"Okay, so tell me more about the 2nd floor. I'm thinking of diving into it soon."
James spoke to his group of senior explorers.
"What? You're not gonna spend more time on the 1st floor, waiting for good items or maybe more orbs?" Mike looked at him while feeding Leo the bear a magic stone.
"Exercise more," said Leah.
James looked up and down Leah's slim, delicate body. "I know your actual stats are probably more than enough to destroy a heavyweight wrestler, but I'm think you're the last person here who should tell me to work out."
"Exercise more," said Beck. He flexed his toned biceps.
"Exercise more," said Mike. He flexed his toned triceps.
"Exercise more," said Leah. She reached out with her foot, and placed it under James' chair. Then, she raised her leg, lifting him into the air.
I can't win, thought James. Or can I?
Once James was placed back onto the ground, he stuck out one leg and lifted up Leah in the same way.
"Oh shit, sorry! My bad!"
It would've been cooler if he was able to balance her on one leg, and not drop her on the ground. She caught herself before she hit the ground.
"Shiet man! You're not that weak anymore! How many orbs did you get?"
"I hit the 50 orb limit," James said. He also hid the fact that his muscles almost tore while he was lifting Leah. Apparently, after seeing his display of strength, the other 3 explorers forgot about the imbalance between his strength and defense.
"YOU HIT THE LIMIT?!" Mike and Beck screamed together. The four of them had a special table inside a soundproof booth. James suspected John set it up for them because they were way too loud. Was it his fault? James felt that he might be the reason why Beck and Mike tended to scream a lot.
James thought for a bit, and decided it wasn't worth hiding. He pulled out his status card.
"My luck stat is glitched. I don't know why, but I'm assuming it's the reason why I can obtain orbs like nobody's business."
{James Lu: Dungeon Explorer – Status Monitored
Cleared 1st Floor
Points: 1006
STR: 57
DEF: 2
END: 2
AGI: 2
INT: 42
LUK: 27*$!9
Skills: Intermediate Knife Throwing, Monster Taming
Tamed Beasts: Leonardo the Bear (Cub) }
James started with 1 strength point. He got 1 from the bonus for completing the 1st floor, as well as 5 from the tier 3 orb he got from his very first fight. The other 50 came from tier 1 orbs of strength.
In a single day, he had collected the last 3 orbs of strength that he needed. He would no longer grow from hunting on the 1st floor. He would need to go up to the 2nd, which was why he was asking his seniors about the 2nd floor.
Although he still had a long way to go before he became truly strong, he decided to take it one step at a time. Nothing good would happen when one was impatient in the dungeon.
"Damn, the hell is that? The dungeon can glitch?"
The 4 of them scratched their heads, but couldn't unravel any of the mysteries, like usual. They did have some fun speculating, though.
"Do you think this is a simulation? A program?"
"Then what language did the creators use?"
"English. Wait, Leah, do you hear dungeon announcements in English or Korean?"
"Korean."
"That means they use Google Translate."
"That's not what I meant by language!"
It was Mike, the responsible man, who brought the discussion back on track.
"Alright, that's weird, but, I think the glitch just means James can collect orbs much faster. That's kind of cheating, but whatever. Anyways, James, you asked about the second floor?"
Oh right. James forgot about the question he asked at the beginning of the conversation.
====================
The next day (technically night), James rechecked all of his equipment.
"Alright. Knife, check. Throwing knives, check. All 3 types of potions, check. Stock armor that I bought from the shop since my other one broke, check. Hermes' Kicks, which have an ability that uses mana that I don't know how to use, check. Holy Beanie, which gives me mana which I currently don't know how to use, check."
James hadn't been able to sense his own mana core, which meant he wasn't able to use magic, at least not in the normal way. The magic Leah, Beck, and Mike knew was based off of manipulating magical energy via the core. The core was important to the point where it could be viewed as almost a second heart, yet James couldn't find it. Thus, James didn't have a use for mana except when he was on Earth, where he could use mana to summon his items from the dungeon to Earth. James didn't know if this was a different type of spell, but the fact that he could summon his items proved that he did have mana.
However, despite not benefiting too much from the additional mana the beanie gave him, James still wore it. When he appraised it with the dungeon card, James was not able to see the name. Instead, it showed that most of its abilities were sealed. This made him feel that there was more to this item than it seemed.
Also, through a series of coincidences which James would not disclose to the general public, he found out that the beanie was actually a really good helmet. It cushioned against blows and distributed impact very well. This made James even more suspicious of the item, as a normal beanie would not survive getting slammed by Mike's mace. Do not worry – James was not wearing the beanie at the time.
James had also learned what he needed to know from his senior explorers:
Imps were very low tier demons. In general, they were fast, nimble creatures that lacked strong attacks and defense. This meant that an explorer could heal shallow wounds with potions. Some were capable of flight, but the dungeon halls on the second floor were narrow, which meant that their flight abilities were greatly restricted.
Imps usually appeared in groups of 2 to 4, but had no intelligence. They didn't use group tactics, and would blindly charge at you when they saw you, making them relatively easy to deal with. They attacked with their sharp claws, and if you weren't careful, you could get their eyes gouged out.
The boss for the 2nd floor was a low ranked demon, with 2 imps by its side. A low ranked demon was basically a goblin with horns, except for the fact that they're not green. A low ranked demon was actually a bit weaker than the goblin warrior on the 1st floor. But, unlike on the 1st floor, on the 2nd floor, you had to fight 3 enemies at once, even if two of them were weaker.
"Unfortunately, this means I won't be able to cheese this floor like the last one, which worries me. Since the last guy won't sit there and wait for me."
James was worried about this, which is why he brought a spear. The goblin warrior with a spear had given him some headaches, so he decided it was a good idea to get a long range weapon. It was a bit too heavy for him to wield with dexterity, but he would be able to stab something in the air without a problem. From the dungeon shop, the basic spear cost just 300 points. To James, who was constantly raking in points from exploring every night, that just meant the Leo the Bear had a bit less to eat for a couple days. Poor Leo.
"Alright then." James stood up and took a deep breath. He was ready, or at least as ready as he'd ever be.
"Commence Exploration. 2nd Floor"
[Keyword Needed to Authorize Command]
"Fuck."