descended, with Jonathan once again taking the lead. As they descended the staircase, William looked further down the stairs, catching a small glimpse of light.

"Is that a torch?" said William.

"What?"

"I see a light down there, it's very weak but it's still barely visible. Why would there be a torch around here?"

"Perhaps the Dungeon Master likes to keep some sort of light in the Dungeon?"

"Please Jenny, you really think a Dungeon master named Grak has the intellect to do that?" teased William.

"Its name is Thrak"

"Who the fuck cares?"

"Shush you two, I hear something coming from near that torch. Be ready or you'll be sorry." hissed Jonathan.

"Speak for yourself big boy, nothing can't be done with these baby's right here!" William pulled his sleeves up and flexed his biceps, Jenny rolled her eyes while Jonathan let out a small chuckle. "So you don't need your shield or sword then? Give em to me then, they'll sell for a hefty price." said Jonathan.

"I need these so I can protect you lot from breaking apart as soon as you get love-tapped by whatevers down here".

"So your "baby's" can't protect us? so much for "Nothing can't be done with these baby's right here"" said Jenny.

"...Ok fine, almost nothing".

Jonathan chuckled again, and soon after they reached the bottom of the staircase. They looked around and saw a large corridor leading deeper into the Dungeon, which made them even more cautious. On the way Jonathan checked for traps, while William went inside the few odd small rooms to check if there was anything valuable to take.

"There's nothing in these rooms, no weapons, no armour, no spell books, nothing at all!" exclaimed William. He was getting quite fed up from this Dungeon. Normally thered be something worth at least a few copper coins by now, but until now he didn't find anything.

"You sure this is a Dungeon Jenny? there's nothing valuable here! In fact, there's nothing at all!"

"I found a book, and yes it is a Dungeon. Not every Dungeon has loot at the start you troglodyte, if only you listened to the conversation me and Jonathan had with the receptionist, then you wouldn't be so unaware of how dungeons work."

"Troglowhat?"

"Troglodyte"

"What does that m- nevermind. Listen here little girl, I explore Dungeons so that I can kill, get xp, and loot. I don't care about your fancy Dungeons layout nonsense that you Mages always blabber about. I'm here to get xp and loot, so you and Jo deal with the rest."

"How am I a little girl? were all 18 you know, I wouldn't call that little."

"I don't care, hand me that book will you? Let's see if there's a skill I can learn here".

Of course you don't, thought Jenny. She extended her hand out and he snatched the book from her hands. William flipped through the entire book, he knew that skill and spell books would normally have one page or two hidden in the book with the skill or spell in it, so he looked carefully. However, no matter how many times he flipped through the book, he couldn't anything.

"Great, I've just wasted my time flipping through a stupid book. Did you do this in purpose?"

"I didn't even get time to properly look at the book, so I don't know! Give it here, maybe there's something at the back cover of the book." "Jenny took the book off of William, and turned the book around, and brushed off dust particles which looked like had accumulated on the book for many years.

There was writing in what looked to be written in the common tongue, and Jenny slowly read it out. "Bright light have key, key open door."

[Congratulations, you have found a book which guides to a treasure. Quest added in Quest log.]

Both William and Jenny opened their quest lists, and as they were browsing through, Jonathan came running towards them. "Did you guys get a Quest as well?" said Jonathan.

"Yeah I think we all did" said Jenny. Jonathan opened his Quest log and viewed the recent Quest.

[Quest: Find the tome of knowledge]

[Quality: Rare]

[Reward: Xp, Knowledge]

"Damn, this is the first time I get a Quest like this, and it's rare too?" said William. "I get that there's xp, but what does it mean by knowledge?"

"I guess we'll find out won't we?" said Jonathan. "What's on the book anyway, some sort of riddle?"

"It looks like it, but it sounds like a terrible riddle. All we need to find out is the bright light, and the only bright light I see here is the torch, let's go check it out".

"If the key is in that torch, I'm not gonna be the one to put his hands in there" said William.

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Meanwhile, a certain Bogghart recieved a notification.

[Intruders acquired book of the tome of knowledge]

"Hmm? Ehh stupid knowledge, Thrak don't need. Thrak already smart! Pinky flesh will die when I bring strong lobroks." The Bogghart descended further into the Dungeon.

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"Ok we're here, William,put your hand in there and take out the key." said Jonathan.

"Didn't I just say a few moments ago I was not gonna be the one to do that? why don't you guys do it?."

"Because our clothes are flammable and we don't have much armour, while you have more armour and your chainmail isn't flammable."

"Alright I'll do it, but if I burn my hand you're gonna go give me one of those potions on you?"

"Deal"

William lifted his hand and quickly dove it into the small torch fire, he felt a small bump at the side, so he quickly grabbed it and pulled his hand out.

"Here, is this the key?" said William.

"I think it is, the book said there was a door somewhere here, I'll start by looking near the torch while y- what do you want Jonathan?"

"I found it"

"The door?

"I found a keyhole"

"How'd you find it so quickly?"

"While I was searching for traps I found it. I was heading your way to tell you and then a notification popped up."

"We'll go on then, take us to it" Said William, anxious to find out what was behind the door.

the trio walked further into the corridor, where they noticed that rats started appearing out of holes in the walls.

"Euhhh Rats! I told you we would find some! Kill it quickly, kill it NOW!" screamed William.

"All right all right, just keep quiet. You're gonna attract the monsters." Jonathan went towards the rats and started stabbing in the holes, which caused the rats to burrow back into the holes.

"Alright this is where the key is, give it to me for a second." said Jonathan. Jenny handed the key to Jonathan, who then proceeded to feel the stone wall with his hands, until he felt a small indent. He pushed the key into the indent, and the trio heard clicking and creaking from inside the wall. A section of the wall was descended into the ground, and what the trio saw was an even smaller corridor than before.

The trio had to squeeze through the corridor, shuffling about and slightly grazing their forearms.

"This reminds me of the Feliq area in the city. There's always little kids that pickpocket adults, and then use the tight spaces to escape."

"Cool story William, can you be quiet now? we don't know if there's a monster lurking nearby, and if we happened to alert one, I'm sure you understand how hard it would be to get out of here." said Jonathan. He was leading the group so he was the person currently in most danger, and frankly he didn't want to be done in because of William's talking.

"The corridors getting wider, I think we're getting pretty close to this "tome of knowledge. Keep following me."

As the adventurers travelled through the tight squeezes, the space began to widen and after a while of dragging their bodies on the wall, they entered into a small room. The room didn't contain much, other than a stone slab at the back of it.

"Jenny it's getting really dark in here, can you use one of your spells to light it up a bit?" said Jonathan.

"Sure, just give me a sec. *Illuminate*"

The once pitch black room turned bright, and a yellow wisp floated up in the middle of the room, causing the darkness to crawl back into the shadows.

"Let's see here, this stone slab reads "Tome of knowledge, infuse mana to activate." Since you're the best at controlling mana Jenny, I think you should do this."

As Jenny infused her mana, the writing started to fade away, and what came next was a surprise for all.

[Tome of knowledge consumed. INT +2]

[By consuming the tome of knowledge, you have gained the skill ]

".... we just hit the jackpot" said Jenny.

"I havent gained intellect that quickly since I was 5, and as well? Does this mean we can access the status of some things?" said Jonathan.

"This means we don't have to appraise our items anymore right, that will be quite beneficial for us. William? what are you doing over there?"

"...."

"Will"

"I think he's upset about getting an intellect boost rather than strength or vitality. Even though he'll be a bit smarter, Intellect does not have any effect on his class as a knight." said Jonathan.

"Let's see what happens if I infuse it again."

[Entity may only use this specific tome once.]

"Makes sense"

"Let's check our status to see if our intellect has changed"

All adventurers chanted the word "status"

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Name:Jennifer Whistlewood

Race: Human

Gender:Female

Class: Mage (Light)

Level: 17

Attributes:

Strength:5

Vitality:10

Agility: 7

Intellect:41

Will:32

Stats:

Hp: 200(50)

Mana: 500(70)

Stamina: 150(50)

Skills:

Items:

(+50 health)

(+50 mana)

(+50 stamina)

(1.25× casting speed, 10% mana usage reduction +20 mana)

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Name:Jonathan Windemere

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Class: Rogue

Level: 21

Attributes:

Strength:12

Vitality:10

Agility: 19

Intellect:27

Will:18

Stats:

Hp: 250(100)

Mana: 175

Stamina: 420 (100)

Skills:

Items:

(+80 health)

(+50 stamina +20 health)

(+50 stamina)

(+1 Dagger Mastery, 13% chance "poisoned effect")

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Name:William Karzjac

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Class: Knight(Warden)

Level: 23

Attributes:

Strength:33

Vitality:25

Agility: 8

Intellect:15

Will:12

Stats:

Hp: 425(250)

Mana: 100

Stamina: 350 (100)

Skills:

Items:

(+250 health)

(+50 stamina)

(+50 stamina)

(27% chance "bleeding effect")

(Blunt damage, 45% chance "stunned" effect)

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