James woke up. Or at least he felt like he did. But when he woke up, he wasn't on his bed. He wasn't even in his room at all. He was in a completely black space.
"What is going on? I can't see anything. Am I dreaming?
James was confused for a moment.
"I know! I've read enough novels to know that when you don't know if you're in a dream, you should pinch yourself! If it hurts, you're not dreaming!"
James tried pinching himself, and felt a slight pain in his thigh. This should have proved that this was not a dream. But James was focused on something else.
"My 6 year old cousin could pinch harder than that! Am I really that weak?"
James took a big hit to his ego. He knew he was weak but didn't expect it to be this bad. But, he shook his head and focused back on what was around him.
"Wait, there's nothing here. Should I try shouting? I might as well, right? HELLOOOO! CAN ANYBODY HEAR M-ack"
James tried yelling, but started coughing halfway through. This was a sign of his terrible respiratory system. James took another massive hit to his ego. One might wonder what type of ego James could possibly have when he looked like a skin wrapped sack of bones, but they must remember that one of James' best skills was creative thinking.
"Ah, this must be a dream. That's the only explanation. There's no other way that my pinch would hurt so little and I would start coughing after yelling just a bit."
James didn't realize that he was grasping at straws here.
"Anyways, this is a dream. But, I am aware of it now. Is it a lucid dream? I need to check one more time."
James looked at his hands and pressed them together. They didn't pass through each other.
"…"
Wait, if this was a lucid dream, his hands should've passed through each other! What was happening? Was this not a dream? Then where was he?
"It doesn't matter. It must be a dream. That's the reason I am so weak here. I will treat it like a lucid dream. That means I can change this situation. CHANGE, DREAM! DO SOMETHING!"
James waited, but nothing happened. He shouted again, but nothing happened. This irked him. But, as he didn't know how to get out of this weird place, he had no choice but to wait. He tried walking in a direction, but nothing changed around him, because he couldn't see. James got the feeling that even though he was walking, he wasn't moving. Then, James got curious about what he was standing on.
"My feet are standing on something. Can I touch it with my hand?"
James squatted down and reached out his hand. But, at this moment, many things happened. As he was about to touch the "ground," that "ground" disappeared and he began falling. But at this moment, a blue light began glowing and nearly blinded James.
"Fuck!"
James uttered an obscene phrase and fell flat on his back. The ground didn't feel like anything at all. It just held him up. This information flowed through James' sense of touch and into his brain. But James didn't have any time to register this, because he heard a female voice speak.
[Keyword registered.]
"Wait, what do you mean keyword registered? What keyword?"
James had a bad premonition. But, at this moment, the blinding light from his pocket became much dimmer, but it didn't go out completely. James checked the source of the light.
"So it was this card huh."
The source of the light was the card that James had picked up earlier in the day. But now the card was glowing slightly.
"Wait, there's something printed on here. That's my name! 'James Lu, Dungeon Explorer, no floors cleared'? What is this? This is my dream? I don't think I did any drugs recently."
James was stunned. Then he tried tapping the card. All of a sudden, he heard the same female voice.
[Say keyword to commence dungeon exploration.]
James shivered.
"What do you mean keyword?"
[The keyword that was just registered]
"Can you tell me what that keyword is?"
[The keyword registered is "Fuck".]
James felt as if his soul was leaving him. This wasn't possible, was it?
"Wait, can you change the keyword?"
[No.]
James froze. He felt like raging. If he was in his room, he would've broken something in a fit of anger. Except he was still in the black space where there was nothing. He couldn't even break anything if he tried. This made him doubly angry. James tried to break the blue card in his hand, but he couldn't break it. It was unexpectedly resilient! This made him triply angry!
"Why is that my keyword!?!? Why can't I change it?!?!? Fuck!"
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he regretted saying them. Why?
[Commencing exploration.]
"Wait! I didn't mean it! Isn't this a dream anyways? What do you mean commencing exploration? Someone please tell...me....somethiiiiiiinnngggg...."
James' vision went blurry. He had experienced something like this before. Once, he stood up to leave class too fast and ended up fainting due to hypotension. This was like similar to that experience but much worse.
====================
James opened his eyes. He was on the floor, eagle spread. But unlike in the black space, he could feel the texture of the floor. It was stone.
"Ugh, where am I?"
James got up and dusted himself off. He was in the end of a stone corridor. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all made up of cobbled stones and glued together. Dim lights glowed on the ceiling and walls of the corridor. There was only one word to describe this sort of structure.
"Is this a dungeon? I can't believe my brain is so messed up and made me dream of something like this. Damn, my body feels really heavy for some reason."
[Welcome to the first floor of the dungeon. Use your ID card to check your stats. Magic stones may be exchanged for points at the dungeon shop. We, at the dungeon management facility, wish you luck.]
The female announcer's voice came out again.