Merrick opened his eyes to find himself back in his cell. He might not have died but he had lost consciousness and as far as the game was concerned, that was grounds for a respawn. Several notifications waited in front of him. Rather than hurrying back through the previous steps, he took his time to read them.
Due to initial risk-taking, the class feat Precise Control has been unlocked.
Precise Control: Mages with this feat no longer suffer a penalty associated with casting a spell without a spellcaster's focus.
Due to spell choice, would you like to keep the summoned elemental as a permanent minion or accept the class change: Adept (Earth)? Minion / Class Change
Upon your first return to the Starting Position due to death or loss of consciousness, all negative statuses were removed. Remember that further loss while under the effect of negative statuses may not remove the effect and may have additional repercussions.
Merrick selected to keep his summoned elemental instead of taking a class change and closed out of the rest of the notifications. It was still too early in the game to pick a specialization, even if he could technically change it later. As soon as he had selected to keep the dust mephit as a permanent minion, it appeared in his cell next to him. The dust mephit's impish features were only accentuated by the enhancements that Merrick had given it.
Another notification popped up:
Would you like to name your minion? Whether you grant it a name or not, this mephit will be summoned first when attempting to summon a dust mephit.
"Crudle."
Dust Mephit has been named Crudle.
Crudle has been assigned as your primary minion.
Crudle receives a 25% boost to all attributes and actions so long as they are following orders.
Now that his field of vision was clear of notifications, Merrick ordered Crudle to guard the entrance to his cell. It was not likely that something would happen, but Merrick was not sure if his surroundings were reset upon his respawn or if there would be lasting effects. Once Crudle was in place, Merrick went to retrieve the journal from under his mattress.
It was gone.
After a quick moment of panic, he found it tucked away on his avatar. The dagger, the potions, and the key, however, had been returned to the Starter Gear cache. He retrieved them and took a moment to study them before proceeding. Since he had used the potions and discovered their effect on his own, now he was given some information from the system in the form of a notification.
Sorcery Boosting Potion: The liquid within this vial is actually concentrated magical energy. Upon drinking the potion, the next spell that the user releases will be granted a boost. This effect can only be learned through use or through the Alchemist's class skill Potion Master.
The dagger was also more interesting than Merrick had originally noticed. However, he was not able to learn anything more about it than what he could visually see. There were runes laid along the blade. Due to his real-world studies, he could tell that they were from the same character set and language as the sigils that made up the lightning bolt's Incantation but the exact characters were different.
If the vial could only be identified through the Alchemist's class skill or through use, Merrick figured that the dagger had a similar requirement. He tucked the Starter Gear away and pulled the journal back out.
Rather than skim through the notes left behind, he committed what little information he was given to memory. Once that was done, he was able to piece together a few of the notes to learn something about the enemies he encountered.
The golems that he had fought were Sentry Golems, he already knew that though. The new information about them was that the first golem was set to watch the hallway for disturbances, such as a cell door opening and a prisoner escaping. Every six hours it would leave its position and patrol the hallway for an hour before returning to its post.
Beyond that door was a control room where two more sentry golems that Merrick had already encountered waited on standby. They would only act if the first golem went offline. The interesting note was the guard that he encountered was not a standard guard. Instead it was called a Golem Operator and was more of a Technician than an Enchanter.
Golem Operators could control up to five Sentry Golems at a time. They were also equipped with a random magical wand that always had an effect focused on containing other magic users. The most common was a Wand of Dispel and the least common was a Wand of Binding. More importantly, they were technically a support class and only fought effectively behind their golems.
Merrick would need to go on the offensive to take them out. If he played a similar role behind his minion, it could turn into a stalemate while reinforcements came to the Golem Operator's aid. It also meant that the next Golem Operator might not have the same wand that caught Merrick's eye. The Arcane Binding would have been a good weapon to keep hidden for the future.
As he was flipping through the journal a small piece of canvas fell from the binding. At first he thought the journal had been damaged, but then he realized that it had been tucked away by the fellow mage that left it for him. It was similar to the Gate to Cage seal that served as Merrick's way to teleport back to the cell if needed.
At the top of the seal was written: Summon Aid. Just like his other seal, this one had instructional text at the bottom. Rather than activate with a thumbprint, this seal required the canvas to be burned to ash. Unfortunately that made it a one-off item. The trade-off for use, however, was that a Powerful Ally would be summoned to grant an aiding action to the user.
The effect was just vague enough that Merrick knew he would need to save it as a last resort. He folded the canvas back up and tucked it into the last page of the journal. At worst, it would save him some time on a menial task. On the other hand, if there was some kind of Sage class that could copy seals for reuse, patience might be the greater virtue.
Once he had finished reading, Merrick opened up his Knowledge Archive to see if anything had changed. There had already been an inkling of suspicion in his mind, so when it was confirmed, Merrick was not too upset. According to the game's logic, simply skimming through a book or page of text was not going to be enough to commit it to the Knowledge Archive, at least not for now. Things might be different for a scholar-type class, but for Merrick, his perusing through the journal on his previous attempt had not been enough to create an entry.
Now that he had spent the time reading through the pages, the entries had been created. Instead of simply having options for Constructs and Magic, Merrick's Knowledge Archive now had four new base categories: Locations, Creatures, Items, and Magic.
Merrick checked into Items only to find the sorcery boosting potion was the only entry so far. It held the same information that the notification he received earlier. There was no mention of the dagger, the key, or the mage's journal. It seemed that, for now, his Knowledge Archive was as helpful as any mostly empty database.
Inside of Creatures there were three subcategories: Constructs, Elementals, Humanoids, and All. He could take a guess as to what was in the contents of each but instead he Merrick selected Constructs to verify that the Sentry Golem was there. Then he backed out and selected Humanoids. There was another entry called Riot Guard, but when Merrick looked into it, it was mostly empty.
Riot Guard: A type of guard that patrols the Elemental Cage. They work either alone, in a group of three, or with a Golem Operator.
Merrick had not encountered a Riot Guard, but somehow it had built an entry. Merrick quickly switched over to the Golem Operator's entry.
Golem Operator: A type of guard that manages and controls the golems within the Elemental Cage. On the higher prisoner floors, they often control Sentry Golems or work with a Riot Guard as a support unit. Their standard equipment includes some light armor, a pair of tuning gloves, and a magical wand. The tuning gloves allow them to make minor adjustments to the cores of their golems. The magical wand contains at least one spell to assist in the capture of any escaped prisoners.
Merrick closed out of his Knowledge Archive. His first instinct had been right, it would be an extremely powerful tool for later in the game. However, there was simply not enough information for him to rely on it.
Now that he had a better understanding of his items and surroundings, Merrick decided it was time to try again. He moved to the gate and instead of opening the cell, he opened his journal to the page that talked about the magical natures. Specifically, he opened it to the page that focused on illusions.
He would need to find a better guide to different kinds of spells in the future but for now this would have to do. Using the hints in the journal and his Arcane Control skill, Merrick cast a glamour over the hallway with the sole purpose of tricking the golem watching it that nothing had changed.
Once the illusion was in place, Merrick ordered Crudle to follow closely overhead. Finally ready to try again, Merrick unlocked his cell and used Arcane Blast to open the cell across from his. He controlled the energy using his new feat and was able to quietly break the lock instead of destroying the whole gate. Then he did the same for the window grate. As he made it up to the ledge, he heard the golem announce:
Anomaly detected.
Investigating disturbance.
Merrick climbed up the outside of the wall before the golem could make it to his cell, so all that it discovered was an open door and not an escaping prisoner. It seemed that the golem's nature only worked based on attributes, rather than complex functions. If there was a door open and someone passed through, then it would announce an escaping prisoner. As it was, it simply reported:
Multiple anomalies detected.
Cell One Zero T, door unlocked and open.
Cell One Zero S, door broken and open.
Cell One Zero S, window broken.
As he climbed, Merrick knew that if that information was being logged or reviewed somewhere, it could eventually become a burden. At least for now, no one was actively trying to stop him. The next floor was easy to climb to, now that his shoulder and hand were not damaged. However, the window grate to the cell above 10S was not damaged and he could not force it open without using magic.
Playing it safe, rather than breaking into what was presumably an identical hallway of cells to the one he just left, Merrick climbed alongside the wall toward the room above where the first Golem Operator had been. Rather than a window grate, this room had a wooden shutter. It took Merrick a second to wrangle the shutter open without making too much noise or falling into the void below.
Inside the room, a Golem Operator sat at their desk, tinkering away at a Sentry Golem. A second Sentry Golem hovered behind the operator. Once the window was opened, the golem announced the anomaly and Merrick knew he had to act before it found him. As the golem hovered through the room toward the door, Merrick stepped down through the open window and released a lightning bolt.
Either due to his experience in casting it, or the new feat he had earned, the bolt was much smaller this time. It struck the front of the golem's body, burned a small hole all the way through it, and then struck down the operator as well. Everything had lined up perfectly for Merrick to be lucky on that strike. While he moved through the room, he also gave Crudle a quick order to watch out the window for anyone following in his footsteps.
The dust mephit flittered its wings and disappeared out the open window. Secure in knowing that no one would be sneaking up on him, Merrick set to searching the room. Unfortunately, there was not much in the way of loot.
The lightning bolt had destroyed the golem's cores, so the useless hunk of metal went out the window and into the void. Then Merrick moved on to the operator and discovered where luck was not on his side. In terms of combat, the lightning bolt had been perfect. In terms of looting afterward, however, it had struck just as the guard was drawing their wand. It was broken to pieces.
It was an interesting mechanic, from a game perspective, to allow items to be broken in such a way. It reduced the efficiency of farming loot at lower levels but maybe there was a good reason behind that. Merrick moved on to searching the operator while he pondered the reasoning behind destroyable loot and if he preferred it over loot restrictions that some games used.
Merrick noted that the operator was not dead, they were simply unconscious. Their wand had protected them from the worst of the attack at the last second. That only made Merrick feel more uncomfortable about stripping the operator for loot. While the sensation feedback was enjoyable in most scenarios, Merrick thought this was one experience he did not need.
In the end, he settled for searching the operator's desk. The golem that they had been tinkering with had an exposed core, so naturally Merrick took it. Then he opened the drawers and found a map detailing the prison.
According to the map, Merrick was currently on the nineteenth floor of the prison. His cell was on the twentieth floor, or as the map listed it the tenth prisoner floor. There were a total of fifty prisoner floors, which meant that there were forty more floors beneath Merrick's own home floor.
Above the prisoner floors were ten administrative floors. The first of which, starting at floor ten and going upward, was the Guard Barracks. Then there was the Warden's Domain, seven floors of Resource Production, and finally an Entry Level for the prison. The layout seemed strange.
That was all the time Merrick had to read, though. As he finished copying the map into his journal, the door burst open. Another guard, this one wielding a sword and shield walked in. Merrick instantly remembered the second Humanoid entry in his Knowledge Archive: Riot Guard.
Merrick wasted no time and immediately tried to take out the guard before he could call for help. Unfortunately, they were much faster than the Golem Operator had been. In fact they were at least five times faster than Merrick himself. The Riot Guard cut Merrick across the stomach before he could so much as start an Incantation.
The guard then moved back toward the door they had entered through and shouted, "Got a live one! Operator is down!"
Even as he heard the guard's call, Merrick remembered the entry from the Knowledge Archive. Specifically the section that mentioned they could work alone, in groups of three, or with a Golem Operator. Luck was not on his side.
Merrick ordered Crudle to attack. The dust mephit had been keeping an eye out for the golems from the previous floor to follow but now it burst through the open window with claws extended. The Riot Guard laughed as Merrick's minion was easily batted to the side with a single blow.
Before Merrick could move, he received another quick kiss from the guard's sword. Then, two more guards came into the room. All equipped similar to the first Riot Guard. Merrick felt his chances of survival plummeting.
He quickly gathered as much energy as he could and uttered a half-formed Incantation, "Mephit Boost!"
Merrick had a second to duck before the energy from the spell back lashed violently. The ties that bound his minion to him faded. Crudle vanished with a sudden wind that came in through the open window. A notification popped up:
Due to improper control and lack of specialization, Crudle (minion) has been unsummoned.
Before Merrick could look away from the notification, the Riot Guards came at him. He did his best to backpedal from them, but they still managed to leave significant wounds on his arms. He would give anything for some armor at this point. This dungeon was beginning to feel too difficult for a starting point. Was the entirety of this game too much for him?
There was no way Merrick could take them all on without Crudle's help. Rather than trying, he made a break for the open window. He was not sure if he made it either, his screen went black as soon as his foot hit the ledge. Either they struck him down or he fell to his death, he could not be certain. Fortunately, he died without any negative status effects.
When he returned to his Starting Position, the cell, Merrick had two notifications waiting for him.
Crudle (minion) Mephit has been unsummoned due to energy backlash and cannot be resummoned for twenty four hours.
Title previously unlocked has not been applied. Would you like to enable short walkthrough guides for the first floor of your dungeon? Yes / No / Later
After selecting later on the walkthrough window, Merrick opened his status window. He had received a title, but from what he'd read, they usually did not offer static bonuses until a condition had been cleared. This was the same for his title.
Title: Prisoner ID:10T
Title given to players that attempt to clear the dungeon inside of one of the most secure prisons on the continent. Grants: Nothing until Dungeon Clear
Knowing himself, Merrick applied the title while the window was open. He might forget about it entirely if he does not clear it soon or if he does not get another title. Two unsuccessful runs that granted him a better understanding of the game had been completed. Merrick felt a modicum of success from that, even if there was no tangible progress. He grew up on Rogue-Likes so the concept of losing to get further in a game was nothing new.
The corner of the status window caused Merrick to sigh. It had a real-world clock next to an in-game clock. Outside of the game, it was four in the morning. Six hours until he needed to go to work and open the bookstore.
Merrick laid his avatar down on the straw mattress, checked the timer to make sure that his minion was cooling down, and then logged out. After taking his headset off, Merrick felt strange just laying on the ground in the play area he had cordoned off inside his apartment's living room. It took a while for his mind to catch up with the change.
After eating a protein bar for an extremely late dinner, Merrick did his best to sleep. All he managed to do was fade in and out of dreams about the Elemental Cage. When his alarm went off at eight in the morning, Merrick decided to log into the game quickly to check something out before going into work. At least he set a last minute alarm to keep him from losing track of time and playing all day.
He laid down on the floor of his play area, put on the headset, and booted up Dungeons Below. He was greeted by the ceiling of his cell and a notification.
Resting in progress. Two hours until Well-Rested. If you do not get up from the current position, the timer will resume once you have logged out again.
Rather than get up, Merrick opened up his status window and went back to the Title's screen that he had been looking at before. His eyes honed in on a detail that he had glanced over before.
Title given to players that attempt to clear the dungeon inside of one of the most secure prisons on the continent.
Merrick highlighted the dungeon inside on the screen and made sure to note it inside of his system drive. The goal was not to escape the prison. It sounded strange at first, but now he realized how odd it was. Why would he have teleported into the prison, just to try and break out? Pride?
Instead, he needed to find a dungeon hidden within the prison. In the game, Merrick typed up some notes about what he had come across, saved them to the same system drive as his other notes, and then logged out. Accessing the notes from his phone, Merrick uploaded them as a guest query on one of the Dungeons Below forums, asking if anyone else had seen something like this?
His post was immediately blocked by a moderator, before it even went live. The reason: Guest queries can only be used for general advice, not information farming.
The moderator went on to leave a note that if he wanted to leave the query, he would need to create an account and tag it with his username so that they could verify the validity of his query. Due to the nature he was requesting, it could not be posted until he had logged at least a week of in-game time.
This was an admin rule to try and force players to find the answers themselves; be that on a forum or in the game. Merrick was about to write back a frustrated reply to the admin but his last minute alarm saved his face and hurried him out the door to work.
Compared to his new game, the city that Merrick lived in seemed more mundane than usual. It was an overcast, drizzly morning, and there was a cold wind. The bus was down, so Merrick had to walk to work again. This was the third time this week that the service was down. Free public transit was great, if the city could spare some coin for maintenance. If this kept up, Merrick would need to either pick up a bicycle or a metro card so that he can use the train.
By the time he arrived at work, Merrick was half an hour late and his boss had already opened the store. They had a tense interaction that Merrick could only half focus on. What made it difficult was the fact that the usually dusty bookstore was still dark, only the entry and desk lights had been turned on. It reminded Merrick of a scene that would be in Dungeons Below. Perhaps if he could find a library within the prison, that might give him some insights.
While Merrick daydreamed, his boss made sure to explain that Merrick was not in trouble. Nothing bad happens if a bookstore is a little late to open. It was just a mild inconvenience for two regular customers that had wanted to pick up some books right at opening. They left notes detailing what they needed and requesting delivery. As the bookstore's sole assistant, the duty of delivering those books fell to Merrick.